Recycling Books

I think it is wonderful when an individual copy of a book is read by several people. Books should be recycled, kept in circulation, for maximum value and effect. Let me count the ways that books can be recycled. Libraries, by definition, circulate each book to many readers, sometimes dozens or even hundreds. Used bookstores take in previously read books from owners and resell them to the next owners. Books can be given to charities for resale, with the funds going to good causes (back into the library, in the case of Friends of the Library). Books can be passed on to friends. They can be kept on shelves in shared spaces such as workplaces, apartment or condo community rooms, and community centers, where they are available to many readers. Although there is a pleasure in taking ownership of a crisp new book, it is also pleasurable to note the signs of prior readers of used books, such as turned down corners, annotations, coffee stains, and postcards or receipts used as bookmarks. You feel a kind of connection with earlier readers of that volume. Most of all, it feels great to know that a book has more than one life with more than one reader.