Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Dine to Read

Came across another cool website called Dine to read:
http://dinetoread.ie/

Dine to Read is an online forum for book lovers, offering you the chance to discuss a wide range of book related topics. To take part in the online discussions simply register for free and you will be issued with a password.

Dine to Read Supper Club

They organise monthly supper clubs where groups of up to ten guests meet to discuss the book of the month over supper in a restaurant setting. Groups are brought together according to interests and location. The philosophy of Dine to Read is to create a book club forum where people assemble on a monthly basis to enjoy great company, great debate and a chance to widen their circle of friends.

The beauty of Dine to Read is that it offers both online and offline book events. Guests can either chat online, join a Dine to Read supper club or do both, the choice is yours. Dine to Read is a relaxed, fun and entertaining way to meet new people. At each book club event Dine to Read provide discussion questions on the book of the month, groups are free to use these as a guide to the discussion or alternatively come up with their own discussion topics.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

BookSwap

Came across this site which is well worth checking out:
www.bookswap.ie

It offers complete strangers the opportunity to swap books. You register with the site, list the books you want to swap and then go looking at what the site has to offer. When you find a book you want, you contact the member through the site and arrange the swap.

Bookswap was set up just over a year ago by Martin Gormley, a Scottish IT programmer who has been living in Ireland for 10 years. He decided to act after growing resentful about having to fork out so much so often for books. It has more of a hobby than anything else and has been a slow-burner over the past 12 months. He has seen the number of people signing up “growing steadily” in recent weeks. “If you can’t find a book to swap, there are other things that you can do: post it for free, ask the other person to pay postage, or simply say no,” he says.

He says there are around 400 core users who are typically swapping a book a month. “I believe this is the kind of thing that could really take off during the recession.”

The cost of posting a paperback is around €3, he says and while he accepts that it might be “a pain” to find an envelope, a stamp and then post a book, “if you’re saving a tenner every time you do it, then it certainly is a great idea”.

Great idea – get swapping.

BookClub Goes to the Movies

As suggested by Val, the first bookclub/movie meeting will take place on Saturday 18th April.

The movie/book chosen is Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil By John Berendt (1994)/Clint Eastwood (1997).

More and more books are turned into films every year, bringing the characters and story to life.