By Karina Martinez-CarterThe Daily Northwestern
At 7 p.m. on the second Tuesday of every month, a group of avid readers gathers at Cafe Mozart for a free-for-all.
The people who sit in the cafe at 600 Davis St. each month sipping drinks or eating ice cream are members of an international book club called BookCrossing. They bring books of all genres – mysteries, bestsellers, anthologies and even how-to books – to the table to swap. All the books are free to take and give, and unlike traditional book clubs, the members may read and discuss any book during any month.
The Evanston BookCrossing club has been meeting for four years and attracts an average of six to eight members to each month’s meeting. Still the chapter has almost 200 registered members, according to its Web site.
“What’s really nice about this is that there is no pressure,” said Kirsti MacPherson, assistant organizer of the club, when comparing BookCrossing to other book groups. “Sometimes two people will read the same book but in different months. One person might also take eight books one month and then none the next month, and that’s totally fine.”
The six people who attended Tuesday night brought more than 20 books to offer to other members.
People glanced at the covers on the table, picked up a book or two to read the descriptions on the backs and asked the previous owners for personal feedback. The books that remain unclaimed at the end of a meeting are left on tables in the cafe with stickers or labels that say “I’m Free” and offer information about the group’s Web site, BookCrossing.com.
BookCrossing membership is free, and registered members can track their previously-owned books online. The Web site also offers a virtual bookshelf that keeps track of the books a member has read.
Members can register to receive notification when a book they want is back in circulation and when one of their donated books is picked up by another “BookCrosser.”
“It’s fun because your books bounce around the country,” MacPherson said. “Sometimes it stays local, sometimes you never hear of it again, and other times you hear about someone loving it years after you released it.”
A few members even had tales of their books’ travels.
“One of my books made it to Australia because someone was flying there and left it,” said Nancy Johnson, a textbook editor and member. “I also sent one to Romania because a BookCrosser there contacted me and asked me to send it.”
Many of the regular attendees belonged to traditional book clubs in the past but found them too restrictive and, at times, too demanding.
“With BookCrossing, no one says you have to finish the book, and you didn’t spend any money on it,” MacPherson said.
The club is always open to new members, and they have welcomed people who enter the cafe, notice the books on the tables and sit down to talk.
“Most (people) feel comfortable giving away books because it always cuts down on clutter,” MacPherson said. “We have so many books that we’ll never have the time to read.”
To that, the other group members laughed and nodded their heads in agreement.
Reach Karina Martinez-Carter at [email protected].
