What is more refreshing on a warm summer afternoon than a good book! We recently polled some of our writers for suggestions on great reads and their favorite sources for books in these tough economic times. Here are their suggestions:

I joined PaperbackSwap.com about two months ago. It is free, one of several "book swap" websites. Once you have some credits (easy to get), you can order books sent to you free. You, in turn, pay the postage on books you send out to fill requests.

When I have time, I busily post books that I will send out (I have way too many at home), and in turn get other books that I would like to read, or peruse at least, most of which I will re-post to swap, a few I might give away.

There is something satisfying in sending a book to someone who actually asked for it. Some have been sent to large cities, but a large proportion of the members live in small towns, rural areas, etc. where libraries may well be hard to come by, as well as cash for new books.