Don't be too surprised if this actually happens. It's an idea spearheaded by a Web site called BookCrossing, and it's spreading quickly.

The project was co-founded by Ron Hornbaker and his wife Kaori with the idea of making the world one big library. Prior to its April 2001 launch, Hornbaker describes himself as a "successful, but bored, CTO of a small company, who wanted to create something unique, free, viral and satisfying"

The modus operandi is simple: You take home the book and read it, then go to the online journal and make an entry, specifying your location and thoughts about the book's contents. Once you're done, just leave the book somewhere, to be found by another reader. You can also release your own books into the wild. All you do is register them with the Web site, then print out some of their colourful labels and stick them onto your books. Supplement this with a hand-written creative note saying things like "Pick me up, I need a home", and then choose a spot to leave your books.

Depositing them on park benches could work just fine in America. But in India, it would be wise to carefully select the place where you leave your book - you don't want the nearest raddiwala making a beeline for it.

It's not exactly a bad idea to circulate books among acquaintances when you're just getting started: "Giving your books to friends and family with explicit directions is a sure way to increase the return rate," says Hornbaker. If you frequent a good public reading room, club or fellowship, you might want to drop a copy or two there.

By this process, a book can travel quite far, and the journal entries made on the Web site help chart its progress, in much the same way that Where's George tracks dollar bills.

"Originally, my goal was to find another common object that could be tracked, and build a community site around it," says Hornbaker, referring to the similarity between the two concepts. "When the obvious choice of books came to me, I realised this would fit perfectly with my love for reading and intellectual discussion."

He claims he's now getting nearly 100 new members a day, and people are excited and passionate about it.

A discouraging aspect though, is the negligible amount of journal entries and registrations that each book gets. Hornbaker feels it's probably because many of the books released haven't been found yet. "As we get more members, and greater awareness about the movement, the numbers will improve." The site's leader board shows that the 'most-travelled books' only have four entries. By number of registrations John Grisham's The Testament would appear to be the most popular, with nine members having registered copies of it.

While the journal entries are minimal, the number of books registered is deceptively high. That could be because not all registered books are actually released. BookCrossing allows owners to register and write about their books even if they don't intend letting go of them. At present, there's no way to determine which ones have actually been released. Hornbaker's working on a searchable database to allow members to browse for released books in their geographical location. "I envision members trying to be the first to go out and find released books," he adds.

Among long-term goals, he intends having "member-sponsored and maintained 'Drop Shops' in all civilised metropolitan areas on earth, so that BookCrossers can have common areas to release and pick up books".

Hornbaker calls his project a "virgin idea". But exactly a month before the launch of his site, another somewhat similar scheme began. Booklend by Mark Anderson, is an "Internet lending library by post." The site says, "Sign up, choose a book, and we'll mail it to you. When you're done, mail it back."

All this for free. In fact, they even pay return postage, and you can ask for two books at a time. Go through their booklist for a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry titles. If your favourites are checked out, you will learn of their location, and can add yourself to the waiting list. The title I checked, Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut, is in circulation and also has a full waiting list.

"There's something nice about sharing books you've read and liked," says Anderson, "I started the lending library more or less on a whim. I had the books in my apartment, and thought it would be interesting to see if I could trust total strangers to return them. So far, it's worked out really well." In the last year, he's mailed over one hundred books. People who receive them are encouraged to keep them as long as they like: "You hate being rushed and we do too. If you're worried that other people are waiting for the book, you can check the site to see if anyone's reserved it."

Anderson admits that "some of the books come back a little beaten up," but wonders if that's because of "bad treatment by the US post office or the borrower. So far, there've been no books dropped into the tub!" So long as they're still readable, he's happy.

He also welcomes book donations, and has received about 50 so far. So if you have some that are gathering dust on your bookshelf, you can let them become part of this project.

Unfortunately, this scheme is currently limited to those residing in the US and Canada. Anderson has expansion plans, but needs to iron out some logistical issues, and "get over the philosophical problem of being in a situation where the postage will occasionally cost more than the book."