Book Releases

Some of you may be aware, from reading my other blog, that I joined the Book Crossing web site whilst on holiday in the Lake District during August. I did this as I wanted to release the book I'd just finished reading (The Labyrinth) into the wild, to see who would pick it up and how far it would travel. I reasoned that, as the release place was visited by people from around the world, there was a strong possibility it would travel far........ but that book still doesn't seem to have gone anywhere yet.

In the hopes of better succes I opted to release my next book, The Alienist, in a cafe just down the local High Street. Several books that had previously been released in this area had been picked up by other people who then took the time to make a journal entry on them and pass them on. No luck with it yet but it was only recently released, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

A little disappointed with my first book releases, but undaunted, I decided the next book, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, would be the subject of a controlled release. Angela, a fellow Blogger, expressed interest in it, so I duly posted it off to her at the weekend and I'm glad to say that she received it today. Angela has agreed to read the book, journal on it and release it into the wild on one of her walking and camping weekends. Even if no one journals on it after that at least I have one book that I know for certain has travelled!

What is the appeal of this? Well, there seems to be a prevalent attitude in society that "you don't get something for nothing" and this goes some way to disproving that rather cynical outlook on life. It's a way of sharing a good book with someone and anything that encourages people to read isn't a bad thing, is it? It spreads some good Karma. It's also going to be exciting to see where a book will travel........ if ever one of those wild releases is picked up by someone who is just as interested in spreading the good will and sharing in the journey. :0)