abibliophobia

[ironymaiden]

dear internets:
i am going on a two-week overseas trip with one carryon. so far, no worries about paring down clothes and gadgets and leaving room to spare for buying things.

but what about the books? i MUST read on the airplane. (there will be no laptop/pda/smartphone and my eyes tire out on ebooks anyway.) suck it up and carry a stack of paperbacks there and back again? take used ones and abandon as i finish reading? take enough for the trip over and trust that i will find english-language stuff to read on the way home? load the sansa with audiobooks and podcasts?

i'm seriously considering the abandon-as-i-finish method. i can't really use C as a load balancer because i read 2-3 times faster than he does. any suggestions on nice ways to leave books behind that might make someone happy?

experience, suggestions, insight appreciated.

Comments

[amheriksha.livejournal.com]

If you're staying in hostels at all, they usually have common areas and bookshelves that you can abandon a book at.

Also, trains are awesome for leaving neat things. Depending on what country you're in, you may want to leave a note explaining that the book isn't lost, but abandoned.

Good luck finding a good solution, and have fun on your trip!

[gaelfarce.livejournal.com]

Indeed. I traded books with people in hostels and train stations all over europe. Older Aussies seemed the most likely to have books on them.

eInk

[sea-gaagii.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen a kindle, but someone on the bus next to me was using one of the competitor's products (same screen technology). I was amazed, you might want to look into this; it really is visually just like paper - and battery life is very very good - once the page is rendered it supposedly requires no power to maintain the rendering.

Re: eInk

[steve98052.livejournal.com]

I've seen a Kindle, and it's pretty much as easy to read as paper.

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

I've done the bring-and-abandon method myself. Always works for me. And yeah, I'd bet that you can find English reading matter along the way, too. I'd also suggest checking out communities on lonelyplanet.com and on the Rick Steves site for advice on this matter. Might find something helpful there.

[shellyinseattle.livejournal.com]

I use trips as an excuse to take magazines that I don't subscribe too. I never feel bad about leaving them behind, and often I see people pick them up immediately.

Also, I recommend packing an empty softside bag in case you buy stuff.

[joyful-storm.livejournal.com]

Bring thick books that will last you a while. I tend to assess by page count when traveling (well, among a set of authors or among the works of a given author).

Don't bring books to re-read. It takes longer to read a book the first time.

Don't expect to be able to find series books in order on the road. Read stand-alones, or books in a series where they work well individually (I read a lot of Pratchett when traveling in the UK).

I bring one for the plane, then buy-and-abandon for the most part. There's also the bring-read-ship option, if you find something particularly hard to abandon. pedantka volunteered to do a shipment for me, but you'll find small shipping stores just about everywhere.

Bring a book you know you'll want a friend to read, read it, then mail it to them.

Hostels are not the only ones who have book trade/drop spots. We found at least one hotel with one on this trip.

Also, you're going on a tour; you may have the opportunity to swap around with the other folks.

Don't underestimate the quirkiness of English language sections in foreign bookstores. You may find something you love that you'd never have looked at if you were in a place with wider selection.

[joyful-storm.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I forgot. . . meant to try this one on my recent trip and didn't. If you can't find a bookstore with an English language section but you're middling fluent in another language, break my re-read rule and buy a copy of a novel you love and have read more than once in the other language. Or one that's originally in that language that you've only read in translation.

(Hmm, how would _Left Hand of Darkness_ read in a language with gendered nouns?)

[mrdorbin.livejournal.com]

My solution is usually one or two really dense books that will take me forever to plow through, but I'm a pretty slow reader so that may not work for you.

[weezlgrrrl.livejournal.com]

Load up the Sansa AND read and abandon. I almost never keep fiction paperbacks after I read them anyway, and it kind of gives me a little thrill to leave books around in hotels and on airplanes and buses for someone else to find.

I have the same fear you do. But being a redneck peckerwood, I call it "Lack-a-book-a-phobia."

[pixxelpuss.livejournal.com]

If you're staying in a hotel, you could leave your paperbacks where the Gideons keep the bibles. Just to give desperate people another option, you know?

I like the cheap paperback thing. Also, if you and C like similar books, you could bring a few more than you'll need and then just read his as he finishes them.

[varina8.livejournal.com]

Read and abandon is good for me. Magazines work especially well. I've often traded them with others as a conversation starter.

Most of the places that I've stayed have a used/shared bookshelf.

Also most used and new bookstores overseas have an English-language section. I've found some great reads there.

[craftyasparagus.livejournal.com]

I have no idea on the book front. I just wanted to squee because you have a Sansa, I have a Sansa, and I don't know anyone else that has a Sansa.

[ironymaiden]

i love my sansa and use it much more than my ipod. i have an e200R and the voice recorder and radio are things i can't believe i used to do without. (then there's Rhapsody. which is the best music thing ever.)

[e-bourne.livejournal.com]

I travel muchly, and am addicted to books. I must have a book. I don't like reading from screens. (shrug) I buy used p-backs and discard with abandon. I tried magazines, they don't last as long, and cost as much as a used book, so it didn't work for me.
I scatter them like a bread crumb trail. Sometimes I offer to a person who glances at them while traveling, or I just leave behind in an obvious reading material place. You may even find a bookstore that's interested abroad in acquiring your English versions, even used. It could happen.

[sinthrex.livejournal.com]

I don't know, but I get the impression that you're over-booking it.

Unless you're traveling to exotic distant lands to read, I assume you'll be spending most of your time in-country doing something else.

However, if you're that worried about the load, pick something big, dense and hard and a couple of discardable paperbacks that C will want to read too for when your brain cries uncle. Works for me.

[webcowgirl.livejournal.com]

I disagree - I spend so much time on public transit while travelling that a book is indispensable. There's also plane time and down time in the hotel to look at. Must read! Must read!

[sinthrex.livejournal.com]

YMMV, I guess.

For me, the one brain breaker and some fluff is more than enough for a couple of transatlantic flights plus some decent extra.

I spend most of my down-time sleeping, or engaging in local relaxation, by the time I get back to the room, I'm out. With all of these the need for books drops way below normal demand signal.

I'm sure she'll figure out what works for her.

[webcowgirl.livejournal.com]

I don't actually know where Ms. Maiden is going, but in London there is _nothing to look at_ on the Tube. (I've made my way through six of the seven volumes of Remembrance of Things Past in the last two years, and every bit of it was read on the Tube.) And also, after about an hour of train travel, it's nice to be able to check out and read - it makes the time go faster. (Being able to have time to read is a wonderful part of being on holiday for me.)

Also, I have been stuck waiting for my turn in the bathroom and been ultra grateful for some reading material while my travelling companion took a bath! I'd much rather read than watch TV.

[sinthrex.livejournal.com]

I agree. You'll also notice that I edited the comment removing the transport portion b/c I was thinking of SNCF when I wrote it.

Cheers.

[ironymaiden]

with layovers in the US, i have something like 35-40 hours of transit time. in country, it's mostly that i ritually need to read before i sleep. (i know that sleep doctors say this is wrong. but having other peoples' voices in my head is the best way to get mine to shut up.)
i'll need something like 3000 pages.

[buhrger]

i ritually need to read before i sleep. (i know that sleep doctors say this is wrong.
ditto that.
did you ever read moope's Voice of Fire? getting through the first chapter takes some work, and might count for twice its official page count...

The karmic book exchange

[webcowgirl.livejournal.com]

Books cost double in Europe as they do in the US and they can be hard to find (in English). I bring lightweight paperbacks (Michael Moorcock is good) and leave them behind as I go. Youth hostels or cheap hotels or even coffeeshops are a good place to ditch them. Bookcrossing does get used somewhat overseas - you might look there for places to ditch them.

And don't hesitate to leave behind a new paperback - think how grateful the recipient would be!