Mooch and Hoard

I've always been a fan of books, of reading. Books take you places you might not be able to get to. They allow you to escape the everyday, which is something I've done a lot lately to destress. Whenever I've moved to a new place in the past, one of the first things I go to find out is where is the library and how do I get a card?? I have no willpower when it comes to books. I carry a pad and a pen with me to the bookstore to write down titles in the bookstore so that I don't buy them all at once. In elementary school I frequently got busted for having a book in my hand and reading about something I wanted to read instead of paying attention to the teacher. A junior-high crush used to tease me and call me "Bookmaster" in a sneering voice, much to my chagrin. (I didn't see that as a term of endearment back then.)

Anyway, I was knitting at my friend Sally's house not that long ago and we were discussing books. Sally appears to love books as much as I do, and has a similar budget and space constraint. So when she told me about Bookmooch, I thought it was a pretty good idea. Bookmooch is a website where you get to list books that you are both looking to read and looking to get rid of. You earn points for books that you list, and you can "mooch" books from other readers. All it costs is the price to ship a book to someone, you don't pay for any books that you receive. And at like two bucks to ship media mail, it's a nice savings. Plus, in order to save on clutter, you can always re-list them after you've read them.

So, this is such a great idea, that I have aleady shipped four books and received three. I also can't seem to stop getting piles of books out of the library. I've attacked my Goodreads list with ardent fervor. My end table in the living room is covered in books I've mooched and borrowed. I have more reading material in this house right now than I can get through. Not that that's going to stop me from trying!!

One good thing that I hope comes out of my love for reading is my children's love for books. Will already loves books, he has his own shelf in his room and has his favorites. I will do everything in my power to keep him interested for the long run. After all, a phone call from his fourth grade teacher concerning his reading during classes will not just give me a cause for some concern, but a little bit of nostalgia.