A Free Read

In an economic downturn with grocery bills gouging the family purse, buying books gets shoved way down the priority line. Where do dedicated bibliophiles get their books? Where can you find a ‘free read’?

• Join the library
  It sounds simple, but many people don’t think of the library when hunting for books. The Barbados Public Library has a good selection of novels, magazines and reference materials. If you don’t see your favourite book, tell the librarian. They will put it on their acquisitions list because chances are if you like it, someone else will too.

• Swap Books
  I’m a book hoarder but even I have books I am willing to part with. Do you have my favourite authors? Let’s exchange. It’s that simple. Organize a book exchange at your church, service club or sports group. It does not cost a cent.

• Write the book yourself
  When I was a school girl, we used to write our own Mills and Boon romances in an exercise book and pass it round to all our friends. Success was measured by how dog-eared the book was. A spruce and neat book with no food stains or thumb prints meant it was a failure. So give it a go; write down those stories that Gran Gran used to tell. Read them to your kids. An even better idea is to encourage your kids to write their own stories for family entertainment. Get friendly with your desktop publishing programme and “publish” the stories for a wider audience.

• Encourage your local coffee/tea shop to become a ‘bookcrossing zone’
  BookCrossing means leaving your book in a public place for a stranger to take and read. According to bookcrossing.com, the official website which claims to have nearly 900,000 members, “ BookCrossing is earth-friendly, and gives you a way to share your books, clear your shelves, and conserve precious resources at the same time. … 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! "

• Surf the net
  Don’t knock it! The internet has been given a bad rap when it comes to reading. It is in fact the world’s largest library with vast resources of reading material to suit every taste. The copyright of many classic novels and plays has lapsed and these works of literary art can be found online for free. Let’s not forget the new genres thrown up by the web – blogging for example. Reading a blog on your favourite subject is often an interactive experience since most blogs allow you to comment on what you have read.

So far we have read a good deal and not spent any money. Reading is a recession proof investment in leisure and life.