The Book Exchange and Children's Reading Fund

Maxine Suich talks about her project, The Book Exchange, how it's helping the Children's Reading Fund and her favourite recent book discoveries.

I love to read - always have, always will - over the years I've bought all sorts of books from tatty, scrappy second-hand titles because the cover art-work was amazing right through to magnificent hard-backed editions with their 'brand new book smell', which I felt exhilarated to open and couldn't bear to put down - it's a fantastic addiction but one I never dreamt would become a career.  

My book-selling journey began in Australia in 2006 when I fell in love with the book exchange concept.

Down under, second-hand bookshops allow you to swap any book you've finished with another you want to read and I became completely enamoured with this service. Not only do you get to take a book you've loved and enjoyed and turn it into another book at very little cost but you do so knowing that another lucky reader is going to fall in love with your original book. It's green, it's sustainable, it's cheap - it's a great feeling!

When I returned home I was determined to keep this new found concept alive but quickly realised that the idea of book trade-ins is not common-place in England. So I set about creating my own readers community, a space where you can send your old books, get a never-ending supply of 'new-to-you' books in return and talk to other readers throughout. The Book Exchange is that place! It's a forum for readers of all shapes, sizes and ages to buy books, up-cycle their pre-loved books into different titles and chat to other readers to discover new authors, read reviews and get recommendations.  

Since then I have amassed, read and discovered a fantastic array of books. A few stand-outs include the marvellous modern epic Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides; the slightly off-kilter Swimming Home by Deborah Levy and the liltingly magical 1Q84 series by Murakami. I've also sought out some wonderful classics, I adored The Great Gatsby; fell in love with Brideshead Revisited and I finally managed to make time for Tolstoy's Anna Karenina (totally worth waiting for!) 

My top reading recommendation, that's such a tricky one and I'm going to cheat and offer three (including the six above opps!) with just three words to explain why you should give them a go:

• Don Quixote; Miguel de Cervantes - funny, unexpected, inspiring
• Good Morning Midnight; Jean Rhys - delicate, honest, exquisite
• The Sisters Brothers; Patrick de Witte - unnerving, gritty, dark
  
  

If you can't tell yet I love reading and am committed to doing everything I can to create a passionate book-lovers community, one where everyone can benefit and share the joys of a good book. I am therefore thrilled and delighted that the book exchange is able to support the Children's Reading Fund this year and look forward to donating 20p to them for every book traded-in through our recycled-readers scheme

Why are we supporting the Children's Reading Fund?

At the book exchange we are committed to building a sustainable and passionate readers community, one where everyone can come together to discover, read, buy and recycle books. One of the ways we are doing this is by supporting the Children's Reading Fund

For every book traded in 20p is donated to the Children's Reading Fund so our members can help create a world where even the most disadvantaged children in the UK can benefit and share the joys of reading a good book this year and beyond.