Sharing is Caring - Book swap & other meet-&-greets
I grew up in Kuwait and went to school here. Of all the things I miss from those days, its access to the school Library I miss the most.
Library period was compulsory up to year 9, after that, when we picked and chose our subjects for the IGCSEs, library period just vanished, as did art & music (atleast for me).
Looking back, I regret having the opportunity to read all those many books, and not taking it. I even found an old library card of mine, I would take out titles (because we HAD to), and just bring them back a week or so later, having left them to gather dust in my locker.
Ever since then, my passion for reading has been ignited, and the flames consume more and more pages of ACTUAL books every year. I cannot bring myself to read .pdf files or any other form of "e-book". To me, reading is about engaging all your senses, and the most important one being the feel of the spine in the palm of your hand, the pages at the tip of your fingers..
Books are a precious commodity in Kuwait. And likewise, highly valued. There is no concept of "book bin" @ any of the major bookstores, and on average, all titles, whether new or old will start from KD2.5 and upward. At times, for certain writers, Jarir Bookstore would have a 2-in-1 special (small font, not for the nearsighted) which would make the titles worth the money. Anything now however starts @ KD3.5
I feel it is a rip-off. Even used bookstores such as q8books.com are charging high prices.
Now comes the essence of this topic: why do those with similar tastes exchange books for other books, a sort of book-for-book chain, an acorn-system if you will, whereby those with books can meet others with books and exchange titles.
Myself, I have a fair amount of titles by Robert Ludlum (author of the Bourne Identity saga), John Grisham (author of those lawyer-type stories such as The Chamber, Runaway Jury etc), Wilbur Smith etc. To name a few off the top of my head.
Also, last weekend there was a car boot sale near the Shaab area. I was planning to go but refrained on moral grounds. I feel it is unfair to charge sellers money with no guarantee that sales would cover the cost.
So what I am also proposing (have proposed in a previous post located here /forum/viewtopic.php?id=60499) is that any all with trinkets, objects, items of worth etc. that they wish to offload, would arrange our own timely car boot sale, the location is already taken care of.
This day in age, I think reading is the key to solve the worlds desparate plunge into illiteracy (defined as Ignorance resulting from not reading) and restore proper use of vocabulary.
And the rest is up to you 
I don't have much for a Boot Sale, but I sure would be there at least as a buyer
I like the idea.
i love the friday market but it needs a map! i can never figure out where i parked after losing myself inside..
i love the phrase "one mans trash is another man's treasure",
or womans
Great idea, although as I'm moving places every three-four years I've learned to be 'light' in assets. 
So i don't have much to sell, but would love to join and buy whatever I need. I'll definetly bring my collection to exchange, lend, read, review, eat books!
Let me know the date/time pls...
Ben
Great !
FYI the book swap is separate from the proposed sale; unless you want to sell books.
in that case i call first dibs 
I'm thinking a saturday morning.
Bookswap can be @ any place, sale has to be in a specific place ive already scouted out.
Hey! I've just registered at the forum. I'd love to meet up with you guys for a book swap, if you have no qualms about meeting a complete stranger 
. I've got some books by Jack Kerouac, Charles Bukowski, and JRR Tolkien, off the top of my head.
sounds great!
@ this point we are all strangers meinn freund,
Welcome to expat-blog
JRR Tolkien.. i LOVED LOTR, i read the hobbit, and watched the extended versions of all the other movies. im hesitant to read them, why?
because i think all the harry potter movies (cept the last one) suck and dont do the books justice. there is so much going on in the story, u just cant make it into a 1.5hr movie.
right?
I completely agree, you can never fully translate the books into a movie. Too much is lost in the process.
But such discussions are best had in person .
You guys wanna set a time this weekend?
Stephm64, went to The English School back when it was in Surra, moved to Salmiya with it, then moved to NES, class of 2002.
whataboutchu?
bassemwahba - LMAO @ nerdgasm! thats my fear, see i already spun tales of wonder to all my friends who HAVENT watched LOTR (can u believe these creatures walk among us?) and how it beats harry potter hands down, so im afraid, to read the books and discover that the movies didnt do it justice. which i know they didnt. in time. maybe
I'm currently in the middle of Raymond Feists "The Magician" saga, which is 24 books and still growing. I bought em all onlineand had em shipped here.
arash74 like the enthusiasm!
ok, how about.. saturday morning, a meeting in Marina Mall for all those interested in books and reading, no need to bring anything along, just an ice-breaker and conversation starter.
hmm?
LOTR #Heavenly #Out-Of-This-World
Peter Jackson did his best, and I guess no one else could have done a more formidable job in translating epic books into a movie. Anyone knows if Hobbit is getting on the white screen to? Would love to see that one too!
Harry Potter just fills a generation gap of poor souls not having had the oppertunity of enjoying master pieces like LOTR, Star Wars, Indy, Etc.... We need to be sympathetic to them
Also, got plenty of self-development stuff if someone is intersted in that stuff 
Can't do next Saturday as I already have other plans (can you believe this?? :-)), but I'm good for a week later? You guys go ahead and will join a next group meeting!
Awesome! I'm down for saturday morning! Good to be seeing a fellow NES grad
afternoon is not so good for me 
you got it Deniz 
I graduated '04, legacy!
I'm flexible on saturday, and live in Salmiyah, so I'm actually cool meeting the two of you guys separately, if there isn't a time when the both of you are free
And for everybody else who couldn't make it: let's do it again next week!
alrighty, sounds like a plan
in the mean-time, if those of you who have books you wish to swap with others, if you can just type up the name of the book, and the author, and send em to me, i'll make a list to distribute amongst those interested, a sort of library if u will, with the book title, author, and name of the person who wants to borrow it.
so like i said, acorn system, u dont have to give books, u can always buy the person lending it to u a cup of joe the keyword is "sharing".
i'll get to work on my list
and potential sellers, think of which wares u want to offload, and price accordingly.
bon nuit mes amis!
all of those interested in this proposed venture, please MSG me ur emails (for privacy etc ) and i'll email u when it materialises.
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