July 26, 2007
Table of Contents
I joined BookCrossing back in February of 2003 and registered my first book on March 13, 2003. The first book I actually journaled had been sent to me by a message board friend in Florida. I passed it on to another message board friend who lives here in Hawaii. Her screen name is Ghir and she and I had recently met and started going to the theatre together. She was the only BookCrosser I actually knew in real life. About a year later she and I both noticed the frequent release alerts from another local BookCrosser named Fanclub. We exchanged a few messages and decided to meet. We selected a restaurant and on January 25, 2004 I was delightfully surprised to find that a fourth member, Allysther, had been invited to join us. I don’t think any of us anticipated what a special thing was being birthed that day.
That’s Fanclub, me, Ghir and Allysther at a Zippy’s Restaurant in downtown Honolulu, the first meeting of what would eventually become The Table of Contents. We all had so much to talk about and thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company. I think that meeting ran three or four hours - none of us wanted to leave! We all agreed that this was something that needed to become a habit, so we set up another meeting and were soon inviting other BookCrossers to join in the fun. I think the largest gathering we’ve had was attended by about twenty people, but the average over the years is more like eight or ten.
We all love food almost as much as we love books. We decided early on that, rather than having a central headquarters, we’d select different restaurants for our gatherings. Each meeting allows us to taste a new menu, an added bonus to the good fellowship, our passion for BookCrossing and the great books that we share. Our foodie natures even played a role in the selection of our name. The literary reference is obvious, but there’s a little play on the words, too. We tend to go into fits of rapture over certain dishes, especially desserts. When that occurs we transition from being the Table of CONtents (with the expected pronunciation) to the Table of ConTENTS, acknowledgeing the contentment that comes with a good sugar high! 
BookCrossing members around the world meet on a regular basis. I think that the Table of Contents has attained a level of “specialness” that others might not achieve, but the love of books and a desire to meet other BookCrossers is certainly a good enough reason to come together. Start by scanning the Conventions and Meetings Forum to see if there are any announcements for your region. If not, don’t despair. You can always Go Hunting for other BookCrossers in your area. You can contact them through private messages once you’ve found them through Release Alerts. Another option is to become active on the BookCrossing Forum and look for connections there. Some cities and regions have official meetups, others are more casual gatherings like ours. Do what works for you! There were “official” BC meetups going on in Honolulu around the time that the Table of Contents was formed, but their meetings were always on weeknights and in the city. That just didn’t work for some of us, so we created our own group. The other group still meets and we actually selected the same restaurant at the same time recently - lovely serendipity! While real life meetings are not a requirement for BookCrossing, they’re a wonderful enhancement to the experience. I hope some of you will discover the same joy that we have in getting to know each other!
[tags]BookCrossing, books, friends, reading groups, social gatherings[/tags]
Posted by skeet @ 2:08 pm • Books, Society & culture
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July 26th, 2007 at 4:51 pm, Cass Says:
What a neat story. Thanks for sharing it. Your group sounds lovely.
July 27th, 2007 at 10:05 am, Antof9 Says:
Skeet! I haven’t “talked” to you in AGES! I saw your entry via my Google alerts, and just had to drop in and say hi.
I have to tell you you’re right — that level of “specialness” is rare. I think the Charleston BCers have it, and some of the Londoners, but that might be it. I’ll admit: I’m jealous
Anyway, it was fun to see your name again after a long time! Hope all is well with you –
Ant
July 27th, 2007 at 10:19 am, skeet Says:
Woot! Running around in circles, happy dancing, popping the cork & filling the wine glasses! Antof9 in my little humble abode?!
I’m good, Ant. How the heck are you?
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:29 am, skeet’s stuff » I have a lappy! Says:
[…] did you spend your Labor Day? I was supposed to have lunch with the Table of Contents, including two members who moved a while back but are here visiting. Instead I spent the morning at […]