Job Discussion Forums

[Larry Paradine]

Yes, I know this is off topic, but someone else got past the monitors with a similar, though more localised, topic entitled "English books in Moscow" not all that long ago, so I hope the censors will turn a blind eye to this. Would other deprived bookworms in Russia be interested in setting up some sort of book exchange system? I'm hazy about details and would welcome any serious suggestions as to how to get my idea up and running. For that matter, as I'm going to be rather peripatetic for the next two months and am thinking of this as a facility for relieving the long, dark nights to come later in the year, I'd be more than happy to subscribe to any workable system that someone can devise in the meantime. I'm putting this in as a new topic rather than as a response to the aforementioned existing topic because that's essentially an in-house forum for English mother tongue expats in Moscow and St. Petersburg, whereas my call is directed to fellow members of the Anglo diaspora scattered around the far flung reaches of the real Russia.

[rusmeister]

The first thing would be figuring out how to physically exchange the books...

[skye]

I assume from your post and your enthusiasm to search for books all over Russia, that you will not be in a large city? Because a book exchange would be pretty easy to set up in Moscow or St. Petersburg but I don't know that i'd be willing to send my books cross country.

[rusmeister]

Well, I'm not too enthusiastic, truth be told. I moved my considerable library here, have grown beyond half the stuff and don't have time to read the other half, with 3 kids and all. I've been gobbling up C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton lately, and am interested in Orthodox Christian stuff in English, but am not too willing even to travel to Moscow much. It's like pulling teeth to get me there. (I'm in the oblast)
BTW, Larry, let me know how the vid is going (or not going). Hope it works out!

[coledavis]

Yes, I've been thinking about the reading dearth should I stay long-term. Given problems with secure postage, the only thing I can think of that would offer satisfaction would be as follows:
1. People use a bulletin board - could be a message thread here - to advertise their available collection.
2. When two people feel that they have a viable group of books to exchange, or alternatively, one participant is prepared to pay for the overall transaction, then the two people meet in one area (or an intermediate station) to do the deal.
Ok, it involves a journey, but it would be quicker than looking round shops, could avoid Moscow, and would hopefully mean getting reading matter to keep one going for months at a reasonable price (or none).

[rogan]

Russian people often use trains to send parcels.

Go to the station and find a train to the desired destination.
see the carriage attendant and give the parcel + a little money
Phone friend in second city and give the arrival time of the train and the carriage number where the parcel can be picked up.

[coledavis]

If the train method is reliable, it sounds good.

[rogan]

As far as I am aware, after questioning students and friends, - it works every time, safe, reliable and cheap.

Sometimes the person picking up the parcel pays the carriage attendent.

When sending give the pick up person's name to the attendent.

[Larry Paradine]

Thanks for the suggestions, keep 'em coming. Two good ideas so far, but each has a possible drawback:

1) Meeting at a station halfway is fine if, say, one party lives in Kazan and the other in Ulyanovsk-Simbirsk, the train journey takes a mere six hours; but if party A lives in Anapa and party B in Murmansk, the time factor (to say nothing of the cost factor) would make it cheaper to buy books from Chakona or Mir Knigi at the usual outrageously excessive prices (unless you're exchanging a Gutenberg Bible for first folio Shakespeare).

2) What if there's no train connection? Speaking only for myself, I would be prepared, albeit reluctantly, to put up with two or even three days and nights on a train if the end result was an accretion to my library of something that I really wanted to read, but I'm not so avid a bibliophile that I could tolerate the same period of time on a bus, especially not a normal Russian long distance bus ( as I type this, I'm bracing myself for a comparatively short trip, Samara to Cheboksary, a mere 9 hours by gazelle, given favourable weather and road conditions, but still not a journey that I would undertake were there a direct rail link).

I'm not pouring cold water on your ideas, honestly! The long, dark nights of winter are still a few months away but any and all suggestions as to how to stock up with reading material are more than welcome.