I was pleasantly surprised to find a shelf dedicated to BookCrossing at one of my favorite coffee shops (Satellite). Who says reading is dead? That shelf--heaped as it was with its assortment (all shapes, sizes & genres)--gives me hope for the future of books. After all, as long as BookCrossing survives, we'll be ensuring that reading will continue...

BookCrossing launched in 2001, with the idea that the world is (or should be) a giant library. We share books as we go: at coffee shops, bus stations, airports--wherever we find ourselves. In the last few years, more than 830,000 members have "released" more than 6 million books in some 130 countries.

Those numbers are great--I love to read about the success of book-sharing. But, just as I walked into a coffee shop and found a shelf, you can make that happen in your community as well. BookCrossing offers great resources for registering and tracking books, as well as for finding other readers in your community with whom you can share the scavenger hunt for books.

Bryce Courtenay once wrote: "Each of us has been designed for one of two immortal functions, as either a storyteller or as a cross-legged listener to tales of wonder, love, and daring. When we cease to tell or listen, then we no longer exist as a people." In the hum-drum chaos of our lives, those of us who are passionate about literature instinctively know that others share our devotion. But, it's not always easy to find other book lovers. As we celebrate the holidays, and burst upon a new year, I hope that you'll find a way to share your love of books. Go find a book that's been released; meet other members in your area; and encourage your family and friends to do the same! Imagine the places our books could go...

The holidays are upon us, and I LOVE them! The lights lend light and magic to an otherwise drab background, and the snow has been flitting back and forth across the sky--covering the mountaintops with deep drifts. No matter what troubles or sorrows my days may seem to hold, this time of year lend hope and promise. We all seem capable of more than we thought possible at any other time of the year. Christina Rossetti said, "Christmas hath a beauty ... lovelier than the world can show." Gladys Tabor said, "Christmas is a bridge. We need bridges as the river of time flows past. Today's Christmas should mean creating happy hours for tomorrow and reliving those of yesterday." What wonders in books, literature and life do these days give you?

I've lived all over--in towns both big and small, with and without local bookstores. If I had my choice, I would always prefer to have a local bookstore just down the street, or at least in the same town.

But, the economic downturn has hit booksellers hard. And a recent AP article dramatically represented the reality of our bookish tragedy, as it proclaimed: "Laredo could be largest US city without bookstore." If a city the size of Loredo can't save the last remaining bookstore, what does that mean for the rest of us?

The article quoted an analyst who described a bookstore as "either the cultural center in its community, or... a pile of books with a roof over it..." But, what does that mean? What is it that makes the difference? It's PEOPLE. It's readers--all ages, skills and genre passions. It takes a community.

So, what about your local bookstore? Do you support it? During this holiday season, do you revel in your book browsing adventures? What would you do if you learned the last bookstore in your area was closing?

It's Human Rights Month in commemoration of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the U.N. General Assembly on December 10, 1948. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "The destiny of human rights is in the hands of all our citizens in all our citizens in all our communities."

Mark Twain said: "Every man is in his own person the whole human race, with not a detail lacking. I am the whole human race without a detail lacking; I have studied the human race with diligence and strong interest all these years in my own person; in myself I find in big or little proportion every quality and every defect that is findable in the mass of the race."

Henry David Thoreau said: "No humane being, past the thoughtless age of boyhood, will wantonly murder any creature which holds its life by the same tenure that he does."

And, Walt Whitman wrote: "A voice from Death, solemn and strange, in all his sweep and power, /
With sudden, indescribable blow--towns drown'd--humanity by thousands slain... Holding Humanity as in thy open hand, as some ephemeral toy..."

What are your thoughts on humanity? Do you agree with how writers have portrayed humanity--for good or ill?