BookCrossing originally sounded like one of those wacky dot-com social networking ideas destined to make a novelty media splash, then fade away, but a Toronto convention this weekend (April 21-23), attended by about 50 people who ritualistically release books into the wild frontier, comes a full five years after the concept was hatched by Ron Hornbaker, a software developer in Kansas City, Missouri. So, that’s what happens when a website is entirely predicated on people finding free books with a message inside, then going online to confirm their discovery, and perhaps getting hooked into the cycle themselves. The agenda for the BX gathering includes a Reverse Scavenger Hunt, where armies of book liberators will be divided into teams and dispersed to various neighbourhoods where they will have the opportunity to cast adrift even more paperbacks by John Grisham – whose name graces the cover of 11 of the top 25 all-time most registered BookCrossing titles, just because Dan Brown has been slow to publish a follow-up to The Da Vinci Code. But even if the consensus catch-and-release list resembles an unappealing pile of discards from an apartment building’s laundry room, individual tastes of the most devoted members are bound to be more eclectic. Local convention organizer Stephanie Spencer admits to harnessing much spiritual energy through this hobby, as explained in a feature story in the Toronto Star – her most traveled title so far was a garage sale-purchased copy of Not Many People Know That! Michael Caine’s Almanac of Amazing Information, which went from a bench in Nathan Phillips Square to Nanjing, China, along with the vow that Michael Caine trivia would eventually bewilder somebody in Beijing and beyond. Those looking to play the BookCrossing game appear to have the best luck focusing their efforts on specific zones – the Starbucks at 765 Yonge St., converted in 1999 from the Albert Britnell Bookshop situated there since 1928, has found its remaining shelves transformed into a favourite spot for stealth exchanges. While that’s sweet revenge on the gargantuan Chapters that trampled other wordy retailers in the Yonge and Bloor neighbourhood before being unceremoniously closed itself, it also reflects how the benevolence of BookCrossing will endure, even if bookstores offering plush chairs for cheapskates to read cover-to-cover was a premise that couldn’t last.
BookCrossing.com [+ convention site here]
1 response so far ↓
Steven M. Bergson // May 1, 2006 at 11:15 pm
“But even if the consensus catch-and-release list resembles an unappealing pile of discards from an apartment building’s laundry room, individual tastes of the most devoted members are bound to be more eclectic.”
Indeed!
Yes, there were a handful of John Grisham books sitting on the “book buffet” table in the main meeting room. Despite his books being the most registered, I saw no more than 6 Grisham novels in the University Room during the convention. By contrast, there were at least a dozen Danielle Steel books (noticeable, in part, because more people wanted to make them available to others than wanted to take them away).
You can look at the long list of books released just at the hotel that week (and remember that many books were released outside of the hotel) by clicking here.
Among the quality authors whose books were released were : Margaret Atwood, Margaret Laurence, L.M. Montgomery, Mordecai Richler and Robertson Davies.
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