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I’m a hopeless book collector. I try to resist temptation. Years ago, my husband considered purchasing books a frivolous waste of money since there was a library stacked to the ceiling with books just down the street. He had a point. I tried to not buy books. But as the years added up, my will power diminished. My mother undid my good library habit by gifting me a membership to the Book of the Month Club. I would agonize over selecting just one title per month from the alluring book synopses.
In 1990, I moved into a spacious new home. My book collection grew. Eight years ago, in preparation for downsizing, I set about the painful process of paring down my book collection. I sold many books through Amazon.com. What I couldn’t sell, I donated to the local library. Even so, friends who helped me move, cursed my boxes upon boxes of heavy books as they lugged them upstairs to my office. The memory of their groans jiggles remorse when I see my bookcases, whose neat order has been, once again, buried behind new stacks of unfiled books squeezed into every available inch of space.
Enter Little Free Library (LFL)! The take a book, leave a book concept has been around for a while at inns, hostels, and other public places. But the idea of a random community book exchange is fairly new to me. Poking around the web I see that LFLs are sprouting across the country like California Poppy seeds sprout beside the road. The best news of all is that my own little neighborhood has a brand new LFL, which I visited this morning for the first time. To my delight, I found two books that are actually on my “to read” list. I hurried back home to my bookshelf, grabbed three books and returned to the LFL for an exchange.
What I left: Happiness: A guide to developing life’s most important skill by Matthieu Ricard Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons: The story of Phillis Wheatley by Ann Rinaldi Then Came Evening: A novel by Brian Hart What I brought home: Where Rivers Change Direction by Mark Spragg Volt by local author, Alan Heathcock The Awakening by Kate ChopinOf course, my local Library! (Yes, that’s how the sign on the building reads) is less than two miles away. The LFL will not replace the local library. There is no competition here. But LFL fulfills some wonderful needs:
My local Little Free Library boasts an impressive collection of children’s books, practical how-to guides, new fiction and classic literature. Is there a Little Free Library in your neck of the woods? Have you ever visited it? Want to start your own? If so, find lots of helpful hints on the LFL website.
Little Free Libraries in the Boise area:
- 2805 Old Stone Way, Meridian, ID 83646
- 8497 Goddard Rd, Boise, ID 83704
- 2915 N 32nd St, Boise, ID 83703
- 4426 Yorgason Way, Boise, ID 83703
- 5521 Warm Springs, Boise, ID 83716
- 1423 Grove, Boise, ID 83702
- 2210 Manitou, Boise, ID 83706
Glenda Hornig said:
Wow! What a great idea!! I miss exchanging books with friends at work and the book sales we had to raise money for various charities.
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rangewriter said:
Hopefully your new work community will evolve. If not, maybe you can host a Little Free in your little neighborhood! 😉
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Val said:
I keep pressing the wrong key on my keyboard and deleting stuff today, and it’s driving me mad! However… this is a great idea. Sadly we don’t have one near us – the closest (and only) one in the UK is near London, England and I’m in Wales.
I send my unwanted books to charity shops as that’s my main way of donating. They make some money and I get some space. Unfortunately the space I get soon gets filled up as I’m also a bookaholic!
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rangewriter said:
I know what you mean about filling up bookshelf space. We readers do have a hard time with that. Just deciding which books to part with is trying!
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Dia said:
I love this! It raises some interesting questions about ebooks though, doesn’t it? Shortly after I bought my Kindle a couple of years ago it dawned on me that I couldn’t loan the books I bought with it to anyone else. (Kindle has a share program but it’s complicated and you can only let other Kindle owners “borrow.” And only one book at a time. It sucks.)
Now I use it mostly for free books and books I’m too impatient to wait for. (I actually bought Robert’s book on my Kindle for just that reason.) For anything really good, or any reference books, I always buy hard copy.
BTW, can I read Volt when you’re through with it? 🙂
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rangewriter said:
Believe it or not, I don’t even own a reader yet, except I have read a few on my phone. I like the portability and the ability to read unobtrusively anywhere. But I’m determined to not by a reader till I can have some sort of Ipad that does everything I want, from upload images directly from the camera to internet/email capability, ebook reading, and ability to journal. Yes. I want it all.
Of course you can borrow Volt when I’m done. I have to start first. It looks like I’ve got another self-publishing project coming up! Yea.
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Dia said:
Right on you book-birther you!
We have an obsolete tablet (one of the HP throw-aways from Palm) and Cal mainly uses it to surf the sports news while watching TV. I read on it sometimes but I prefer the Kindle as it’s not backlit…easier on the eyes. And for journaling and everything else I still prefer my laptop or desktop…I just really like a bigger screen. But for efficiency? I know so many people who are going to tablets, especially when they’re traveling (which I would definitely do, too, if I ever traveled anywhere.) 🙂
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sybil said:
How wonderful. Some time ago (can’t remember where it was) I sat down on a public bench and spied a book sitting there. On its cover was a note that explained that it wasn’t lost. That I was welcome to take it and when done just leave it — or another — somewhere else, with a note …
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rangewriter said:
I love random acts of kindness like that…especially for books. It just makes so much sense. You know someone will come along and delight in your gift.
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John said:
What a wonderful idea!
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rangewriter said:
Yes, I thought so too! 😉
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souldipper said:
That is a very cool idea. One of my best friends works in our fabulous second hand book store and she’d probably send me off-island without a ferry!
Truly, it’s a fabulous idea.
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rangewriter said:
Well, I can see your friend’s point, but I can’t help but think that any way to get reading material into more hands must be a good thing. Maybe someone will read a book some evening, instead of watching course and predictable sitcoms and talk shows. 😉
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totsymae1011 said:
Happiness is a skill, huh. Well, I’ll be. I thought it was something that came and went, depending on the situation. I may need to acquire such a skill, now that I know it’s one. And add it to my resume too.
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rangewriter said:
I’m sure that addition to your resume will seal the deal and push you right into office…whichever office you decide to breach!
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Sandra Parsons said:
Oooh, a fellow bookaholic! We are in the process of moving, far away. Now my beloved husband is pestering me to give away some of my numerous books and all I can think is nooooooo!!! I still remember how I came by each and every single one of them, I certainly won’t give away my Stephen King library (don’t judge me) or my my wonderful collection of large hard cover fairy tale books from all over the world (not the books, the stories).
The only thing that keeps him from despair I think is the knowledge that I intend to open kind of an LFL where we are going and donate a lot of his Clancies and Lustbaders. And maybe, only maybe the odd King as well (as long as I have an electronic copy) 😉
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rangewriter said:
Sandra, nothing puts a book addiction into perspective quicker than a move. I’m contemplating new carpet for the upstairs of my house and the biggest stumbling block is having to empty all the bookcases and move everything off the floor! Like you, I resist parting with my books. Exchanging a few at LFL is fine. But to get rid of them w/o bringing in replacements? argh.
Good luck with the move. Are you moving of the island? Closer to home, perhaps?
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Sandra Parsons said:
Home for having the baby and then on to another island much farther away from home but with lovely summer weather year round 🙂 More info in due course.
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