Book exchange at Barnsdall Art Park

When I started doing these book exchanges seven years ago, I rounded up a few friends — we picked out books to swap with one another, wrapped them in recycled paper, wrote a few clues and took turns picking the one we felt most drawn to. And now, it’s turned into an opportunity to meet with both old and new friends around something we love. It’s been two years since our last book exchange due to the pandemic, but we finally did another (the eighth one!) over the weekend at the Barnsdall Art Park.

With social media, it’s so easy to make a habit of sitting behind the screen (as I’m doing now) and feel like connecting digitally is enough, but more than ever I’ve craved real life interactions with people I respect and want to get to know beyond this little app.

If you’re feeling the same way, I would suggest coordinating one — someplace outdoors, under the sun, with people you want to get to know a little better.

For this book exchange, we had the general theme in bringing a book that impacted you over the past year. These were the ones exchanged:
Severance by Ling Ma
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Kimmerer
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Bluets by Maggie Nelson
Difficult Women by Roxane Gay