Books With Wings… Let Them Fly

Books With Wings, a pay-it-forward style book exchange, is something that has been brewing in the back of my mind for a couple of years. Although I have left books behind before I’ve always wondered where they end up.

A global book share project

I envisioned a global book share project that starts simply by leaving a book in a random place with a message inside. Yesterday, as I sat among the orchards in Changi Airport’s Terminal 2, #BooksWithWings began and I posted the following on FaceBook.

I have just left a book at Changi Airport, Singapore with a message inside. I hope it will find its way into happy hands. This is the first of many books I hope to release into the wild in a project called #bookswithwings.

I always read a physical book when flying as many countries don’t allow the in-flight use of electronic devices during ascent and descent and this is the time I need to be distracted the most! I had just purchased a new books in Singapore so it was time to let one go.

I hope the book(s) get read to death

Despite the daily affirmation that this is naïve, I believe in humanity. I root for people. So I hope that this project that truly takes wings. That the books find themselves read to death, literally. That they pass through so many hands, hearts and minds that they eventually fall apart and the remains recycled to become part of a new book.

The first #BooksWithWings book

The book I left in the wild is a YA (Young Adult) contemporary, aptly entitled Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between. Written by Jennifer E. Smith and published by Headline in 2015. Although this will be its first journey with new readers, the book has travelled over borders before. Originally bought in South Africa, it travelled with me to Indonesia before it was set free in Singapore.

The bookmark I left inside the book is one that author Katie McGarry kindly posted to me in South Africa. It features her book Nowhere But Here.

I’d love to track the book(s) progress around the world

If you find the book let me know, I’d love to track its progress around the world. I hope to be able to share photographs of traveling books in their new surrounds. But please for privacy reasons don’t share photos that include people.

Spread bookish love

I would love this project to spread. Anyone can join in. Leave books for others to discover.
Spread bookish love. #BooksWithWings