Feeling Like Santa: The Little Free Libraries

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Over the last year or so I personally have gotten more into reading books again. It's a delightful passtime, and being a part of book clubs is a great way to get oneself reading (by a deadline!), discussing, socializing, etc. 

Most times I do purchase hard copies of books to read. This is primarily because as the organizer of a book club, I like to take notes, fold over pages to come back to, and sometimes - if a book really strikes a chord with me - I'll want to absolutely hold on to that book. 

But, I don't feel the need to keep every single one. I used to dispose of books (and also my sister's 'N Sync CDs... she never knew!) by unloading a box or two at Half Price Books. I think I'd get about $2 for the entire box... something ridiculous like that. 

The book club books have started to pile up, and I wasn't intending to keep quite all of them. So, it occurred to me that I recently saw some Tosa Little Free Libraries mentioned in the Journal Sentinel. In fact, if you haven't heard of them or seen a little free library, here's a site dedicated to telling how it works

I'm seeing them all over in Tosa - the Women's Club, which I'm a proud member of, recently finished one and now has it on display (Milwaukee Ave. side of the street). You'll find one or more in any number of neighborhoods. 

I don't know if we're ready for one at our residence yet (we live on the same block as a popular adult beverage establishment... I'm thinking we don't necessarily need a reason for people to stop in front of our house and hang out "looking through books" at bar time). I'll keep thinking about it though.

However, yesterday morning I took a pile of books (see the photo below) and went around distributing them to a few area little free libraries. It was so much fun! I did feel rather Kris(tin?) Kringle-esque. One of the libraries I stopped at had a note saying "children's books only." OK, too bad... I suppose I could've left my copies of "The Giver" and "Gathering Blue" there - they are apparently meant for young adults (and very timely, with The Giver movie coming out soon!). But the box looked to be filled with definite young children's books. 

Not to worry - there were many other little free libraries that could've used some extra books. Now, I wonder... who will get those copies? One of the books is this year's Pulitzer Prize-winner for fiction. Enjoy, Tosa friends. Maybe next time I'll borrow one of your books! :-)

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