Wordsmithing: THE GUARDIAN AND OBSERVER BOOK SWAP The Declaration Gemma Malley Alein Invasion and Other Inconveniences

Saturday, 17 September 2011

Have you joined the Book Swap?

The Guardian and Observer Book Swap: how to take part

From Friday 16 September, we'll be asking people all over the UK to join in the Guardian and Observer Book Swap. Here's how you can take part

1. Choose a book you'd like to swap

2. Stick the bookplate in the front of your book. The bookplates are free in the Guardian and Observer on 17 and 18 September or you candownload and print one out now

3. Write a message for the person who finds your book. Tell them why you love it

4. Leave it somewhere it can be found

5. Take a picture of your book in the place you left it, upload it to ourFlickr group and geotag it so it will be displayed on our map. You can also visit guardian.co.uk/books to leave your review of any book that you've swapped on our new books pages

Plus look out for the thousands of free books left all over the country by the Guardian and Observer. If you're on Twitter, please use the#guardianbookswap hashtag to swap news about the books you've found or left across the UK.

The rules of the book swap

1. You can leave as many books as you like, just make sure they are your own
2. Make sure your book is clean and in good condition
3. Don't leave inappropriate material where it can be found by children
4. Avoid places your book could be damaged by the weather
5. Make sure it won't be seen as a security risk
6. Don't leave it in book shops or libraries
7. Don't put yourself or the finder of the book at any risk

Read, rate and review all your favourite books atGuardian.co.uk/books

I read about this idea and had a John le Carre moment, I could see me sneaking through the streets looking for the right place to secrete a book in an all-weather plastic folder.

As many of the books I love are aimed at the YA reader, I've decided to swap YA sci-fi :

The Declaration by Gemma Mallery and Alien Invasion & Other Inconveniences by Brian Yansky

I'm a little worried about a technical melt down at the Flickr group and geotag stage but, by tomorrow, my books will be out there trying to find themselves good homes where their new reader will keep them warm and well looked after.

HAVE YOU JOINED THE GUARDIAN AND OBSERVER BOOK SWAP? DOESN'T IT SOUND LIKE FUN?

RETURN: YA Paranormal Romance

I was running late. But, it was nothing I couldn’t make up with a bit of effort. I shook my head. Confident and happy? I smiled. Increasing my stride, I pushed until the muscles in my legs burned. I kept up the pace even when the hill grew steeper.

Magpie Lane was hardly wider than a ribbon that edged the woods but that didn’t stop traffic using it to get to the motorway quicker. Large trucks and fast cars loved Magpie Lane. They sent vibrations running through me rising from the soles of my trainers. I felt the disturbance in the ground, even before the air pressure tried to knock me off balance. I hunched my shoulders as the cab hauling a container spat stones up at me.

Jogging on the spot, at the entrance to woodland, I ached to leave the road and go inside. My Mum was probably still asleep but I could hear her you-never-know-what might-be-in-there lecture buzzing on repeat inside my head. I should run safe. Not even I would argue that running through the woods on my own was the best definition of safe but I wanted to run-wild and the woodland offered me that. This early, I should be safe from axe murderers or perverts in the trees and besides, I was fast.

I jogged down the slope into the trees. From two paces in, I felt different. Freer. It felt so right. Running in the woods did great things for my style. Avoiding the roots and dodging branches forced my stride longer, I had to step higher. The woodland, The Weald, was only a sliver of ancient woodland that the developers forgot to build on but it felt like it could have been anywhere. Everywhere. At any time. The oaks and beech trees dominated the space and the skinny, silver-birches squeezed up beside them. I laughed. For a second, the woods reminded me of school and I needed to run a lot faster.

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Saturday, 17 September 2011

Have you joined the Book Swap?

The rules of the book swap