It’s June, the month for Grads and Dads!
Congratulations to all of you who are graduating from anything this month…and for those of you who aren’t, here are some ways to join the Class of 2008:

• Graduate from Clutter.  Post those books you don’t need anymore!  If they were textbooks, remember to read the textbook exception for highlighting/underlining in the Help Center Book Condition Guidelines.  Get those books outta there and on to someone else who needs/wants them, and make way for new ones!
• Graduate from I-have-to-finish-it syndrome. If the book you are reading is not your cup of tea, just close it and post it to your PBS Bookshelf for swapping.  Life’s too short to finish a book that you don’t like (but someone else might enjoy), just because you opened it.  Free yourself!  Getting a new book no longer means buying another one: you can swap this one, and order something else.
• Graduate from Where the Heck is that Book? when one is requested from you.  Use Book Journal and your requests will show the physical space in your house to which you have assigned the book, right on the request.
• Graduate from Prime Time Addiction. Come on, you know most of the stuff on TV in the summer is the junk they can’t sell any other time.  Turn it off, hide the remote, and dig into your TBR Pile!
• Graduate from The Same Old Song. If you haven’t joined SwapaCD, then you have to check it out this week!  The changes that are launching today will blow you away.  No lie.  SwapaCD members, get ready for a whole new World o’Swap!

To all the Dads out there: we hope you have a great Father’s Day, with all those ties you don’t need, barbecue accessories you don’t need, and ear-hair-trimmers you don’t want to admit you need (but ahem).   Seriously, we know the presents don’t matter; the day is all about dads feeling appreciated for all they do, and have done, to get kids ready to go out on their own in the world.   But take comfort, those of you who have kids graduating this month: they don’t ever really leave.  They’ll be back…with laundry.
>Have a great June, everyone, and a happy Father’s Day!
Best,
Richard and
The PaperBackSwap Team

Happy New Year!

Time to hit the books!   Your TBR piles have mounted up while you ran around getting everything done for the holidays, and now you have to get to those books that have been waiting to be read.   We have visions of our members, curled up under PBS blankets, reading books by the glow of their LightWedges…humming “Though the weather outside is frightful…staying inside with a book is so delightful.  I have another 110 pages to go…Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!”

Oops did we just put that song in your head?  Quick, hop over to SwapaCD and order a some new music to erase that annoying sound.

What will 2008 bring to PaperBackSwap?  More books, more members, we have no doubt of that.  We have tons of new features in the works as always.  We are also working on the other sites (SwapaCD and SwapaDVD) of course, so you can expect new stuff over there too.   Yep, things are hopping all over Swapland.

We hope that 2008 is filled with great reads and great fun for all of our members, and we hope that it brings you all that you yearn for…or more of the same if everything is hunky-dory!

Best,

Richard and Robert
and The PaperBackSwap Team

So…you’ve waved goodnight to the last trick-or-treater, blown the candle out in the Jack O’Lantern, and set your clocks back. You know what this means: the season of madness is here! Yes, that wonderful, harried, chock-full holiday time. The next couple of months will be so busy: shops will be crowded, traffic insane, and your To Do list will seem endless. In the middle of all the rushing around, do try to take time for yourselves, to savor the things that make you happy. A chat with a good friend; great music from your iPod while you rake leaves; that moment of anticipation when you first open a good book to start reading; the laughter around the dinner table. Little opportunities for thanksgiving come every day.
We have those opportunities too–we are reminded every time we get happy feedback from a member. We are thankful for every one of you: the members who volunteer their efforts to help the site, those who have made the Discussion Forums feel like a giant, wacky family, and of course all of the members who keep posting and swapping books. Each of you contributes so much here–your books, your time, yourselves. We don’t forget that you are the club. In other words, we may set the table, but you bring the pumpkin pie!
We wish all of you a joyous Thanksgiving season.

Richard and Robert
and the PaperBackSwap Team