Accidentally Green: Paperback Book Sharing

I love to read when I have the time. It is my great escape. I love the way books look lined up on a bookshelf. My fantasy would be to have one of those home library you see in movies where the shelves go from the floor to the twenty foot ceiling and there in a ladder that slides gracefully along a track so you can reach all the books. Of course, there would be a huge desk in the room, a couple of comfortable overstuffed chairs, floor lamps....I digress. This is actually a 'green' tip, not Fantasy Land. Now what is the new phrase - Recycle, Reuse, Reduce, Rethink? Something like that. I was reminded this past weekend of a Reuse method of going green that our family and friends have been doing for over 25 years.


Whenever anyone buys a paperback book, they read it, write their name in the front cover and a comment if they want (good book, didn't like the ending, etc.), and then pass the book on to someone else. I've gotten books with half a dozen signatures in them. While this may not be something the publishers would like to hear about, some of the trees that are gently swaying in the breeze are thrilled to be alive.


This is a picture of Dardenelles, a campground in the Stanislaus Forest of California. The picture was take the summer of 2008. My sister Jan and I used to have picnics with our dolls in the circle of trees while Mom fished the river visible in the background.