Unlimited Reading with BookMooch

BookMooch is not for those who prefer to read books on their Kindle or iPad, or those who choose email over snail mail. BookMooch is, however, for those who can appreciate the feel of a real paper-and-ink book, and who don’t mind sending or receiving a few lovingly sent packages.

The site is a book-sharing service that’s free to sign up for and free to use. The only cost users will ever incur is the cost of shipping, which if done right can be as low as $5. All you do is post books in your personal library you’d like to send to a loving home. When someone “buys” your book, they give you one of their points (or three if they live outside the United States), which you can then use to receive a book of your choosing from a different user. You’ll also receive a point for every 10 books you list as willing to send. If you have an excess of points, you can donate them to BookMooch’s charity partnerships to send books to the hospitalized and underprivileged.

BookMooch users have sent more than 3 million books to date. In addition to the popular best sellers, you can also find books currently out of print, not available in your country or in a different language. Aside from the plethora of fiction books, there’s also a good variety of non-fiction books as well, from cookbooks to self-help.

If you’re worried you may get scammed into sending your books and never receiving anything in return, don’t be alarmed. BookMooch monitors users’ transactions closely and users are rated on various aspects of the experience, such as how long it took the sender to ship the book and what condition the book was in when it arrived.