Thanks to Glenda for the lead on paperbackswap.com It's a great idea. See her posting on it and use her as a referral. I don't need the extra swap credits because I'm collecting them faster than I can cash them in. We're always knee deep in books here.

Joining the site is making me reassess my relationship to the printed word. Pulling titles off the shelf to send out to new homes and amassing a “wish list” online to replace them finds me taking stock of ideas that have been on hold for years and are ready to be jettisoned.
For instance I concede that I will never read an in depth analysis of the British miner’s strike of the mid-80s, no matter how much I enjoyed the music that went along with the benefits and fundraisers of the time. Same thing for a memoir of the Pullman Strike I bought on a field trip to that neighborhood one Labor Day some years distant. Being there was enough.
I got a lot out of selected passages of the Lenin Anthology, but it’s about as likely that I’ll find myself defending the barricades as it is that I’ll ever curl up with that one again.

On the other hand, for 15 years I had intended to read Chaos by James Gleick. I ran into a copy at the thrift store the other day. I haven’t been able to put it down. I guess I’m finally ready to grok my fractal universe.
It’s kept me from getting back to volumes on tantric ecstasy and global environmental collapse that have been in my brief case since mid summer. When I carry titles with me and don’t devour them like snackfood, I wonder if I’m depriving myself of a healthy diet or if I just packed them along to impress an imagined commuter reading over my shoulder…

The first actual arrival from the Swap is Serpent Power, an early 20th century translation of key Sanskrit texts on Kundalini. An asana workbook and a volume of oriental mythology are expected soon.
The shift of my shelf space from radical labor history to the wisdom of the ancients reflects a shift in lifestyle for sure. But how far down the deck will these new titles get shuffled before I actually get past the introductory chapters. Or will they be evicted in a decade with the spines uncracked?
We all make a fetish of the object. It gets absurd. When I recently got a good lead on a bit torrent site I found the complete works of Crowley, Stephen King, Joseph Campbell, Papaji, Ganga Ji and a dozen other enlightened masters, the Golden Bough, key works of the Kabalah, plus an archive with the inviting title “1400 Scifi Fantasy And Classic Ebooks” In one night I downloaded a lifetime of magic, mindfulness and escapism in prose.
Just because I could.
If I had a direct feed to the library of congress and a decent pocket computer, would I send all the paper on my dozen bookcases to be recycled?
How much of my ego is wrapped up in the titles I surround myself with, both read and unread. Do the bound volumes serve as “the company I keep” and collect dust in anticipation of someone's judgement?