Albuquerque Little Free Libraries

I’ve been traveling recently. It’s time to sit still and read a good book. What to read? I just finished Richard Flanagan’s excellent but harrowing The Narrow Road to the Deep North, so I want something lighter in tone. Hmm … drive to the library? Wouldn’t it be great if I could simply stroll a block or two across the neighborhood and find a little cache of books, free for the taking?

That’s the idea of the Little Free Library.

I’ve written about Little Free Libraries before, and I got some interesting responses from readers who support them, all over the world. For example, regular comment contributor, Feisty Froggy, who blogs about the Fulton County, Indiana public library system, sent this link.

We were driving around Albuquerque, New Mexico recently, just seeing what neighborhoods were like. It could be a suburban neighborhood in almost any western city.

We encountered three LFLs, purely by chance.

Granted, these are in neighborhoods not far from the University of New Mexico, so it’s arguably a slightly more bookish crowd than the average city suburb, but there’s no particular reason to think so. Readers like books, often accumulate more books than they know what to do with, and the idea of sharing books with someone else is one of the joys of reading.

Once we were home, I zoomed into these photos and spotted books by Anne Tyler, John Grisham, Terry Brooks, Barbara Kingsolver, Jonathan Kellerman, Natalie Goldberg and Woody Allen’s funny Without Feathers. There’s even a copy of Wake of the Perdido Star, by Gene Hackman (yes, that Gene Hackman) and Daniel Lenihan. I’d learned just this week that Mr. Hackman, retired from acting, is writing novels, and now lives in Santa Fe, just north of Albuquerque.

Here are two examples of Little Free Libraries outside the U.S.:

Oxfordshire, UK: https://freelandlittlefreelibrary.wordpress.com/

Ljubljana, Slovenia: http://www.pirancafe.com/castle-hill-free-library-journal/

If you’re interested in finding a Little Free Library near you, go to the website link above, click on “Map” and put in your zip code. The site also has all the information you need to connect with sponsors of Little Free Libraries or start your own. If you find a local one, contact the sponsor and ask what sort of books they’re looking for. You might have a couple that could find new homes.

No, it may not change the world. On the other hand, some books and the people who have read them have, demonstrably, changed the world. You never know. If nothing else, it makes the world that much nicer. Libraries — small or large — are powerful institutions.

© Brad Nixon 2016, 2017. Little Free Library photos © Marcy Vincent 2017, used by kind permission.