Todd Bol

Here's a great YouTube clip of the founder of Little Free Libraries talking about how the idea got started and  why it's spreading.  Enjoy

Uh Oh

  I've been traveling this last week and spent some time Saturday morning checking on what books have shown up and re-shuffling the scrabble letters.  I met a couple from well outside our neighborhood who like re-arranging the letters and have used the library.  Our newest neighbors Bonnie & her daughter dropped by and shared how they took the appearance of the library as a sign that their new neighborhood was a perfect fit for their family.  Fun stuff!

  If you're not familiar with the Post Secret blog, check it out.  Post Secret shares a similar vein of inventive, community based projects which have taken off in various ways.  In the midst of this technological, modern onslaught of ideas and information sometimes a simple concept resonates with a particular group of people.  The Little Free Library project resonates with folks who read, it connects with folks who walk by your neighborhood and pick up a book or two.  The Post Secret blog utilizes an old communication style (postcards) which are mailed to an artist's home and then he picks something of a theme and weekly blogs these postcards.

  Today Frank Warren posted this great postcard with a deep, dark, terrible secret:

Oh yes, we like people who have this deep, dark, secret squirreled away in the recesses of their private persona.  That nefarious and evil condition of purchasing beyond your reading potential. (Known in clinical circles as PBRP.)  This is a truly deviant condition and Dr. Whitty-Storey has a two step method to restore your peace of mind and sanity.  Step One, gather said books into a shopping bag. Step Two bring them to the Whitty-Storeys Library Box.  You can do it, you have the potential and you too can be a contributor to our simple neighborhood project.  Make that call, well actually just drop 'em at the box, but if you have a box full I'll help you store 'em until Whittey-Storey is ready for new deposits.

  While you're here check out some of the new books which have popped up!   Cheers, Stephen

Bench Ideas

  Here's a sampling of different bench ideas.  We also have some un-split firewood rounds that could also work for simple sitting places.  Anyone want to work on a Fall project?

DIY:  A plan here

Heavy but solid looking: link here

Back & Seat cut from center of log

Simple

Another simple approach

Stumps & Simple Bench

Other Boxes

 Friday's post prompted an email from our neighbor Anne Selby about some of our neighborhood poetry boxes.  Anne had ferreted out boxes on Whitbeck Blvd and McMillian Street.  These were two boxes I hadn't heard of so I had to take a morning stroll and check them out.  I'm a total map geek so after my walk I went over to Google Maps and put together a Books & Poems Map.

Local Map of Neighborhood Library & Poetry Boxes

  The map above shows the three little free libraries nearby and three different poetry boxes.  Yesterday I met a retired school librarian Hope Crandall who lives near Friendly Park and is spearheading a lending library (approved by the city) right in Friendly Park.  Hope & I chatted about our neighborhood's experience with the library box and her plans for Friendly.  This type of community sharing and conversation is so enjoyable and one of the many chats that Whitty-Storeys has initiated.

  The College Hill Poetry Station was featuring the late Seamus Heaney's poem Digging.  The McMillian St Poetry box had two poets I wasn't familiar with, one an Iraqui poet Adnan Al Sayegh with a poem "God's Money" and a cool slam poem entitled "Pretty" by Katie Makkai.

 Check out Pretty, the link is an excellent demonstration of the essential live element of slam poetry.  The poetry box on Whitbeck had a fitting poem for a sign off.

                It is difficult
                to get the news from poems
                          yet men die miserably every day
                                    for lack
                of what is found there.

William Carlos Williams

First Rain

  Eugene and our neighborhood received about a third of an inch of rain in the last twenty-four hours.  I was in Idaho where similar thunderstorms were causing flash floods and a bit of interest further inland.  I'm glad to report that the library box has weathered the storm and the books are dry.

  One fun aspect of the library box is coming home after a trip and checking what showed up.  There were a total of twenty-five new books 22 Big People Books & 3 new Kids Books.  The variety and interesting breadth of books is becoming a characteristic of Whitty Storeys.

  Here are a few of the books I really like that showed up:

One of my pet peeves is when publishers use the theatrical cover of a book I really enjoyed.  Jim Harrison is an author who fits into the category of great writers who is as proficient in prose as he is in poetry.  Harrison along with others like Pausternak and Ondaatje have that ability to cross between both types of writing and captivate the reader.  So Brad Pitt's mug aside, Legends of the Fall is a good read and the movie only covers one of several "legends" that make up the novel.  Sawtelle & Shipping News have a fair amount of sadness in their pages, but the writing and storytelling are excellent.  Pat Conroy is one of those southern authors that I actually enjoy and this is an engaging novel set in NYC and the Carolinas.  Four excellent reads here, all with a fair amount of human struggle, but storytelling that draws you in.  Enjoy!

Folks are having fun with the scrabble letters:

The Box Dry & Snug

Fun & Kudos

  "That's the cutest lending library I've ever seen!"  The words were from a young mom pushing her son up Storey this Labor Day Monday.  As I would certainly explain to my grandson Cedar, I'm not sure cute was precisely what I was aiming for, but we'll take the kudos.  Speaking of cute, neighbors gathered on Friday night and we did start to decorate and "cute up" the box.  Here are a couple samples of the box decorations:

Fun with Scrabble tiles

  Someone on Friday night also came up with the idea to glue a tile holder onto the box and leave the extra letters sitting out so folks could play with words.  We've already had a few permutations of folks playing with the tiles, now we just need to drum up another old Scrabble game so we have more letters.

Submitted Words

  We took some group shots to submit to LFLs, but unfortunately they were blurry and didn't turn out too well.  Maybe we can re-group this evening or one of the coming weekends and get a photo worthy of submission?  But then again maybe we can remain incognito and submit the blurry photo?

Gathering around the box