Book Swap Shelf

A guy at work e-mails me one day, asking if we might set up a Book Swap shelf at the office. He regularly contributes book recommendations to our employee newsletter. I like the idea, so I pursue it. I write some guidelines that are doomed to fall into chaos. Then I send out an e-mail saying that we are going to have a Book Swap shelf and everyone please bring in some books to get us started.

Of course, then I went home and tried to figure out what the heck I should contribute to the Cause. Really – anything I am sure I won’t read again goes to the Library. I don’t want to bring in anything really lame because if everyone did that, the project wouldn’t work. I settled on six books – three popular fiction and three pop culture non fiction – all trade paperbacks.

And all chick books. Which is more lame – that these are the books I pick to contribute or that I ever read them in the first place? And do I pull them out of my LibraryThing? Maybe I will just make a “Donated” tag.

The suggestion guy brought in six books. Mostly guy books. And one lady brought Atonement and The Known World. Both I have read and both I found great and neither are leaving my home library. I sent her an e-mail, to thank her and tell her so. She said these were duplicates or she wouldn’t have given them up either.

So. Ninety employees in this building and fourteen books.

I don’t think this is going to fly.