Jacket Copy points to this post by Garth Risk Hallberg about the books he’s picked up off the street in Brooklyn.
Indeed, hardly a day goes by in Brooklyn that I don’t see a box of cast-off books sitting on a stoop or by a curb, with a “Free – Take Me” sign, or (once) a glow-stick casting its alien light over the offerings. The entire borough, viewed from a certain angle, is like a great rotating library: you take my copy of Mules and Men, I’ll relieve you of your Sense and Sensibility.
If you follow the link, you’ll see a list of thirty books he’s picked up just walking down the street. I have never been so jealous of Brooklynites as I am right now.
It’s totally true. I got a bunch of free cds this way too and rotating ironic artwork… sigh… nostalgia.
Have almost an entire two shelves of “new” books that either my boyfriend or I have found in a similar way. (I know that’s where they came from because we haven’t been able to afford new books since the shelves were cleaned off, yet they’re almost full.) Chicago FTW.
As a Brooklynite, I am more jealous of people in Seattle, who don’t have to be as paranoid as I am about getting bedbug infestations from picking up books off the street. It happens, yo.
http://www.bookcrossing.com is a way to leave books around for strangers, but track their journal entries online. *smile* The Seattle scene is pretty active. You can even get email alerts of wild release books, so you can go hunting for some.
I picked up 5 somewhat interesting looking books yesterday on Summit and some cross street on the hill. They were in a pile of probably 40 or so books. It does happen in Seattle, just not quite as frequently as Brooklyn. I’d like to think it’s because we make better use of the library- free books for all!!
Seattle has a wealth of all kinds of free shit on the street. I interned there a year ago and lived in the University District and handsomely furnished the two places I lived at with cast-offs from frat row.
I didn’t worry about bedbugs because of Half-Price books. What a lovely place.