If you’re an adult (or a troll), yes, they can occasionally be kind of lame.
If you’re a child and someone leaves you a thank you note for having a book in your little library which they really enjoyed, it is the best three square feet they’ve ever experienced.
Many children around here like them and even seek them out with their parents - and it sure as fuck beats having them spend time on Facebook or an Xbox.
There was a huge stink over these things in my town a few months ago. Something with the city council and do- gooders sticking their noses in places they shouldn’t be and zoning laws and blah blah blah…
I think the little library builders won out in the end.
I hadn’t heard of this phenomenon. It sounds cool, actually. I would love to build a little custom box (with lexan windows, naturally) and place it next to my mailbox. Just think; you could also set it up as an exchange; drop off a Clive Cussler, pick up a Tom Clancy.
@PocketBrain That’s pretty much the idea. I have a few friends who have them and they say they get used in their communities. I think they keep an eye on the content to make sure there’s appropriate things and variety. I would do one, but I get stabby when people walk through my driveway so I doubt I could handle people stopping to peruse books.
@PocketBrain I think people put time in the construction, but can’t maintain the collection. Someone takes a Clive Cussler and leaves a 1980 National Geographic. I imagine people leaving all kinds of trash.
@PocketBrain Good on paper bad in real life? Water damaged, heat damaged, least wanted books in practice?
Ever leave the unwanted weekly advertiser in your mailbox in a week this thing has started to shrivel due to humidity and sun damage. Now imagine having 3 levels of books from 1 to 3 top 10 best seller to a book found at the dollar tree. What books do you think will get picked up first. (don’t tell my wife I don’t want to build one) lol.
oh yea, i was visiting my son in berkeley and his girlfriend/partner is a literature major, and she said these are good, so irk is just flat out wrong on this one
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@Yoda_Daenerys It means that I hate living in a townhouse more than I thought I would before we bought it and I’ve been known to yell out the window at other people’s kids telling them that my driveway and gravel border are not a playground. We all have huge backyards, so there’s no reason for the brats to be playing in my driveway. I also get overly annoyed when people turn around in my driveway. We’re one of the few who went to the extra expense to turn our single lane driveway into two lanes, so that we could park beside each other rather than bumper to bumper. For awhile, people thought that meant they were free to use our extra room to turn around. It doesn’t happen that often after the last set of nasty renters moved out, but I complained to their property management company more than once. Also, our cameras deter it some, I think.
Anyway, I know it all bothers me way more than it should, and I really shouldn’t be living in a townhouse. I’ve always lived in the country and didn’t realize just how much having people right there all the time would bother me. Hubby said if I take the kids out of dance/karate and get the credit cards paid off, we can sell this place and buy a detached house. He’ll probably renege, but I’m going to do my damnedest to hold him to it. So, my meh purchases will dramatically decrease for a while.
TL;DR These kids need to stay off my lawn until I can move away.
@Yoda_Daenerys I think you’re maybe taking my stabby reference a little too literally. I promise I’m not threatening anyone with actual harm, I just mutter and/or yell at the security screen frequently.
Renting can definitely suck, especially when the renters around you don’t give a fuck about the property of others. Most of us own our townhouses here, but there were a couple that were bought up for cheap back when everyone was foreclosing and are now rented out. The last two occupents in the rental closest to me have sucked balls and I hated them. I’m sure you aren’t that type of renter, and we weren’t either, but seeing them make me realize I could never hack it as a landlord. I’d end up killing someone for real.
@PurplePawprints I swear you are singing my song. I love people but only when I am not at home. Stay off my lawn, stay out of my driveway, stay off my front porch, don’t even call. My husband calls me Gladys Kravitz because I peek out the windows so much. I live on a dead end road and the trailer at the end of the street had a guy who sold drugs. There were people up and down our street all day and night long. He moved out again but I’m sure he’ll be back (his skeevy mother and stepdad own the trailer). I couldn’t make it living in the city again. Our town has about 400 people.
Never heard of a little library before this. I wonder if anyone ever puts their old college textbook in it thinking someone might want their calculus book from 1985…
Never heard of this. Sounds interesting… But most people take their unwanted books to the actual library where they either add them into the collection, or sell them super cheap.
Irk, you make me sad. There are a couple of these in our neighborhood, and I’ve both found good things in there, and left things when I knew I could probably sell them at the used bookstore but didn’t want to bother. (I left my copy of Found there which seemed appropriate.)
Sure, there’s likely to be a lot of junk in them, because junk accumulates and the good stuff gets taken. But that is a sampling error, not an indication that they are useless.
I’m on the grumpy side of these, while also feeling guilt about being grumpy towards people who are clearly trying to do things they think are nice. Here’s one problem:
You’d never put a controversial book in these. Leave a Henry Miller novel or William Burroughs or even Kurt Vonnegut book and you’ll probably end up with a stern letter in your mailbox about thinking of the children and all that. So, by definition, we’re sharing books that fit the absolutely blandest, most inoffensive, completely-without-any-challenging-aspects books.
Which, sure, that’s fine, there’s always the library. But these seem almost to be at battle with the idea of a “real” library. Like people are saying “we can take this on ourselves, we don’t need that library” while the library is ensuring that it does stock a huge variety of books of all types, including ones many people would find shocking.
But. It’s not like there’s currently an actual concern over libraries shutting down because of Little Tiny Libraries, and, of course, more books, and more convenient books will mostly just lead to more reading, and besides, people are generally assholes to each other almost all of the time, so why should we shit on the one time that a trendy thing is being done at least with the attempt of bettering humanity, rather than harming it? Which is to say, I agree with Irk, maybe it bothers me more than it should.
@dave You have to go out of your way to find a real library AND you have to give them your personal info to sign up AND you have to bring the books back AND you have to deal with the other people who may be there. (ugh, people) That’s too much work. With the little libraries, a kid might see it everyday on his walk to and from school. He is under no obligation to leave a book nor bring the book he takes back. His parents are angry drunks who would never drive him to the real library. The little library and the free books within are his only escape.
Glad to know you see both sides. Sure they’re a bit pompous, but they ain’t hurtin’ nobody, so let 'em be.
I call shenanigans as your premise is flawed. I’ve seen plenty of Harry Potter books in them that can be deemed “controversial” as well as books like Animal Farm or Fahrenheit 451.
@dave I’m seeing a lot of coastal/big city bias in the animosity towards Little Libraries. The successful ones I’ve read about here in the wide-open, non-coastal West are in small towns where everyone knows their neighbors and there isn’t a library or bookstore for hundreds of miles around.
Like many worthwhile ideas, social media may have pushed the LL concept further than it needed to go, but I think the practice has a lot of value when implemented in the places it is needed and/or wanted.
@dave You can’t read a library book in the bathtub (my favorite reading spot) because you might drop it in the water. That damp Sue Grafton novel would be perfect.
I have to completely disagree with Irk on this one. Little Libraries are great. They could be life changing for some people:
The budding businesskid. Some of those books might be worth selling on eBay, or to other kids if they are on some parent’s “forbidden list” of books. This could be the kernel of a future business career, cut short because of some spokestroll’s disapproval of Little Libraries.
The junior businessman who temporarily stashes his stash and the burner phone in the library before being searched by the police, thus avoiding a “three strikes” sentence to the Big House. That’s pretty life changing!
It makes a good dead drop for spies, secret lovers, kidnapping ransom notes, and payments to blackmailers. All of those could make your LL quite profitable if you intercept them and use them wisely.
Also a ton of Highlights magazines
@TheChrisGlass Don’t be a Goofus.
If you’re an adult (or a troll), yes, they can occasionally be kind of lame.
If you’re a child and someone leaves you a thank you note for having a book in your little library which they really enjoyed, it is the best three square feet they’ve ever experienced.
Many children around here like them and even seek them out with their parents - and it sure as fuck beats having them spend time on Facebook or an Xbox.
@MrsPavlov wait, wait… your kids read? <snicker!>
There was a huge stink over these things in my town a few months ago. Something with the city council and do- gooders sticking their noses in places they shouldn’t be and zoning laws and blah blah blah…
I think the little library builders won out in the end.
I’ll take that Sue Grafton novel.
@sammydog01 Yeppers. Grafton is terrific!
@sammydog01 Not damp though. <shudder>
They make my heart happy
@lenea9011
/giphy happy heart
I hadn’t heard of this phenomenon. It sounds cool, actually. I would love to build a little custom box (with lexan windows, naturally) and place it next to my mailbox. Just think; you could also set it up as an exchange; drop off a Clive Cussler, pick up a Tom Clancy.
@PocketBrain That’s pretty much the idea. I have a few friends who have them and they say they get used in their communities. I think they keep an eye on the content to make sure there’s appropriate things and variety. I would do one, but I get stabby when people walk through my driveway so I doubt I could handle people stopping to peruse books.
@PurplePawprints perhaps a little knife shop, free demonstrations? I can’t imagine them being very popular for community building, but you never know!
@PocketBrain I think people put time in the construction, but can’t maintain the collection. Someone takes a Clive Cussler and leaves a 1980 National Geographic. I imagine people leaving all kinds of trash.
@PocketBrain Good on paper bad in real life? Water damaged, heat damaged, least wanted books in practice?
Ever leave the unwanted weekly advertiser in your mailbox in a week this thing has started to shrivel due to humidity and sun damage. Now imagine having 3 levels of books from 1 to 3 top 10 best seller to a book found at the dollar tree. What books do you think will get picked up first. (don’t tell my wife I don’t want to build one) lol.
@PurplePawprints what does it mean to
oh yea, i was visiting my son in berkeley and his girlfriend/partner is a literature major, and she said these are good, so irk is just flat out wrong on this one
@Yoda_Daenerys It means that I hate living in a townhouse more than I thought I would before we bought it and I’ve been known to yell out the window at other people’s kids telling them that my driveway and gravel border are not a playground. We all have huge backyards, so there’s no reason for the brats to be playing in my driveway. I also get overly annoyed when people turn around in my driveway. We’re one of the few who went to the extra expense to turn our single lane driveway into two lanes, so that we could park beside each other rather than bumper to bumper. For awhile, people thought that meant they were free to use our extra room to turn around. It doesn’t happen that often after the last set of nasty renters moved out, but I complained to their property management company more than once. Also, our cameras deter it some, I think.
Anyway, I know it all bothers me way more than it should, and I really shouldn’t be living in a townhouse. I’ve always lived in the country and didn’t realize just how much having people right there all the time would bother me. Hubby said if I take the kids out of dance/karate and get the credit cards paid off, we can sell this place and buy a detached house. He’ll probably renege, but I’m going to do my damnedest to hold him to it. So, my meh purchases will dramatically decrease for a while.
TL;DR These kids need to stay off my lawn until I can move away.
@PurplePawprints TL;DR like you want to stab them in the eyes?
we’ve been renting for the last year after owning for 30 - it sucks, so i can definitely relate
@Yoda_Daenerys I think you’re maybe taking my stabby reference a little too literally. I promise I’m not threatening anyone with actual harm, I just mutter and/or yell at the security screen frequently.
Renting can definitely suck, especially when the renters around you don’t give a fuck about the property of others. Most of us own our townhouses here, but there were a couple that were bought up for cheap back when everyone was foreclosing and are now rented out. The last two occupents in the rental closest to me have sucked balls and I hated them. I’m sure you aren’t that type of renter, and we weren’t either, but seeing them make me realize I could never hack it as a landlord. I’d end up killing someone for real.
@PurplePawprints I swear you are singing my song. I love people but only when I am not at home. Stay off my lawn, stay out of my driveway, stay off my front porch, don’t even call. My husband calls me Gladys Kravitz because I peek out the windows so much. I live on a dead end road and the trailer at the end of the street had a guy who sold drugs. There were people up and down our street all day and night long. He moved out again but I’m sure he’ll be back (his skeevy mother and stepdad own the trailer). I couldn’t make it living in the city again. Our town has about 400 people.
You’re a heartless monster. I love those neighborhood libraries.
@DrunkCat There is a hand where Irk’s heart should be.
My neighbor’s often has snacks. Aka BRIBES to stop.
Nope. Although I’ve never heard of them, I think they bother you exactly as much as they should, Irk.
The most meh “little library” would include:
-remainder copy of Al Gore
I would add- a book about house flipping written before 2009.
Never heard of a little library before this. I wonder if anyone ever puts their old college textbook in it thinking someone might want their calculus book from 1985…
@IWUJackson How much has calculus changed since 1985?
/image calculus
@compunaut answer=zero, but the way we teach it “>zero”, or
Never heard of this. Sounds interesting… But most people take their unwanted books to the actual library where they either add them into the collection, or sell them super cheap.
Someone put poop in this one.
Anything to confess, Irk?
Mine would end up full of wasps and I’d get sued.
@medz What sort of material are you offering anyway that wasps want to read?
@chacham
@chacham
IOW, instead of doing symbolic things to make friends or community, do real things to make friends or community.
Wow, Irk rants against the liberal elite. Who woulda thought?
Irk, you make me sad. There are a couple of these in our neighborhood, and I’ve both found good things in there, and left things when I knew I could probably sell them at the used bookstore but didn’t want to bother. (I left my copy of Found there which seemed appropriate.)
Sure, there’s likely to be a lot of junk in them, because junk accumulates and the good stuff gets taken. But that is a sampling error, not an indication that they are useless.
I’m on the grumpy side of these, while also feeling guilt about being grumpy towards people who are clearly trying to do things they think are nice. Here’s one problem:
You’d never put a controversial book in these. Leave a Henry Miller novel or William Burroughs or even Kurt Vonnegut book and you’ll probably end up with a stern letter in your mailbox about thinking of the children and all that. So, by definition, we’re sharing books that fit the absolutely blandest, most inoffensive, completely-without-any-challenging-aspects books.
Which, sure, that’s fine, there’s always the library. But these seem almost to be at battle with the idea of a “real” library. Like people are saying “we can take this on ourselves, we don’t need that library” while the library is ensuring that it does stock a huge variety of books of all types, including ones many people would find shocking.
But. It’s not like there’s currently an actual concern over libraries shutting down because of Little Tiny Libraries, and, of course, more books, and more convenient books will mostly just lead to more reading, and besides, people are generally assholes to each other almost all of the time, so why should we shit on the one time that a trendy thing is being done at least with the attempt of bettering humanity, rather than harming it? Which is to say, I agree with Irk, maybe it bothers me more than it should.
@dave You have to go out of your way to find a real library AND you have to give them your personal info to sign up AND you have to bring the books back AND you have to deal with the other people who may be there. (ugh, people) That’s too much work. With the little libraries, a kid might see it everyday on his walk to and from school. He is under no obligation to leave a book nor bring the book he takes back. His parents are angry drunks who would never drive him to the real library. The little library and the free books within are his only escape.
Glad to know you see both sides. Sure they’re a bit pompous, but they ain’t hurtin’ nobody, so let 'em be.
@dave
I call shenanigans as your premise is flawed. I’ve seen plenty of Harry Potter books in them that can be deemed “controversial” as well as books like Animal Farm or Fahrenheit 451.
@dave did you intentionally flip flop part way through, or am i mis-reading?
if you get a nasty letter, leave it in the box - the writer of said letter will be enraged that you are ignoring her :
@dave I’m seeing a lot of coastal/big city bias in the animosity towards Little Libraries. The successful ones I’ve read about here in the wide-open, non-coastal West are in small towns where everyone knows their neighbors and there isn’t a library or bookstore for hundreds of miles around.
Like many worthwhile ideas, social media may have pushed the LL concept further than it needed to go, but I think the practice has a lot of value when implemented in the places it is needed and/or wanted.
@dave You can’t read a library book in the bathtub (my favorite reading spot) because you might drop it in the water. That damp Sue Grafton novel would be perfect.
I have to completely disagree with Irk on this one. Little Libraries are great. They could be life changing for some people:
@rockblossom now that’s thinking outside the box!
@rockblossom
Sounds like a good place for animal skulls.
Just sayin’
This feels like the first of this series where Irk is just objectively dumb about something.
@mikey Even Andy Rooney had an off day every now and then. Curmudgeonry is hard to sustain.
This just feels like Mikey hasn’t seen the complete series, IMO