Winter weather and covid restrictions? Not a problem for Granny Trude! After all, she’s got her books. And she’ll never run out of reading materials, because she knows where she can replenish her stocks – cheaply and sustainably.
My dears,I wish you all a happy New Year – a little late! How was the turn of the year for you? I spent mine with my friend Inge, and it was exactly as I thought it would be: cosy and peaceful.
Of course, times are still difficult. And sometimes I have to make quite an effort to stay cheerful and level-headed. But firstly there’s hope that we will soon start to see the effects of the vaccinations against coronavirus. And secondly there’s literature.
Public bookshelves
You see, what’s really helping me at the moment is reading. After all, books rank amongst the most fantastic things in the world! I’m absolutely thrilled to have a public bookshelf near my home – I wouldn’t even have been able to buy many of the books I’ve “consumed” lately. I’m sure you’re familiar with the principle of public bookshelves: you can take books left by others free of charge from repurposed telephone booths or weatherproof bookcases installed in public places. Of course you can also put your own books there for the benefit of others. It’s truly wonderful! I’ve already read one or two brilliant books that I wouldn’t otherwise have come across through this scheme. Nevertheless I remain loyal to my favourite bookshop and treat myself to the latest crime thriller there whenever I fancy one. Sometimes you just need a whodunit!Of course I know that authors are delighted every time a copy of their book is sold. But if books are recycled through a larger readership, they gain a far wider audience and maybe even fans – who will then actually buy another book by that author. Apart from that it’s more beneficial to the environment. The thing is, here in Germany we use as much paper as the population of Africa and South America put together! If you’ve ever seen photos of the Frankfurt Book Fair, or been there before, you will have a rough idea of the huge quantity of wood devoured in the process of book production.
Buying sustainable books
But if a particular book isn’t available from your preferred bookseller and for that reason you want to order it from the internet, there’s an interesting alternative to the universally familiar American online shopping service. It’s a company called ecolibri – a mail-order business selling books, audio books and ebooks that’s based in Germany and claims to plant and maintain more trees than the amount lost through the production of the books they sell. If that’s true, it’s fantastic! And of course there are lots of online bookstores selling second-hand books. I’ve picked up some excellent bargains on these sites, when I’m looking for something to read aloud to my grandchildren or great-grandchildren – you can even sometimes find books that are out of print nowadays.Swapping with friends and in book exchanges
Inge and I have sometimes passed books on to each other too. But because she devours one romance after another, we don’t have that many favourite books in common. Inge gets most of her paperbacks in an online book exchange for romance fans. Apparently if you can imagine it, it exists.Reading online
If you don’t want to or can’t buy books, it’s also possible to read for free on the internet. For example the zeno.org library provides unabridged versions of the most important works of world literature from ancient times up to the 20th century online. So if you have a spontaneous urge to read good old Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, you can peruse over forty of his works from the first page to the last on your computer screen or tablet. If your reading preference is more Friedrich Schiller, Franz Kafka or Charles Darwin, you’ll find what you’re looking for there – as will someone with an interest in Charlotte Brontë, Annette von Droste-Hülshoff or William Shakespeare. I’m highly impressed by this sort of thing, I must admit! What a treasure it is, for us all to use “just like that”!BookCrossing
Have you ever heard of the fun idea of deliberately leaving books lying around somewhere? Releasing them “into the wild”? It sounds so simple initially, and you can do it independently, without a “community”: just leave a book in a waiting area for other readers, with or without a note in the front. Then it’ll be taken – and maybe someone else will enjoy it too. But you can also use a website called BookCrossing.com, as my granddaughter Laura from Berlin told me. After all she’s very interested in sustainability – to my delight she’s “very much the grandma” in that sense. On this platform 1.9 million book-lovers have grouped together to get books circulating. There are various ways of doing this. I like the variant where you put a sticker on the front of the book, on which you write a number that comes from the website. You can find a template for the labels there too. And people who find the book can see everywhere it has travelled already. According to the company, there are 13.4 million books travelling through 132 countries. Cafés or shops can become involved too, by becoming a BookCrossing Zone. I never cease to be amazed – this platform has been in existence for 20 years and I’ve only just heard of it!?As you can see, getting hold of books does not always entail high costs. And now you must excuse me – my whodunit’s calling from the sofa again. I hope you can find something like this to keep you grounded in covid times!
With warmest wishes,
Yours, Trude
February 2021