Bookswap.com

I've belonged to bookswap since 1/24/08, and in that year I've requested 178 books and mailed out 154. When I didn't have credits, I bought some to tide me over. I have a bookshelf full of books handy for when I'm snowed in or taking a car trip. My grandchildren have received many books of the 178 books through bookswap; all I have to do is change the ship to address to theirs and Michael, Ava and Sydney get the books delivered right to their house. They know the books are from Gramie LaLa. There are hardback books & board books too. Fiction, Nonfiction, Health, Art, Science, Sports, Travel, Childrens, Gardening, you name it they have it.

Do you have any used books lying around? Ones you've already enjoyed, but you're never going to read again? I did, and I finally found a great way to share them with other people! This is how it got started and how it works

It seems that a few guys were sitting around one night talking about all the paperback books that they purchased over the years while traveling on business. Each of them had a large stack of books that they had read, so they decided to set up a website at http://www.PaperBackSwap.com/ that allows all of us to swap books with each other.

Let me tell you how it works -- because it is so easy! I listed a bunch of books on the site (listing 10 books gets the first member in your household free credits!) and I got 2 free book credits to get started. So you can order 2 books right away - free of charge -- and have them mailed directly to you! No strings attached. No gimmicks. No spam mail. Nothing. You just have to love reading books.

When another member selects one of my books that I have listed, I mail it to them. Yes, I pay for the postage. But then I get another book credit and I can select a book that I want. So another Club Member returns the favor and mails me one of his or her books free of charge. For every book I mail out, I get another book in return - a true shared system!

When someone requests one of your books, all you have to do is print two pieces of regular paper from your printer which includes the mailing address and the recommended postage. Apply the postage, and drop it in the mail. Hey, for a typical paperback, you don't even need to go to the post office.

Right now the annual club membership is free. Eventually the founders will ask everyone to help contribute to pay for the upkeep of the web site, but for now the annual club membership is free. The annual dues will probably be between $10 and $20 based on the number of people in the club. But again, right now you don't even have to pay any dues for at least one year if you become a Member.

You really need to check this out. And if you do sign up, please use the following link:

http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php?r_by=kortefam@sbcglobal.net

If you use the link above to join, I'll get a free book when you post your first ten books (and you'll still get free books for posting them!)

For more information about the site, you can visit the Help area, by clicking the link below, and select 'About PBS' to read how it works:

http://www.paperbackswap.com/help/help_index.php

The Dance of Connection

The cover of the book is white, so I apologize for it not showing up better. The book I'm reading now teaches you how to navigate your most important relationships. It is also about reinventing yourself. Dr. Lerner states that we don't discover who we are by sitting alone on a mountain top meditating, or by being introspective. The road to discovering or reinventing oneself is through our relationships with other people and the conversations we engage in. She starts with explaining the dynamics of her own family and then she talks about our first family and how we came to relate to the world the way we do.
Oh Boy! My first family, the one I was born into. My family was a quiet, shy bunch. In fact each one of my siblings has a shy child and if asked no one would have to much trouble picking them out. My father worked hard at his job and also at home. My mom was a stay at home mom and raised four children, kept house and did everything the old fashined way. By this I mean, hung clothes on the line & canned vegetables etc. Everything was made from scratch and it was meat, potatoes & gravy at almost every dinner meal. How did I learn to communicate from my family? Gee that is going to take some thought. I was pretty shy if not the shyest one in my family, the third child, following the only son. Our family didn't demonstrate love by kissing & hugging or by saying I love you ten times a day. I don't remember either taking place, it was just sort of assumed. Sex was never talked about or even the fact that I would become a women some day and this what you do to take care of yourself. I don't remember any conversations about important more adult issues at all.
Two lessons I do remember was, you don't talk when your father is watching the news; big mistake. And you don't sass your mother in front of your father at the dinner table. I remember my brother and father wrestling on the floor smaching some just picked baskets of strawberries, after this act of difiance was committed.
I guess the premise is if you learn where you came from you'll be able to figure out how to get where you want to go.
I hope to finish reading this book this weekend.