I'm not involved in any formal system of exchange or anything, but my mother and I as well as a family friend and I, share books among each other. When we read something good, we pass it along to the other person. We sometimes buy each other books as gifts too. Do you do anything like this? Not only does it help money, but passing books along also frees up space.
About a year ago me and some of my friends decided to exchange our favorite books. At the time I thought it was an amazing idea. You learn a lot about someone from the books they read. Well by the time it came to return everyone's books back mine was heavily damaged, and till this day one of my friends has yet to return my book, After that I never shared books again
I donate books, that's for sure. It's not easy to share books you intend to keep in your own personal library because you'll be worried sick that maybe one of the borrowers would end up ripping a page or folding the covers. There was a time I exchanged a few books with a friend but we never really joined a formal book exchange club and most shops here are not into that kind of setting.
We do this as well. We always exchange books within the family and sometimes friends join in too. Sometimes I don't get my books back because I guess friends are too lazy to return it but I don't mind because I am the same way and I get a new book in return anyway. I do this with console games as well and it is highly effective and really a great way to save not only money but also space. It's partly why I still buy physical copies too even though digital downloads may be a little more convenient.
Not too long ago I had friends who loved reading books and any time we wanted to buy books, we'd search for them together and buy books which all of us would like. Each of us would read the books we'd bought and once we'd finished reading them, exchange them for the ones we hadn't read. So if we bought like 4 books each, that would mean I got 8 books to read for free. These days I do that only for DVDs since the friends I have now like movies more . . .
I get myself books from the library usually, but when I buy them i usually share them with my friends, as long as I'm getting a good one to read in exchange! It's a real money saver and it allows you to read a ton of great books. That being said, I just now remember that I have to get an Oscar Wilde book back from one of my friends.
I've been a member of paperbackswap.com for a few years now. You list your old books online and other members trade you for credits, you then use your credits to get your sought after books. It used to be that you only paid for shipping on the books that you sent - now I think there's a $0.50 charge for each book that you request. I haven't used it in a while, but I think that's right. Even so, it's a great resource - they have books, DVDs, and CDs.
I have a book exchange with a friend who has the same reading tastes as I do, It's also a good excuse to meet up and have lunch or coffee. I agree, it does save money as some books are so overpriced. The only challenge if you want to start a book exchange is finding someone who has similar tastes in writing or genres.
That is a good point, but at the same time, you can expand your horizons by receiving books in genres that you might not have otherwise chosen. I do tend to lean more toward particular types of books, but I could really read most anything. That sounds nice, getting together for lunch to make the exchange. I wish I could do that with my mom, but she's too far away. The online systems can work well too, but I prefer just swapping between friends and family these days. My mother as a friend have the same taste in books, which is convenient as noted. It works out great when there is an entire series of books we want to read. We tend to like the same authors, so we each by a different series and then share them when we've read them. Three series for the price of one, works for me.
Does anyone have an online book club or anything that they're a part of? I've been looking recently with no luck...
