Books for the Troops - Operation Paperback

Last year many 75ers got together and started sending our "old" gently read books to our service men and women to help keep their morale up and let them know that we support them in their endeavors (no comment on any current military action). We wanted to support our troops no matter what, so here again in 2011 we will endeavor to let them know we appreciate their service by sending books to them. In 2010 we sent close to 400 books for off hours to help them relax and destress.

Operation Paperback is a non-profit organization that will supply us with names and address for our troops and let us know what kind of books are requested. Just sign up and get 1 book, a dozen, or a box of books and send them off.
Operation Paperback's website is here: http://www.operationpaperback.org/

We also have a wiki page to log the books sent so that we can track how well we did. http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/Operation_Paperback#Support_our_Troop...

Let's set a goal of reaching that 400 book mark in 2011!

Thanks for starting up the thread, Cheli!

Yes, thank you Cheli. My daughter returned from Afghanistan in October and was able to read quite a few books that other Marines had received. She didn't request any, but the ones received in her unit were passed around plenty! She read her first Lee Childs book there and loved it. As a matter of fact she said that all her friends loved those books. So if you are looking for something that would be very well read you could go with the Lee Childs books. Thank you to everyone who sent books, they are very much appreciated!

Hi! This is the first I have heard of the organization. It's such a wonderful idea! I would love to participate. I actually sell or donate many books I wish to pass on already. So I might just pick some up at Half Price Books to send. And ask others of course. The few I have right now are mostly YA and comics. Do you think those would be received well?

Personally, I think they would,but when you volunteer with operation paperback they will guide you in terms of categories and what troops are requesting.

I have had several lists that requested comics and YA books. I think they like anything except romance novels.

I think I've seen requests for comics before also alot of mysteries and fantasy and surprisingly war books I was an Air Force brat and that still kind of surprised me considering where most of them are.

They also have a division that collects books for the children of our service men & women so the YA books may be helpful in that area.

They also have an account on Bookmooch with 228 books on their wishlist.

http://bookmooch.com/m/bio/operationpaperback

Hi,

I just mailed off 13 books to Operation Paperback after seeing your 2010 thread! Thank you for publicizing it.

k4k

Two special request books will be sent out tomorrow morning. They are stamped and ready to go!

Shipping two boxes tomorrow - an odd assortment - long story.
A total of 23 books. I added them to the wiki.

I have 3 boxes ready to go just need to get the custom forms.

Post Ofice received the 3 boxes today of 133 books!

So we already met our goal for 2011?! Do we need to set a new goal since it's only February?

I think we are only at 178 books so far this year. We've set over 500 since we started in August and I think we should be proud of that but we can do more!

I'm sending out two more books tomorrow morning.

I mailed my first box today and I have one more almost ready to go.

I mailed one book out this month. I'm matching my books to those books specifically requested by individual service men or women.

ETA: We're 48% toward reaching the goal of 400 books for 2011.

I sent 10 last week, but can't seem to post it on my -pad. Would someone be able to add that number for me? Thank you in advance.

> 19

Done! I added your 10 books at the top of the list of individual book names. That brings our total to 51% of our 2011 goal.

Thank you again! I liked the I-pads price compared to an I-Mac, but I didn't realize how many things I was not going to be able to do!

You're welcome!

I didn't realize how many things I was not going to be able to do!

Bummer!

Yeah, my daughters thought it was hilarious when I realized a couple of days after I had been using it that I couldn't stick a DVD in and watch it like I had been used to doing with my old mac.

A friend also got an I-pad, and it looked so small and convenient for travel. I don't think she ever began using it, though.

I have a Dell laptap I only use at home when my desktop goes on the fritz (like when I unintentially acquired 38 viruses with one mouse click this past week!). That laptop's battery doesn't stay charged so I basically use it like a travelling desktop. :D

By the way, I want to mention on this thread (especially to those LTers who don't have lots of books to ship overseas) that it it quite fun to match a service person's wishlist request to a book you have available to give. That is also an option (and the one which I've chosen to do) with Operation Paperback. I ship few books more frequently but do match them exactly to an individual's wishlist book(s).

I sent 14 more books today! I think they're going to Korea.

Two more boxes of books on their way!

Two books being shipped to Afghanistan tomorrow.

Four more books going to Iraq.

Three more going to a marine in Afghanistan.

> 29

Those four books came back to me marked "APO/FPO Closed". I notified Marisa at Operation Paperback.

ooh,..ooh... that's not good.

I'll try again next month.