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…
