I set 16 books free in the wilds of Washington one day this month, scattering novels, memoirs and policy tracts across the landscape of the city.

Tom Wolfe’s “A Man in Full” was liberated on a bench near Constitution Gardens; Annie Proulx’s “The Shipping News” grabbed a seat on a Gray Line tour bus near the FDR Memorial; an aging copy of Homer’s “The Odyssey” set off on its personal odyssey from a sidewalk at DuPont Circle.

Thus did I become a book crosser, part of a growing movement of people worldwide who engage in what is essentially the literary version of an altruistic ding-dong-ditch routine.

Inspired by BookCrossing.com, more than 450,000 people have released 2.8 million books around the world since 2001, demanding nothing in return for these random acts of literacy. They do hope, however, that those who “catch” the books will register them at the BookCrossing Web site, allowing their movement around the globe to be tracked.

People register books at BookCrossing.com for free, and each one is assigned a unique identification number. Then they release the books into the wild, each containing a note that gives the book’s ID number and invites finders to register them, read them, and release them once again.

Veteran book crossers compare it to sending out a message in a bottle. Odds are slim — about 15 to 20 percent — that someone will pick up a particular book and reply, but it’s fun to take a chance, they say.

“I like the idea that after I read a book, it’s not just going to sit there on the shelf being lonely,” says Celina Williams. The 22-year-old IT specialist from Washington has released 262 books over the last three years and estimates that finders have registered about 20 at the Web site. “I like to think that most of the books I leave are getting picked up and read, even if I won’t get a journal entry right away or even ever,” she said.

Plus, Williams said, “It’s fun to be stealthy and leave the books so that no one knows it’s you.” Lately, her favorite site to drop books is bus shelters. “Somebody might be sitting there and be bored,” she said.

Nancy Oakes, a 48-year-old homemaker from Simi Valley, Calif., says she’s set free more than 100 books that have been tracked back to the Web site. “The fastest was in about two hours — I left it at a bank,” she says. “The longest was about three months.” That book, which she had donated to a local library sale, popped up in Australia.

Since 2002, Oakes has sent out 1,280 free books either by leaving them in public places or shipping them directly to fellow book crossers, who also use the site to chat, arrange meetings and swap books by mail.

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.