Bookdropping

The other day, as my train slowly entered the station and arrived to the platform, I noticed something falling to the floor when somebody got up to leave the train. The mature woman sitting behind me had dropped something accidentally. Or so I thought. It was a book. I stooped to pick it up for her — trying to read its title at the same time, of course. It was “On Beauty”, by Zadie Smith. I already knew that book because it received very good critics and won some important prize, and had been since heavily promoted here in England. I had been seeing it in the hands of commuters lately. I handed the book back to the lady expecting the preceptive “oh thank you very much” plus broad smile that I so much appreciate since I arrived to this country. Instead of that, the woman made me a gesture of subtle negation and stammered out something that I didn't understand. Suddenly it dawned on me: this lovely lady is a bookcrosser in disguise! I was happy with the possibility of rescuing a book from the wild for the second time in my life. But I saw no sticker of Bookcrossing on its cover. Why? Then the woman, noticing my confusion, looked at me again in guiltiness and confessed in a whisper: “I can't stand it. I don't like it. Do you want it?” Sure. Her guilty confession kept me laughing at intervals for the rest of that day. She was no bookcrosser. She was a bookdropper. Cool. Next time you realise that you actually loathe a book that you began to read just because all your friends were loving it, don't suffer. Instead, perform a sophisticated act of generous bookdropping in some crowded place. (Just make sure before that nobody is close enough as to offer it back to you). That might save yourself hundreds of boring pages and quite a few pathetic attempts to highbrow comments among your mates. And it's a smart, environmentally friendly move which Al Gore himself would be proud campaigning for. I wonder how many books are bought (and maybe read) just because of ads and trends. I myself have put it now in my queue, but after some other more important books. By the way, bookdropping.com is already registered, but bookdropping.info remains available…