Kerry from Darlin shares her Summer Book Swap for the Indie Fixx Book Club. Get in touch with me if you want to contribute to the Book Club by writing a post. xoxo – jen!
{{image from A Beach Cottage}}
By guest contributor Kerry
It’s such a pleasure to guest blog here (really, I think the work Jen does is phenomenal) and I’m very excited to be able to share the details of my new interactive, literary project with you today. First, let me ask you …
Have you ever opened the pages of a second hand book only to find it laden with lists, notes and exotic postcards belonging to owners past? Have you found the most mouth-watering recipe for chocolate cake wedged behind the cover of a book that hasn’t been opened in decades? Perhaps you’ve purchased a book at a flea market only to discover it was once, long ago, used as a hiding place for photographs, locks of hair and love letters?
If not, let me tell you, it’s quite simply the most delicious thing in the world.
It happened to me just a month ago.
I was working in the garden when the sky suddenly became very low and threateningly swollen; all grey, silver and purple. Dashing inside, I put the kettle on the stove to boil for tea. While I waited, my attention turned to a package of old books I’d acquired at a thrift store for little more than a dollar. My intention had been to break them up and use them for craft projects. As I began to unwrap them though, the house shook with an overwhelming, crash of thunder and they tumbled to the kitchen floor. As I gathered them up, I could barely believe my eyes. The books had been used as a hiding place for a series of scrawling, passionate love letters, written in the 1950s. The kettle whistled for a very, very long time as I read them.
And thus, the idea for an interactive summer book swap was born.
This is how it works.
1. Open to residents all over the world, this literary project is my brainchild and is held over at my blog Darling Disarray.
2. Once you have signed up for the free swap on The Summer Book Swap page, you are assigned a swap partner (you can specify whether you would like to swap within your own state, country or internationally). You must then choose a book title to send to your new partner. This is your choice entirely. It can be any genre or length, old or new, and provides a great opportunity to introduce your favourite authors to others.
3. Before packaging the book and trotting along to the post office, participants are encouraged to get crafty between the pages. Some members, for example, have created fictional, antiqued love letters and hidden them throughout the book. Others have slipped postcards of exotic destinations, scrummy recipes or vintage photographs inside. In some cases, books have arrived with a selection of homemade treats for members to enjoy as they read.
The idea is to create a story within a story, in the most deliciously enticing way!
If you would like, you can blog about your package on receipt and leave a link on The Summer Book Swap page of Darling Disarray. Non-bloggers can write a description of theirs in the comments too. Every month, I will pick my favourite, creative swap and send a wonderful literary prize to the winner.
I really do hope you’ll be able to join us on our literary adventures this summer. Head on over to Darling Disarray now to sign up!
With love, Kerry x