posted
For the first time in years and years I find myself commuting by train and having time to read books at a rate of more than my previous 3 pages a day. I've already got through the couple of reserve charity shop books I had on the shelf and actually had to buy a new book the other day.
I was just wondering if anyone else fancies starting a random and casual book swapping, er, club? circle? It's a vague concept at the moment, but I suppose the idea would be to list any books you have which:
a) you enjoyed enough to think that other people might enjoy too and;
b) you don't mind losing.
Any kind of book: thriller; biography; history; one of those arty-farty ones that always seem to have been "nominated" for some award or other; airport pulp paperback etc etc.
Then someone else would ask for it and you'd send it to them. And you'd ask someone for one of their books. Doesn't have to be a direct swap between two people, but could be a bit unfair if one person has a brilliant collection and everyone else's is shit.
Anyway, I'll put up a list of what I've got if there are any positive responses to the general suggestion. Then we'd have to find a way to exchange addresses discretely and all that sort of thing.
Or we could do the whole thing away from TMO as a little private email mailing list or something. You tell me. Anyone?
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posted
I've got a copy of Al Franklin's 'Lies and the lying liars that tell them' if anyone wants it - he's the Democratic humourist, who no doubt would like to think of himself as a) a pitbull defending the left against the Fox News Network of America and b) as witty and good a writer as P J O'Rouke. He isn't really - it's a lot of snarl and gnash at what should be the easiest targets in the free world, but for some reason he doesn't do the job as well as he would like to think he is. It's an okay read though.
-------------------- If Chuck Norris is late, time better slow the fuck down Posts: 2740
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posted
It's a nice idea, however it relies on people making the effort to pack books and trundle off to the Post Office to weigh them.
Also, I don't really like other people touching my books. Occasionally I buy a disappointing one that's not worthy of a place on the shelf, but the point of a book club isn't to send on rubbish, is it?
We could always have an ongoing recommend-a-read for commuting thread.
-------------------- What I object to is the colour of some of these wheelie bins and where they are left, in some areas outside all week in the front garden. Posts: 4941
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Hello TMO! I have an unopened copy of season 2 of curb your enthusiasm. Does anyone have a DVD that they would like to swap for it? Something good please.
quote:Originally posted by sam: I could no sooner give my books away than I could hit a baby in the face. Though come to think of it, babies would recover....
quote:Originally posted by sam: I could no sooner give my books away than I could hit a baby in the face. Though come to think of it, babies would recover....
Oh, sam.
*brightly* Hallo ralph.
Your note of dismay means to me as much as a cheery new year pat on the back, me duck, coming as it does from a bloke for whom the word lugubrious was invented.
Is it not typical of your dolorous, understated sense of fun to spur zygote on by telling him it would take yearsbefore he slept properly at night?
Bless you ralph and a Happy New Year!
-------------------- A day without laughter is a day wasted. In memory of Alastair Posts: 1936
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quote:Originally posted by sam: *brightly* Hallo ralph.
Hi ya, sam!
quote:Originally posted by sam: Is it not typical of your dolorous, understated sense of fun to spur zygote on by telling him it would take years before he slept properly at night?
I was being truthful. For me, it's been almost eight years since I've slept like I did back in my boozey days. Posts: 7436
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I'm not up for this idea solely because of the gyp involved in sending stuff. I don't mind giving away books because I've got no room for the fuckers any more. There's no more space under the oven. But I only really want to give them to people who will read them and hopefully be shaped by them to be more like me. That's all I want. An army of me.
Just finished a cracking book about Nico, and my brother gave me the Derren Brown one for christmas. Might wait until I'm terminally ill, choking my **** up in a hospital before I crack the spine on that. I also got a book from a friend all about the k foundation's million quid burning thing, which is more me, so that'll be next. But I think that'll only take 15 minutes because it's a coffee table number.
I should finish Faulkner's "As I lay dying" before I buy any more. *sigh*
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Personally, I almost exclusively buy books from charity shops, so they are of little financial value, and I've only very rarely re-read a fiction book even if I liked it, so there's little point in keeping hold of them other than to be able to give them away, if you know what I mean.
I do pay for new technical books and that, but they wouldn't be in much demand on the reading circuit anyway I shouln't reckon.
So, yes, the big flaw is probably in anyone being arsed to wrap them up and post them off. This does work in music fan circles, but music is a thing of passion while reading is just a way to pass the time and avoid eye contact with other people on the train.
Still, the good news is that I went through the charity shops in town last week and I'm set up with material for at least the next month.
This thread is closed then... except it can be taken over by people wanting to recommend things to read if they want. As indeed it already has been I notice. Jolly good.
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quote:Originally posted by sam: Is it not typical of your dolorous, understated sense of fun to spur zygote on by telling him it would take yearsbefore he slept properly at night?
I may be jumping to conclusions here but, as I type this - and this is looking like being the third sleepless night on the trot - Ralph's prediction may be worth a (small) financial interest. I'd be looking to back his prediction at anything around 2500/1 and look to lay the bet off at anything close to 2/1 before I finally crack and seek prescription sleeping tablets - which I really don't want to resort to.
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