Last weekend I was very lucky to be able to meet up with a select bunch of lovely BookCrossers in London. We spent time bagging up books for wild releasing, and most of us had lunch at the Camel and Artichoke.
Then we went off on a release walk, leaving labelled and bagged books for people to find all down the riverside. For those who don't know the idea of bookcrossing is to spread a love of books. Those who find books are encouraged by a little message to go to the bookcrossing website and leave a journal entry to say they've 'caught' it. They can also review the book. We hope that these books will then be 'released' to others, allowing those who have previously had them to track their journey. These are travelling books!
It was great fun trying to sneak books onto benches, but then best bit was looking at London's book-benches. I did take some photos, but as they were on my phone (quite an old model) they didn't come out brilliantly. So the following pictures of my favourite benches are from the Books About Town website:
Paddington Bear
This bear looked really 3D, sitting on the bench eating his jam sandwiches. I used to love watching the Paadington Bear TV programmes when I was younger, so this was a treat to see.
He's also a great example of someone exploring English culture, having immigrated from Lima.
The Librarian
Regular readers of The Story Factory Reading Zone will not be surprised to learn that this was my favourite bench. The choice of The Librarian is a really appropriate one, since he looks after all the books in the Unseen University (and probably on the entire discworld). Incidentally, those who aren't familiar with Terry Pratchett's series may wonder why the books are chained up. Well, quite simply books can be dangerous and have a life of their own!
You can find details of the whole of the Riverside Trial in London here. The benches will be in position until the 15th of September and will then be auctioned for charity. I hope you will get to see them and enjoy them as much as I did.
What literary pieces of art have you seen?
