The lovely Cheri McDowell - daughter of the lovely, inspiring Kelly Barton - took it upon herself to leave three books here and there on her recent extended visit to Madrid, Spain. Her reports:
"Book #39 was left in a cafe in Chueca, a prominently gay district in Madrid. The interior was uniquely decorated and had a dark, cozy feel to it. All the furniture was antique - a bit retro modern."
"The book was left on a table as my friend and I left for the night. Hopefully the next visitor got the surprise. There is one picture of the book inside (top photo) and another of the exterior (above photo.)"
"Book #40 was left in a great little English used bookshop and cafe called J&J's. I frequented here quite often and decided that I wanted to leave a book. It would be beneficial for you as well since most customers speak English. I debated leaving the book in the stacks, but then decided it would be better to talk with the owner so I could leave the book there for all the visitors to read as they are having coffees. This way you get lots of different readers who can share with others. The owner thought it was a great idea."
(P.S. I love this idea - a new twist on leaving the book for passers-by to discover!)
[Book #41 :: Madrid Metro Station]
"For Book #41, I thought it would be appropriate to leave one in the metro. It is highly used in Madrid and would definitely be a little surprise for someone coming to sit on the bench. It was a bit difficult to get a good pic because it was really crowded in the station that I left it at. So I just got the book on the bench.
I put an extra note on the bag so that people would actually pick it up. I discussed it with a friend who lives in Spain and she thought it would be best to put a note in Spanish about what the project was.
The top says 'Abreme!' Which means 'open me!' Underneath it says that it is an artist project to give the books out to anonymous people and that the book is a compilation of a United States artist."
Thank you again Cheri!! See the entire trail of books left around the world so far right here. Coming in 2010: Iceland, Hungary, Brazil, Korea, and more across the U.S.!
Mentioned in a previous comment that I'm headed to Greece in July if you'd like me to take one or two books there to leave.
Write me at [email protected] if you're interested.
Posted by: Barbara Israel | January 15, 2010 at 05:01 PM
love this.
Posted by: jenica | January 14, 2010 at 05:13 AM
big big smile...two of my most favorite girls. thank you for including her in your little journey.
smooch!
Posted by: kelly | January 13, 2010 at 06:08 PM
this project is just simply brilliant. love seeing you taking on the world one book at a time!
Posted by: mindy | January 11, 2010 at 04:29 PM
I'm going to France in May Christine if you want me to bring any copies- Shakespeare Books perhaps?
Posted by: Alexandra | January 11, 2010 at 09:29 AM
absolutely splendid idea...you have inspired me to do something similar and i hope you don't mind and although i don't have a book published but i'm thinking i can make a "booklet" out of file folders and creative pages with quotes & visioneering & common senseless stuff! maybe this can be practice for me to create something for print!!!
thank you, thank you, thank you much! :)
Posted by: donna!ee | January 11, 2010 at 08:31 AM