# Free Books! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 27, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-books/164421 "2003-03-27T00:56:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-books/164421/1 "2003-03-27T00:56:48Z")
Inspired both by the “What do you have too much of” thread and **Cranky** ’s book exchange, I’ve decided to get rid of some of my excess books. (I spent a few days last fall sorting out stuff I’d either never read or never read again – but the boxes I put them in have been sitting in the upstairs hall ever since.) These are all good books (either hardbacks or good paperbacks) that I’ve read, but that I don’t need to hold onto a copy of. If you’d like one of them, send me an email at [twickster47@yahoo.com](mailto:twickster47@yahoo.com). Put SDMB in the message line; give me your name and address (plus your username, just so I’ll know you when I see you around the boards); and tell me which book (or two) you want. This is gonna happen on a first-come, first-served basis, so if you get there first, I’ll send you a free book. (I will let you know if it’s yea or nay.) If you want to respond by sending back a buck or two after you get the book, that would be fine, but I’m not demanding it. For reasons of my convenience, this offer is available to US and Canadian dopers only. PLUS! For a short time only – I’ll include a beautiful handmade bookmark! (I have a laminating machine and love making bookmarks.) Interested? Here’s what I’ve got: **NONFICTION** The Fasting Girl: A True Victorian Medical Mystery. (Michelle Stacey) Cheating Monkeys and Citizen Bees: The Nature of Cooperation in Animals and Humans. (Lee Dugatkin) Open Secret: Gay Hollywood 1928-2000. (David Ehrenstein) In the Little World: A True Story of Dwarfs, Love, and Trouble. (John H. Richardson) Typhoid Mary. (Anthony Bourdain) Edie: An American Biography. (Jean Stein/George Plimpton) The Life and Times of Little Richard: The Quasar of Rock. [1984] (Charles White) Footnotes: A Memoir. (Tommy Tune) Red Lobster, White Trash, and the Blue Lagoon. (Joe Queenan) Dish: The Inside Story on the World of Gossip. (Jeannette Walls) Road Scholar: Coast to Coast Late in the Century. (Andrei Codrescu; photos by David Graham) A Massive Swelling: Celebrity Re-Examined as a Grotesque Crippling Disease and Other Cultural Revelations. (Cintra Wilson) The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family. (Mary S. Lovell) Truman Capote. (George Plimpton) Quitting the Nairobi Trio: A Memoir. (Jim Knipfel) Virtual Tibet: Searching for Shangri-La from the Himalayas to Hollywood. (Orville Schell) **FICTION** Carter Beats the Devil. (Glen David Gold) Lying Awake. (Mark Salzman) The Book of Fred. (Abby Bardi) Earthly Possessions. (Anne Tyler) Song of Solomon. (Toni Morrison) The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. (Oscar Hijuelos) The Mummy. (Anne Rice) ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-books/164421/2 "2003-03-27T02:19:36Z")
How many responses have you had? Are there any left? Which ones? ---
**Author:** ![iconoplast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3d9bf3/32.png) [@iconoplast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iconoplast)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-books/164421/3 "2003-03-27T03:54:04Z")
Email sent. Whee! You can be my new best friend if you’d like, as books are easily the way to my heart. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-books/164421/4 "2003-03-27T03:54:08Z")
Email sent! Hope I’m not too late. No WAY I’d pass up free books. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-books/164421/5 "2003-03-27T03:56:55Z")
Wow, iconoplast. You posted at EXACTLY the same time I did. Hope you that doesn’t mean you also wanted the same books I did! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![beegirl13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/848f3c/32.png) [@beegirl13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beegirl13)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-books/164421/6 "2003-03-27T05:23:45Z")
I have also sent an email. You guys better not have stolen the book I wanted. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-books/164421/7 "2003-03-27T12:06:58Z")
E-mail sent. Free books! Almost as good as free chocolate! ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-books/164421/8 "2003-03-27T12:54:28Z")
E-mail sent. I listed a bunch in order of preference, so I’m hoping there will be at least one of the books I want left! ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-books/164421/9 "2003-03-27T13:16:43Z")
Imagine my astonishment that you guys would go nuts for free books! Great response so far – here’s what’s left right now: Edie: An American Biography. (Jean Stein/George Plimpton) The Life and Times of Little Richard: The Quasar of Rock. [1984] (Charles White) Footnotes: A Memoir. (Tommy Tune) Road Scholar: Coast to Coast Late in the Century. (Andrei Codrescu; photos by David Graham) Quitting the Nairobi Trio: A Memoir. (Jim Knipfel) Lying Awake. (Mark Salzman) The Book of Fred. (Abby Bardi) Earthly Possessions. (Anne Tyler) The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. (Oscar Hijuelos) The Mummy. (Anne Rice) They’re going fast… ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-books/164421/10 "2003-03-27T22:17:17Z")
Aw, crap! In waiting to find out what was left, I missed out. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-books/164421/11 "2003-03-27T22:33:23Z")
Sorry Lissa – I logged off before your post last night, and by the time I fired up the machine this morning, there was a long queue of emails. I really do feel bad about this… ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-books/164421/12 "2003-03-27T22:42:45Z")
Hey **twickster**! Great idea! I’d love to read a copy of “The Life and Times of Little Richard” if you still have it. I’d be glad to send you a few bucks. I’ll e-mail you my addy. Thanks! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-books/164421/13 "2003-03-27T23:21:38Z")
I sent my request. If the book I want is still available, I’ll send a second email with my address. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![CBCD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@CBCD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBCD)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2003, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-books/164421/14 "2003-03-27T23:55:23Z")
If you like free books, or you want to trade books, or you want to get rid of some of your books to good homes, have I got a website for you! [www.bookcrossing.com](http://www.bookcrossing.com) It is very cool. ---
**Author:** ![fish\_in\_the\_sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ba0ec/32.png) [@fish\_in\_the\_sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fish_in_the_sky)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-books/164421/15 "2003-03-28T01:22:27Z")
E-mail sent. You’re an awesome, awesome individual. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-books/164421/16 "2003-03-28T02:08:41Z")
Okay, we’re down to the last five: Earthly Possessions, Mambo Kings, the Mummy, Edie, and Footnotes. Going, going… ---
**Author:** ![Emperor\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@Emperor\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emperor_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-books/164421/17 "2003-03-28T04:50:36Z")
Email away, Capt’n… ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-books/164421/18 "2003-03-28T12:25:45Z")
Not to give anything away about the **Emperor** ’s new books – but the Mambo Kings are headed poleward. Four left… ---
**Author:** ![GSV\_Consolation\_of\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f1d935/32.png) [@GSV\_Consolation\_of\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GSV_Consolation_of_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-books/164421/19 "2003-03-28T12:46:48Z")
I second the [BookCrossing.com](http://BookCrossing.com) motion. It’s an excellent site. (My handle there is **[fnordprefect](http://www.bookcrossing.com/mybookshelf/fnordprefect)** BTW) I’ve released a few books myself (no feedback yet, but they’re out there somewhere), mostly on trains. The SDMB could become an excellent “Crossing Zone”, what with the huge number of readers and the wide variety of tastes. ---
**Author:** ![Emperor\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@Emperor\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emperor_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-books/164421/20 "2003-04-09T20:40:22Z")
Woo hoo! I got my book! Thanks muchly, I’m going to start it after I finish my last exam on Saturday. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-books/164421.md?page=2)