True wild catches - what's it all about?

Actually I am writing this on Saturday 11 February 2006 but there is a reason for the difference in dates, as I will explain. Tuesday 12 August 2003 is the day I joined BookCrossing. In the last two and a half years I have had an enormous amount of fun - reading lots of good books, meeting lots of great people, reading what other people have to say about books on their journal entries and forum posts, and enjoying the serendipity of tracking a physical book as it travels through the world. My life has changed radically in the mean time - I moved from Sydney, Australia to London, England for starters - but my love of BookCrossing has remained a constant.

I have released books in all sorts of different ways, including:

• releasing at meetups (monthly drinks or coffee sessions with other BookCrossers in the same town) or conventions (annual events for BookCrossers in the same country)
  
• releasing at official BookCrossing zones (OBCZs) - cafes, pubs, cinemas or anywhere where there is a dedicate shelf and a sign explaining the concept
  
• giving them to other BookCrossers directly, whether in person or by post
  
• giving them to friends in the hope they'll join BookCrossing
  
• trading books with other BookCrossers through the site, through CasualReader's BookRelay site or through other sites such as sf-books.com
  
• initiating or participating in bookrings and bookrays (where there is a list of BookCrossers who read the book and then post it to the next person in turn - a ring goes back to the owner and a ray goes forever or gets released in some other way)
  
• donating books to charity

But by far and away, my favourite way to share books is the wild release. This is when you leave it for the general public to find - whether it's on a park bench or on a bus seat. A label inside the book explains the concept of BookCrossing and invites them to record the fact that they have found the book on the website. Sometimes my releases are random and sometimes they are thematic - for example, I released The God of Small Things at the Buddhist Peace Pagoda in Battersea Park and Chocolat and The Shining along with a bag of sweets at a Halloween party in a pub. I've released books in Turkey, Austria and China among other places, although I do find my catch rates are higher when I'm in an English speaking country.

According to my stats on bookshelf page, I have released 150 books in the wild. This includes books released at meetups and OBCZs but it does not include rings, rays, trades, RABCKs etc. Basically if I know who the book is going to, I will make a journal entry explaining that rather than a wild release. Some BookCrossers do it differently, but this is the way I do it.

However, in my mind it's only truly a "wild catch" if I released it in a completely non-BookCrossing environment. If it was released at a meetup or in an OBCZ, the chances of a journal entry are much higher and therefore it's not as special. This blog commemorates my "true wild catches" - those journal entries received after I have left a book in the wild away from other BookCrossers. There are many more wild releases that have never seen the light of day (yet) but I think I've had a pretty good success rate. I have had about 20 wild catches in 30 months. Many of the finders have gone on to join BookCrossing although they often do not remain active.

I have trawled my bookshelf looking for these wild catches and cut and pasted them here (I will have to double check later to make sure I haven't missed any!). Each wild catch is blogged under the date when it was journalled by the finder. However, I wanted this post to appear as the earliest post, hence the change in date. From now on, I plan to record all wild catches as they occur.

Enjoy!