Keeping up with the Tanakas

I have passed the 100 mark for books received from www.bookmooch.com! With the seven books I found in my mailbox yesterday, I have received a total of 104 books. Of those books, I have read 47 from cover to cover. Out of those 47, 39 have been sent back out to other book moochers. I cannot say it enough - I LOVE bookmooch! I have been a member since September of 2006 and the site has seriously improved the quality of my life here! It gives me access to a wider range of titles than what is generally available at the limited number of stores that even offer English books in Japan. Plus, the fact that is costs only postage and the willingness to part with unwanted used books of my own, allows me to indulge my book lust and try authors or titles that I would not be willing to buy. Because most of my mooches are international, I usually receive three book mooch points for every book I send out. This means that for every two books I send out, I can receive anywhere from three to six books in return - three books if I request them from other countries at a cost of two points per book and six if I find books I want from other members in Japan, because it only costs one point to mooch a book from within your own country. The book I have enjoyed the most from my mooch pile is Judi Hendricks' Bread Alone. I don't regret any mooches I have made, but I wasn't able to finish Joan Didion's Year of Magical Thinking. Bookmooch has become my main source for reading material. Of the 30 books I have read this year, only 7 of them came from sources other than bookmooch, six were from friends and only one was purchased outright. As for all the books trapped in my "to-be-read pile" that includes so many books it can't really be placed into a singular pile? Well, Kathleen Norris said "just the knowledge that a good book is awaiting one at the end of a long day makes that day happier." I couldn't agree more. Thanks to bookmooch (and Ken who introduced me to the site), I can look forward to many happy days ahead.