book crossing

This week I was given ein freies Buch and I discovered Bookcrossing, a term which apparently has been added to the OED.
n. the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise.
(added to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary in August 2004)

Years ago I remember reading about a school giving a teddy bear away and sending him around the world asking people who travelled with him to send a postcard to the school to tell the children about his journey and where he was. This is a similar idea but with books and it's agreat way of recycling books you're not likely to read again.

BookCrossing is earth-friendly, and gives you a way to share your books, clear your shelves, and conserve precious resources at the same time. Through our own unique method of recycling reads, BookCrossers give life to books. A book registered on BookCrossing is ready for adventure.
Leave it on a park bench, a coffee shop, at a hotel on vacation. Share it with a friend or tuck it onto a bookshelf at the gym -- anywhere it might find a new reader! What happens next is up to fate, and we never know where our books might travel. Track the book's journey around the world as it is passed on from person to person.

Anyway the book I "caught" in Geneva this week is Aurora's Anlass by Erich Hackl, set in pre-Franco Spain before the civil war - perfect for my long train journey to Berlin on Monday.