Sharing the book love around

By /
Image hosted by Photobucket.comImage hosted by Photobucket.com(for the impatient just visit http://www.bookcrossing.com)

I don't know about you (by all means please tell me) but I'm a book lover from way back, in fact I rate books as important to me as music which has always delved straight down into the core of me.

A good book, nay a great book, can take you places that like no other experience. Movies are, for me, easy entertainment which is sometimes exactly what I want. Some awesome movies do get a little deeper inside than the standard "lesbian car chase with special fx and explosions (storyline optional)" but really, they're never that mind bending - exceptions excepted.

Radio can be like being in the presence of an awesome storyteller but the good stuff (normally residing on National Radio for me) is few and far between.

TV. Pah!

Music, recorded or live. Well, music is for me the art of life. It is what makes me tick and transports me to those places I have been and bookmarks the life I am living.

Fine art. Modern art. Sculpture. Installations. Can, rarely, make me think. I am normally more intrigued by the skill of production than questioned by the arts itself. Normally.

Live theatre. Hmm, live theatre is a special experience that I don't have as often as I'd like. There truly is nothing like the smell of the crowd and the roar of the greasepaint. It doesn't, sorry, it hasn't so far, stretched me though. I suspect this is an indulgence to come in my slightly later years.

That leaves, for me, books. A good book will take me out of my mind. It will inform me and keep me grounded. It will stretch my world view and always, always make me laugh/cry/cringe/shudder. I love books. I love bookshops and I love libraries. In fact, never come on a shopping expedition which involves books as I will spend ages trying to find the perfect book for that moment ... it's hell for others to be around and it's heaven for me to be immersed in.

AND SO! To that end I love giving books. They are the first item I think of when deciding upon presents. They are treasures I love to pass on. When I move (as in recently) they are what I shove through the neighbours letterboxes as I clear the shelves.

AND TO THAT END, I love the idea of leaving books for people. Leaving them in public places for others to discover. Which finally leads me to BookCrossing (hat-tip to Frogstar) which assists with you setting your books free and allowing others to enjoy them - check them out at http://www.bookcrossing.com

Of course you don't have to join them in order pass on those treasures gathering dust on your bookshelves ... but it can be an incentive!

You can read my list of books, music, movies and radio experiences if you're at all interested. Some of the books will be out there in Christchurch over time.

Comments

Post a Comment

Be kind

Popular articles

Make Your Public Event Calendar Usable To All

Image
If you run a sports club, this post is for you. If you are on a community committee, this post is also for you If you host events, this is for you. If you put on shows, this is for you. In fact, if you do anything that has a date/time component that you'd like to share with people, this is for you . Yep, probably for all of us. Sharing calendars can be both: an effective way of letting everyone know a complete and utter technical pain in the bottomly region If you've posted up an events page onto your website you know how difficult it is to keep up to date, how the readers have to keep coming back to get the latest changes and don't even think about integrating with somebody else's "events page". Ok, so we all know the problem. What's the solution? iCalendar (normally shortened to iCal) ... yep, it's a geek word that you will come to know and love just as much as RSS. In fact, think of it as RSS for calendars. But that's enough geekery, if you want

The Difference Between One Million And One Billion

Image
It's feels like a billion is just a bit bigger than a million. Obviously it's bigger but it fits on the same scale as a million, surely. It doesn't. A billion is so so so much bigger than a million. I've trawled the internet finding graphics and videos that show the VAST difference between one million and one billion. Oh, and just to finish with a different misconception about space starting with the classic opening line from the great Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy : “Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.”

W. C. Fields quotes

Image
The office has all been moved around - new desks (with starter handles to raise and lower them), new high(er) speed network and ... the same old work. At least I have a differing view of the world, my team (well, the team I'm a part of not "my" team) is a lot closer - finally - and it's like an office from the 80's ... or even a classroom. But I still have time to move the crap off the PC : ------ Any man who hates dogs and loves whiskey can't be all bad. Anyone who hates Dogs and Kids Can't be All Bad. Hey! Who took the cork off my lunch??! Who stole the cork from my breakfast? Now don't say you can't swear off drinking, it's easy. I've done it a thousand times. Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again. Then quit, no use being a damn fool about things. Madam, there's no such thing as a tough child - if you parboil them first for seven hours, they alwa

Zoom In For The Shocking Detail

Image
It's not often one comes across a blue plaque that sums up town life quite so aptly. I'm afraid you'll have to zoom in to get the full measure of the writing.