Something borrowed, something new

Bibliophiles in the city are finding a new way to expand their reading repertoire through book swapping, reports Ranjani Rajendra.

You know you’ve got a problem when you start running out of space for all those lovely books you’ve bought and cherished over the years. You’ve probably read and re-read many, made loving notes in a few and straightened out more dog ears than you can remember. And now you want a new set of books to read, but just cannot fathom where to squeeze them in. Sending everything to the waste paper dealer is definitely not an option, which is why several bibliophiles are participating in book swaps. From online e-lists of their books to poring over someone’s collection at a nook and choosing something that catches their fancy, book swaps are picking up.

Says G. Olivannan, founder, Book Club India, “Book exchanges are a great way to explore new genres and connect with like-minded readers. It opens up a whole new vista for book lovers. We started the book club as a way to encourage more youngsters to develop a reading habit; swaps are a natural extension of this.”

Little Free Library that was set up last year by Shannon Zirkle-Prabhakar and her friends follows a similar concept. The group started off with one library and within a year has nearly seven such facilities across the city. “The basic premise of Little Free Library is that we set up book shelves with some of our own collections that people are free to pick up books from. They can choose to leave behind something from their own reading pile for others to enjoy. I’ve set up a shelf in my yoga studio that people are free to access and replenish as well. So far though, I see people borrowing more than they donate; though the concept is slowly picking up,” says Ishani Appaya, one of the co-founders.

Jumping into the fray is ReadersNode, an online platform designed by students of IIT-Kharagpur, which facilitates book exchanges as well. “ReadersNode initially came about to address the issue of being able to source books at affordable prices — academic or non-academic. Of late though, we find avid readers across the country using the platform for book clubs and book exchanges as well, which works since our platform is not location specific. While we have readers from Chennai, to our surprise, the platform is gaining popularity overseas too,” says Shashank Gaurav, one of the co-founders, who also has been part of several book exchange programmes himself.

With the rising popularity of e-books, book swaps have taken on a whole new meaning. All one has to do now is share an e-book via email for their friends to download them onto their kindle or other e-book apps. What also makes book swapping exciting for readers is the fact that it opens doors to new types of works and genres for them. “People have very particular interests and follow a specific religious path. Religion has become universal to some people, so I would pick up a book on any religion, because all of them basically teach the same thing. So books that normally wouldn’t have come my way have become a part of my reading list, thanks to these book swaps. Similarly, a lot of sportsperson autobiographies have come my way,” says Ishani.

However, not everyone is kicked about sharing treasured books with a bunch of strangers. “A few years back, I was part of this group that shared books with people from other countries also. It was a great way to find a pen pal — someone with a refined literary taste. I’d send my books to people in Ireland and London. Today, however, I find that it has come down. I personally find that a lot of people never return my books, so that has been a deterrent. What I now do though, is share books that I have particularly enjoyed with close friends in Mumbai and Bangalore,” says Radhika Meghanathan, founder of the Women’s Book Club.

Pankaj Korwar, who runs the Book Buff Company, agrees and says, “Books are treasured so much. I’ve interacted with people who are wary of lending their books since they never know if they will get them back. Informally though, I do see a lot of them exchanging books at my book club when someone mentions an interesting book.”

Source | The Hindu | 23 June 2015