Little Free Libraries

[jacob]

https://littlefreelibrary.org/ - for the concept.
It's like paperbackswap without the mailing.

My new favorite hobby is walking over to a LFL with a book and seeing what they have. This leads to some interesting reading that I otherwise wouldn't have done ala 7wb5's idea of walking into a regular library and picking a random book to find new interests. For example, right now I'm reading a Confederacy of Dunces and I just finished Our Year of War about Chuck Hagel and his brother's experience in Vietnam. Before that a quirky scifi heist book titled Off Rock.

It's also a good way to downsize one's book collection but what I like most about it is the walk and the instant gratification of getting a new [to me] book. I also like reinforcing the "lfl system" by moving a few books around, so even if I don't see anything appealing, I'll get a book and then walk it over to another library and get something there to increase "turnover". Makes me feel like an interlibrary ant.

[daylen]

There are two or three of these nearby that I walk past all the time. Sometimes I take a look and most of the books are fiction. I have been trying to get myself to read fiction for five years with rare luck. I figure I'll get bored someday and go ANT. Once you go ant you never go back.

[white belt]

These are all over my neighborhood. A few weeks ago I dropped off a couple books that I had been meaning to get rid of and perused what they had, but nothing really jumped out at me. I do like the convenience compared to having to coordinate with library book donation drives when I only have a single book that I want to donate. I also prefer it to the process of listing/selling/shipping on Amazon when the book is worth <$10.

[Lemur]

The local park we go to has one of these. Its near the playground so its mostly filled with kids books but also romance novels. Occasionally you'll find a gem. Haven't come across too many learning materials but I do recall seeing a few garden books. This is a good way to swap out kids books.

I'm going to leave a book behind from Carlos Zafon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Ruiz_Zaf%C3%B3n ... may someone else find the enjoyment I did. One of my few fiction reads. My library still does not have https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Labyrinth_of_Spirits in yet...should be translated to English by now.

[7Wannabe5]

Obviously, I love, love, love Little Free Libraries. Recently I happened upon a Kim Stanley Robinson novel in LFL set up in a nature preserve in my locale, so spent delightful afternoon reading in solitude on bench near pond covered with waterlilies. The antlike transport from LFL to LFL would be a great sub-practice for the more generalized hobby of Scavenger Walking.

Terrible thing that happened was the LFL placed on the urban permaculture across from my last project was torched by some deranged Red youth. This LFL was also near the elementary school where IMO misguided old librarian was on rigid rule-based warpath because very young, very poor children were stealing books from the library for their own use. Luckily, the new young school librarian solved this problem by having large boxes full of free to take books placed by the library entrance.

[Hristo Botev]

For example, right now I'm reading a Confederacy of Dunces

"Oh, Fortuna, blind, heedless goddess, I am strapped to your wheel,' Ignatius belched, "Do not crush me beneath your spokes. Raise me on high, divinity."

You probably won't be surprised, given my southern-ness and my preference for Southern Gothic literature that I'm a fan of Confederacy of Dunces. The way the book came to be published (via Walker Percy), and the sad ending of Toole and the lifelong depression of Percy, says something about modernity's affects on people who are especially attuned to actually pay attention to what is going on around them.

But re little libraries, I pass by 3 on my walk to/from work, and DW always rolls her eyes when I walk home with a new book (or 3) when someone has made an especially juicy donation. I also spend way too much time debating the moral dilemma faced on deciding what to donate myself: If I read a book and decide that it's shit and everything the book stands for and seeks to pollute our minds with is shit, is it immoral to put that book back into circulation by leaving it at a little library? And if so, what am I to donate, as I'm kinda with John Michael Greer in thinking that there is some real virtue in collecting and preserving on my own bookshelf the really good stuff--such that I find it very hard to take the good books off of my bookshelf, except to lend to friends with a very clear understanding that they are to return it to me when they finish? (What ends up happening is that I just donate the "meh" books to the little library; sorry folks.)

ETA: I find it hilarious how the various little libraries tend to take on a personality of their own in the kinds of books you can expect to find there. Sure, it's not surprising that the one at my kids' Catholic school tends to have books about saints, etc., or that the one in my own townhome community (that started off as a retirement community) has lots of harlequin romances and Agatha Christies, or that the one by our old house in the most progressive neighborhood of our already uber-progressive city can be relied on for a steady stream of whatever was on the NYT non-fiction bestsellers lists 2-5 years ago. But, why on earth is it that the little library across from the police department has had a steady stream of ancient Greek and Roman authors for the past 2 years (one of my neighbors is a classics professor, so maybe that's why?).

[Salathor]

Where I live in NorCal we've got probably 15-20 within short walking distance (less than a mile?). They've really taken off up here. You definitely get the effect that Hristo mentioned though. There are a few that have what I like and the others almost never do. I did get several books off my wishlist at LFLs though--most recently Whirlwind, Ancillary Justice, and the Silmarillion (my tastes, clearly, tend toward fiction).

[Gilberto de Piento]

Lots of LFLs in my area too. I don't use them but I'm happy they exist. A person with time on their hands who liked doing repairs could make the world a better place by repairing/maintaining them as needed. The ones on private property nearby are well taken care of but the one on public property, once something breaks, it stays broken forever. For example, one on public property nearby is missing the clear plexi window and has been for at least a year. It would be easy to fix but no one does. If you became known as a person who fixes them you could travel to the LFL or people could bring them to you. Maybe there is a system for this but if so it isn't working.

[Frita]

There are a handful within a block radius, like Freecycle for books.