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Book Crossing ? Releasing And Catching Books

BookCrossing.com is a unique website that encourages people to read books, and register the books getting individual Book Crossing ID’s in return that will help track the movement of the books. The members release the books by giving them to their acquaintances, charities or by leaving them in public places where other readers may find them, read them and release them again.

People who catch the books or pick up the books are requested to make a journal entry in the website helping people who released the book track its movements. The membership to the site is free and people who find the books but do not want to read or leave their name are encouraged to release the book again to help it find someone who can enjoy reading it.

As members post the location of the site where they released the book ,other members go hunting for the book in order to catch it, read it and re-release it.

Exchange Of Books Among Book Crossers
Book Crossing members or BookCrossers as they prefer to call themselves interact among themselves using forums or groups etc. They exchange books amongst themselves by various techniques.

? Members start a Book ring where a member announces that he wishes to release a book. Members who are keen to read the book contact the member and soon a list is formed. The member sends the book to the first person in the list. Once the member has finished reading the book, he passes it on to the next member. In this system the book is returned to the person who released it.
? Bookray is a similar system but the book is not returned to the member who released it, it is passed to the last member on the list, who may keep the book or release it again.
? Some Book Crossers trade books amongst each other by contacting each other.
? Some members use the Random Acts of BookCrossing Kindness technique where they may send another member a book without expecting anything in return.
? BookBoxes are boxes of books with 20 to 40 titles that are circulated amongst members in a list. The books are of a similar theme or genre. The members may keep any number of books as long as they replace the number of books that they have taken with other books.

Many of the members are women who are keen to do a good deed, make books available to those who may not afford it. Schools have encouraged its students to become members and promote literacy. Many local libraries have also become members and use BookCrossing techniques amongst its members. All in all, a unique literary endeavor that merits catching on like wildfire.

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