Those of us who love reading probably have a stockpile of books that we've purchased. Some, we've loved and want to read over and over again; some, we've read through once and felt that once was sufficient. Personally, I have more books than I know what to do with. I still have textbooks from college classes I took many years ago, classics like Dickens and Shakespeare, and even some old romance novels. I also collect old books, preferably from the early 1900's or older. I have just about every genre there is. Obviously, I am a voracious reader.

However, books are expensive, especially hardbacks. You can purchase from second-hand stores or garage sales, right? Of course, those aren't normally available until long after the book has been out in print for ages. It's easy (and free!) to borrow from the library or from friends, but what about books you want to own? And what do you do with those books you don't want anymore? Toss them into a landfill? (I don't think so!)

What's an environmentally conscious bookworm on a budget to do?

Happily, I've learned of an online option for those of us who want to own books but pass those we choose not to keep on to others. My future daughter-in-law, Andrea, told me about a book-sharing website called BookMooch. She uses the site frequently and has had good success with it. I looked at BookMooch and instantly signed up. I also decided to explore the "net for other such sites and share what I found with you. Different sites operate in different ways, so look at some of them and see if any appeal to you and meet your needs.

By the way, the sites I'm listing are all free book sites and strictly about "real" books, not online or digital versions. Most of them allow the exchange of both adult and children's books. And there are tons of book discussion websites and social networking sites for readers. Those are great, but I'm focusing on book exchange/sharing here.

BookMooch is a book exchange site. You can make a list of books you'd like to have and list those you have to give away. There are rules, of course, and you have to give in order to get. Joining is free. The only cost is what it takes to ship a book to someone. There is no cost to receive one.

Paperback Swap is rather amazing. It's a free book exchange site that has been featured in O Magazine, Real Simple, The Wall Street Journal, Good Housekeeping Magazine, and on the Today Show among many others. You can even print your own postage right on the site so you don't have to go to the post office to mail a book out.

BookCrossing is a little bit different. I've actually seen this one featured on television. It is a means of, as they say on the site, "making the whole world a library". There is no shipping involved. Basically, you choose a book you are finished with and don't want to keep, register it on BookCrossing where it is assigned a number, write the number inside the book cover, and then "release" it into the world by just leaving it someplace for someone to pick up. Hopefully, the finder will use the BookCrossing information you've printed inside the cover to go to the website and leave a note. You can track the book you are sharing.

Read It Swap It is a book exchange site based in the United Kingdom. It's a one-to-one type of swap: You find a book on a list that you'd like to have, the person who owns it looks at your list to see if there's one he/she'd like to have, and you swap books with that person.

SwapTree allows people to share books, movies, video games, and music--all for just the cost of shipping them to the other person. It looks fabulous. This one is definitely going to be added to my list of memberships.

And finally, there is a free alternate to the ridiculously overpriced textbooks for college students. Textbook Revolt has been given a positive review by CNet News and looks really neat. My son graduated from college in May. Wish we'd known about Textbook Revolt before!

Sharing a book is sharing a wonderful gift. I encourage you to join one of these sites, and teach your children to share books, too.