No, but I do both PaperbackSwap (US only) and Book Mooch (worldwide). I've received a few bookcrossing books through there. The latest came from Australia, if I recall correctly.
I have been meaning to read this; I work for Barnes & Noble, and this won the Discover Great New Writers Fiction Award this year. Hence, I feel sort of duty-bound to read it since my employer gave it a prize and all... Let me know what you thought of it when you're done.Patrick Murtha said:Joshua Ferris, Then We Came to the End
I'm midway through this recent acclaimed novel, set in the advertising world during the layoff cycle around 7-8 years ago, and innovatively written in the first person singular ("we" did this and "we" did that). Despite the acclaim, I am uncertain as yet how much this amounts to as a novel. It has a manner, to be sure, a definite bag of tricks, but I'm already feeling that whatever point that manner can make has been made, and there are still 200 pages to go. The lapses in realism seem purposeless, the "characters" are cardboard, and there is no plotting to speak of, only observation. There are funny bits, to be sure, but those are not hard to come up with in depicting the business world.
Lulu-in-Ny said:I am currently immersed in Life with Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse. I have seen the BBC series numerous times, so I thought it was time I read the books. And, I must say, they are a joy. I don't think I have ever read dialogue that is so well-written, and says so much with such economy of words. I highly recommend it.
P.S. I also recommend the series; Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie are fabulous, and there are some lovely examples of period style in there, as well...
Feraud said:Riding the Rails: Teenagers on the Move During the Great Depression by Errol Lincoln Uys
A fascinating look at the little known story of the young people who took to the rails during the Depression Era. Most young people left their families due to the burden of poverty as a result of the Depression. A small minority of runaways were women and/or African Americans. Their quest was twice as dangerous as their white male counterparts.
The comments and policies of lawmakers and social workers are especially poignant considering the age of the youths in question. When reading about the hunger, danger, and sexual predations that occurred it is interesting (actually disgusting) to read a quote from Henry Ford, "Why it's the best education in the world for those boys, that traveling around! They get more experience in a few weeks than they would in years at school." Or to read how the helpless U.S. Government considered putting supervision of the roaming youths under the control of the War Department.
Required reading for an additional perspective of "the good old days".
AlanC said:The Glass Key, by Dashiell Hammett