# SDMB Book Swap **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 11, 2002, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-book-swap/97579 "2002-03-11T15:01:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2002, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-book-swap/97579/161 "2002-04-20T00:31:22Z")
**Vix** , (and **Cranky** , cuz I know you were involved), thanks for _Girl with A Pearl Earring_. I’ve wanted to read it, but never got around to it. Now I can! I’ve heard lots of good things about it. ::happy dance:: ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2002, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-book-swap/97579/162 "2002-04-21T06:19:05Z")
A bump for this thread. And so it’ll be more than just a bump, I decided to go back and figure out who’s participated. I came up with 45 names (along with the people they sent books to, of identifiable), which either means I miscalculated or maybe Cranky didn’t count herself when she said she had 44 people. Another Primate \> rjk Asylum \> CrankyAsAnOldMan Baker \> Jess BiblioCat \> Another Primate Booker57 bristlesage \> Bibliocat Brynda \> vix cjhoworth \> Pencepon Con Template CrankyAsAnOldMan \> Ellen Cherry DarkWriter \> Quasimodem delphica \> Shirley Ujest Edward The Head \> RickQ Ellen Cherry \> lurker b FisherQueen \> Baker FriendRob \> obfusciatrist Gravity Hodge \> The Punkyova Jane D’oh! \> Booker57 Jess \> Morgainelf Kat \> Politzania Krisfer the Cat \> bristlesage Lamar Mundane \> Brynda Leifsmama \> delphica Little Nemo \> Yersinia Pestis lurker b \> Sapphire Bullet Morgainelf \> Kat obfusciatrist \> cjhoworth Pencepon \> Con Template Politzania \> Steve Wright Quasimodem \> ResIpsaLoquitor ResIpsaLoquitor \> Asylum RickQ \> White Lightening rjk \> rocking chair rocking chair \> Winkie Sapphire Bullet \> singular1 Shirley Ujest \> Gravity singular1 \> DarkWriter Solomon7t Steve Wright \> Edward The Head The Punkyova \> Leifsmama vix \> FisherQueen White Lightening Winkie \> Lamar Mundane Yersinia Pestis \> Krisfer the Cat It’ll be very strange if Booker57 is the one to send me a book. Of the 44 other people in this swap, I’ve only met two; Booker and Yersinia. The odds that those two would be randomly chosen as the links to me in the chain are amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Leifsmama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a698b9/32.png) [@Leifsmama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leifsmama)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2002, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-book-swap/97579/163 "2002-04-23T18:23:56Z")
**The Punkyova** I just finished “Bridge of Birds.” Thank you so much for such a wonderful book!!! I love the tall tale aspect of it. Now on to “Guilty Pleasures.” If it’s anywhere as good as “Bridge of Birds” it’ll be great. Thanks again. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2002, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-book-swap/97579/164 "2002-04-23T19:09:00Z")
Just wanted to report my complete satisfaction with the Cranky-selected **Daughter of the Forest**! You were right – anyone put off by fantasy would certainly be missing a wonderful book. I was immediately captivated when I allowed myself a brief peek at the jacket blurb – that it was a retelling of the fairy tale of the seven swans. I was familiar with this one; I read and re-read until it was in tatters an ancient copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales as a child. The jacket said it was a Celtic tale but maybe it’s universal. Anyway, it was beautifully and tenderly written. I anticpate reading the sequels (although when I looked for them at my library they seemed to have gone into hiding. After a lifetime of successful library-using, this one particular branch seems out to get me. I can never find anything I’m looking for!) Thanks again for wonderful selections, **Cranky**. Here’s a deal: sometime in the next year I’ll re-read _Plainsong_, and after I do, I’ll pass it back to you for a re-read. Deal? Or shall we all have another swap when everyone’s finished reading? And just keep passin’ 'em along … ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-book-swap/97579/165 "2002-04-24T02:58:21Z")
But would we “pass along” the books we got in the first swap, or choose another book from our own shelf? ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-book-swap/97579/166 "2002-04-24T10:48:13Z")
**SapphireBullet** , I got my book! Good choice, too. I love Elmore Leonard, and I had actually started _Cuba Libra_ a few years ago, but I hardly got started when I had to suddenly take a job in New Orleans, and the book got lost in the shuffle. I never got around to replacing it, so know I don’t have to! I’m looking forward to getting back into it-I’ll just start from the beginning, since it’s been so long. Thanks a lot-worth the wait!🙂 And I’m so glad you liked _Poisonwood Bible_, **Darkwriter**! I’d like to see it brought to the screen, too-I wonder if we could get HBO to start a new series? Now that you’ve read Barbara Kingsolver, try _Prodigal Summer_ or _The Bean Trees_. I read this weekend she’s got a new collection of short stories and poems coming out, too. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Punkyova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@The\_Punkyova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Punkyova)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-book-swap/97579/167 "2002-04-24T12:54:34Z")
Leifsmama, I’m glad you liked _Bridge of Birds_. I really enjoyed it. I liked the Chinese setting, which made a nice change from the standard fantasy world. However, some people I know didn’t like it at all, and thought it was too weird. Go figure. _Guilty Pleasures_ is quite different. It is much darker and has the vampire/sexualiy kind of atmosphere that Anne Rice made de rigour, but with a nice mystery and more realism. I hope that makes sense. Your post said you liked mystery and fantasy. I wasn’t sure which part of the fantasy spectrum you are more comfortable in, but I figured these two books covered the waterfront, and had some mystery thrown in as well. Enjoy! ---
**Author:** ![Jane\_D\_oh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/839c29/32.png) [@Jane\_D\_oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jane_D_oh)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-book-swap/97579/168 "2002-04-24T13:42:32Z")
I am waiting for my book(s) from **White Lightening** , that should help with your list **Little Nemo** ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-book-swap/97579/169 "2002-04-24T15:30:54Z")
Little Nemo, I did add someone at the last minute, and now I might be adding someone else again because it appears that Bristlesage has gone AWOL. Ellen, I am so glad you liked it. I was surprised by how much it moved me. That first night the swans came back as human, and spent all their precious time as humans helping Sorcha… well, I soaked a couple of kleenexes with blubbery snot and tears, I was so sad about it. And Finbar… _welling up_ I haven’t had a chance to read the sequels yet but I have them. I’m trying to get a book club selection read and I haven’t finished one of the books Asylum sent me and still need to read the other one, as well! It’s a nice problem, having too many books to read. I’ve been meaning to send you “House of Sand and Fog” to make up for Plainsong being an already-read selection. Don’t worry about sending it back to me. Just treasure it or lend it out. I want Kent Haruf to get all the attention he deserves as an author. I don’t know how we should do another round. I think it would be really neat if people sent on the book they got after they were done–it’d make for a neat round robin of people sharing books. But it doesn’t have to be that way. I’m open to suggestions! ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-book-swap/97579/170 "2002-04-24T16:57:53Z")
Oh! I cried when the doggie died, Cranky! I’m dying to find out what the evil stepmother is up to. Maybe I’ll launch another offensive at my library on Saturday. Though I’m hip-deep in Gary Jennings’ _Aztec_ at the moment and, as is usual with all his books, I am trying not to read like the demon pace I WANT to, because I want it to last. But at the rate I’m going I’ll probably be done by Saturday. [Please note, everyone, my umpteenth Jennings plug.] I’m also plugging Kingsolver; I can’t help it I love her so much. I’ve met her several times. She has been the subject of a documentary in our [Signature series](http://www.ket.org:80/itvvideos/offering/reading/signature.htm), which was produced here where I work, as well as featured in a live program tied to a project we had called [“What If All Kentucky Reads The Same Book?”](http://www.ket.org/bookclub/whatif/callin.htm) That book was The Bean Trees (though only one copy was NOT used for the whole state, as some wits have suggested. :p) If you’ve read Bean Trees click the link and check out the set. We had a big old gas station sign, too, suitable for launching people over. My opinion in the next swap is to make it a swap of already-sent books. That would be so much fun. But if someone wants to make another selection I doubt anyone would take their ball and go home. ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-book-swap/97579/171 "2002-04-24T19:12:36Z")
Still no word from my sender ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Politzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-book-swap/97579/172 "2002-04-24T19:39:02Z")
\*_Kat \*\* – I finished \* Hunter’s Oath_ (need to update [bookcrossing.com](http://bookcrossing.com)) and have started _Hunter’s Death_. I REALLY like the idea of the “Huntbrothers” & kinda wish the author had focussed more on that culture instead of bringing Evayne and her quest into it. ---
**Author:** ![Morgainelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Morgainelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgainelf)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-book-swap/97579/173 "2002-04-24T20:21:12Z")
**Jess** , I finished _Raney_. What a great read! Being a southerner living in the north, I could relate to both Raney and her husband. And I know what it’s like to have a husband who refuses to conform to your southern mama’s “visiting” conventions! (That husband is now an ex, by the way!) Now, how will this work going forward? Do we get a new name? Do we send on a new book or the one we just read? ---
**Author:** ![Sapphire\_Bullet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Sapphire\_Bullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapphire_Bullet)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-book-swap/97579/174 "2002-04-24T20:40:19Z")
> [@](#): > > SapphireBullet, I got my book! > > Good choice, too. I love Elmore Leonard, and I had actually started Cuba Libra a few years ago, but I hardly got started when I had to suddenly take a job in New Orleans, and the book got lost in the shuffle. I never got around to replacing it, so know I don’t have to! I’m looking forward to getting back into it-I’ll just start from the beginning, since it’s been so long. Thanks a lot-worth the wait! Oh, I am so glad! And I am terribly sorry it took so long- every time I planned to go to the post office some shiny object would distract me. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2002, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-book-swap/97579/175 "2002-04-25T04:14:38Z")
> [@](#): > > I am waiting for my book(s) > [@](#): > > Still no word from my sender Are either of you science fiction fans? I have duplicate copies of two of Gardner Dozois’ collections of _The Year’s Best Science Fiction_; volume 16 (from 1999) and volume 18 (from 2001). I had considered sending them to Yersinia, but she specifically mentioned that she was already backed up on science fiction and asked not to be sent anymore. If either of you are interested, I’ll send them out. ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2002, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-book-swap/97579/176 "2002-04-25T11:29:12Z")
**SapphireBullet** , that cracked me up. **Cranky** , count me in on the idea of re-swapping the books! It sounds like there’s a real treasure of unique books in this swap, and I’d love to keep it going. It’s such a treat to get surprise books in the mail. Of course, OCD types like me would stick another book in the package, which would make it even more fun! ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2002, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-book-swap/97579/177 "2002-04-25T11:30:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hodge \* > \*\*Still no word from my sender ☹ \*\* Hmmm. And he was a fellow Canadian. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2002, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-book-swap/97579/178 "2002-04-25T12:39:33Z")
Glad you liked _Raney_, **Morgainelf**. I was a little leery of sending it – I was a little afraid that someone might take my liking the book for wholesale endorsement of some of Raney’s values. What good luck that you are a Southerner! I still having gotten my book – maybe today! It’s rainy and I’m down to my last library book. Jess ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2002, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-book-swap/97579/179 "2002-04-26T05:26:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Politzania \* > \*_Kat \*\* – I finished \* Hunter’s Oath_ (need to update [bookcrossing.com](http://bookcrossing.com)) and have started _Hunter’s Death_. > > I REALLY like the idea of the “Huntbrothers” & kinda wish the author had focussed more on that culture instead of bringing Evayne and her quest into it. Really? I like Evayne, especially Evayne the Younger. My favorite characters are Kallandras and Jewel/Jay. ---
**Author:** ![Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krisfer_the_Cat)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-book-swap/97579/180 "2002-05-01T23:06:48Z")
Smoke! Just in case you look in to see why this thread has moved into the active threads … I sent off your book yesterday… at the 2 to 3 day rate so hopefully Saturday at the latest. Hope you enjoy it! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-book-swap/97579.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-book-swap/97579.md?page=10)