I adore BookMooch, that amazing ‘little’ social book-swapping site where people can both unload spent titles and load up on new ones. I’ve been ‘mooched from’ and ‘mooched’ quite a few ‘gems’ from there now, but my latest ‘mooch’ A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith has to one of my favourites and for two reasons (three if you count the fact that it’s a title I really want to read 
)):
Firstly the person I mooched the book from – Mandy (userid: mandyj). She’s one of those rare special kinds of human beings – kind, polite, a pleasure to speak to and very, very speedy. As soon as she knew I wanted to mooch this novel from her, she posted it – THE VERY SAME DAY! I’m not saying that anyone I’ve dealt with on BookMooch has been anything but nice, but nobody has gone the ‘extra mile’ like that for me and for showing such consideration and kindness Mandy needs to be applauded. So if you’re reading this Mandy – thanks a million (again ))!
Secondly as the title suggests, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a novel set in New York, the one place if you know me (or read some of my former posts), that I have an absolute obsession with, even though I’ve yet to visit (and I emphasis the yet). Shamefully (because it’s blatantly bias), there are already three titles in my ‘50 Novels’ reading challenge that are set in New York – The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Chaim Potok’s The Chosen (this came via BookMooch too) and Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy, and if I add in this new one that makes a total of four. I’ve also got Henry Roth’s Call it Sleep on my TBR shelf making a total of five NY-based novels in my possession. You probably know what I’m thinking don’t you?..grins..Isn’t that a good number for a mini-challenge? Hehehe..yep I certainly think it is!
So that’s what I’m going to do. When my current mini-Ammaniti reading challenge comes to an end (which should be soon as I’m on my last novel), and I strike off a couple of review commitments, I’ll be kicking off a mini New York Novel challenge with the five aforementioned novels. Doing so will not only let me tick off three primary novels in my 50 Novels challenge list, which is a boon, it’ll also give me the unashamed delight of wallowing in New Yorkian lusciousness – looks like February is going to be a luxurious month. I’ll keep you posted!
Finally I guess I’ve opened up a question for everyone – what’s the best book you’ve ever mooched from BookMooch? I can’t wait to hear your answers!
About Rob
gosh, in my short time on bookmooch (i joined at the end of july last year), i’ve mooched 36 books. i think the best once i’ve mooched thus far is aeschylus’ “oresteia” not only because it was a wonderful read but because it was in awesome condition despite being an older edition. i was also thrilled to find camus’ “caligula and three other plays because hey! i got it for practically nothing and have been wanting it for a long time!
says:
Wow 36 mooches, and you are so lucky snagging a Camus Brittney – I’ve never seen any available. Thanks for commenting!
it’s in a bit of rough shape (yellowing pages and a few are coming out) but i couldn’t believe it when i saw it. cheers!
says:
“yellowing pages and a few are coming out” – that’s called character Brittney
)
You made me chuckle because I have done the exact same thing! I will think hmmm…I have a lot of this type of book I would like to read….I can make it into a challenge! lol The 21 Cultures challenge on my blog is exactly that. I wanted an excuse to read more and more books from different cultures (a passion of mine, similar to your NY lust) and I did not find a challenge that fit what I wanted exactly (countries and cultures are different) so I made my own challenge for it. You gotta do what you gotta do for the love of the book, right?
I have never done bookmooch, but my father got me into paperbackswap.com which I think is similar. Quite a few in my TBR pile for this year are from exchanges on the site. One of my sisters was even nice enough to let me list some of her own books on the site so I could potentially get even more books! What a doll!
says:
Rebecca – I had a quick look and this ’21 Cultures challenge’ look incredibly interesting. Culture excites me more than anything else in life, well aside from Ben & Jerry’s, and that’s the main reason I’m so enamoured with New York. I’m definitely doing a similar reading challenge later in the year (Penguin Books blog have also launched a really good one you may be interested in checking out), and I would have mimicked your one if it were not for the fact I have a copy of the Bloomsbury Good Reading Guide to World Fiction to work with. Like you say “you gotta do what you gotta do for the love of the book” *giggle*
Great to hear I’m not the only one who looks for any excuse to make up a new reading challenge though, and there’s at least one other mad-crazed bibliophile who’s just as barmy
As for paperbackswap.com – I’ve heard of it but I’ve never used it. Not sure if it’s even that well supported for the UK reader either (we have a good UK based one called Read it Swap it). As for your book donating sister – gotta love her !!