ShareThisAn avid reader, Vicki Long considers it cruel to let a book stand on a shelf gathering dust.
Instead, she says, books should be savored, pondered and shared -- over and over again.
She gives them the wings to fly away.
Long is a book crosser who leaves books in public places to be picked up and read by others who, hopefully, will do the same. She likes the idea of spreading literacy one book at a time, even in today's avalanche of Kindles, Nooks and other e-readers.
Long took up the hobby about 10 years ago after the founding of BookCrossing.com, a website that promotes and tracks book sharing worldwide. She "releases'' books throughout Florida's Tampa Bay area, in coffee shops, parks, even the laundry room of her St. Petersburg apartment complex. Each book gets a tracking number and asks finders to register the "catch'' online and write comments. A sticker says in six languages, "I'm not lost -- I'm on a journey.''
Ron Hornbaker and Bruce Pedersen started BookCrossing.com in 2001 after noticing that, unlike sites for tracking dollar bills and pictures, none existed for books, which evoke strong emotions.
The idea started as an experiment and took off globally among readers passionate about sharing books and connecting with people through prose. It's like a virtual library without the late fees or due date.
"It was a niche built around the two things that change your life: the people you meet and the literature you read,'' Pedersen said.
Based in Idaho, the website's membership of about 960,000 book crossers has held steady amid the explosion of e-books, which now surpass print-edition sales on Amazon. Rather than hoard books, a lot of people are unloading them for the thrill of it and hope that they find a good home.
"I think that says a lot about our community, the emotions that people attach to books and our core values of connecting people through books,'' he said.
European countries and places with a strong coffee culture have the highest concentration of book crossers.
About 20 percent to 25 percent of all released books are "caught," depending on the location. Some have traveled across oceans and continents. A title by German author Gerard Hoffnung has logged at least 562 hops. E.M. Forster's "A Passage to India" has had at least 130.
Over the years, Long has released about 200 books into the wild, from "Lord of the Rings" to "By the Shore of Silver Lake," to name a few recently. The vast majority vanished without a trace. One found its way to Iran.
"It's like a big game of hide-and-seek,'' she said.
Long, 38, has loved books for as long as she can remember. Her mother read her Golden books at bedtime. Her grandmother spent hours reading Harlequin romances.
As a student, she excelled in reading but ended up working with numbers as an accounting assistant. She devours about 50 books a year, everything from sci-fi to chick lit. Staring at spreadsheets all day, she finds that a book quiets her mind better than any TV sitcom or reality show.
"It really relaxes me,'' she said. "If I don't read, I get antsy, kind of like an addict."
Books just seem to find her. Friends bring her their castoffs or troll garage sales for bargains. Hundreds stored in plastic bins fill what should be her dining room.
Long was one of those people who initially balked at e-books. She loves the look, touch and smell of bound paper and ink. How could a computer compete?
Then she tried a friend's e-reader. She bought a Kobo from Borders, then a Nook from Barnes & Noble. It's easy on the eyes and lighter than a hardcover.
But she can't give it away.
Long has only a few keepers in her collection, including her favorite, "The Last Unicorn" by Peter S. Beagle. The rest, at some point, will get labeled and released to points unknown.
Next month, she plans to spend her entire vacation curled up on her couch with a stack of books. She's reading the "Harry Potter" series from start to finish.
At last check, she was deep into "Goblet of Fire," the fourth in the seven-book set.
Who reads it next is anyone's guess.
(Email sthurston(at)sptimes.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service www.scrippsnews.com)
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