A bookish gift idea.

I wanted to share a gift idea coming up to Christmas. It is something that I used last year and is a great way to solve a gift problem while promoting reading and sharing books.

BookCrossing is a website that encourages you to leave your used books in a public place for someone else to find them, read them, and then leave them for someone else. By registering the book with the website you can keep track of the books you have released or encountered because you can log your thoughts about the book in question through its own unique number.

Anyway, BookCrossing sells starter packs online, which include attractive bookplates to write your books number on it, bookmarks and sticky notes to let whoever finds your book know that it is a travelling book and they can take it home and read it for free. A starter pack to accompany 25 books costs £6.12 or $9.95.

I think the pack makes a nice gift on its own, but accompanying a new book to read it makes a really fun and unusual present that doesn't cost the earth. BookCrossing also sells other accessories to help you share your used books.

You can find out about the packs and other merchandise by going to their website and visiting their supply store, or by clicking on the link below...

http://secure.bookcrossing.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=200

Here's to promoting reading, books and literacy for Christmas!