When we were out walking in our Ottawa neighbourhood some weeks ago we noticed a little building on a pole on a suburban lawn near the street. It was too small for a bird house, and certainly not a mail box, since we are all using community boxes now. Up close we saw that the structure had a little door, which, when we opened it, revealed about fifteen books,, including some recent novels, Home-lettered on the door was "Lexington Library."
Turned out that it was a lawn library. Apparently they are sprouting all over. The homeowner heard about another one in Ottawa, thought it was a good idea, built the little structure, and started it off with some books that he was thinking of putting in the recycling bin.
The idea is that neighbours and passers-by can leave books and take books at will. During the month or so that the Lexington Library has been up and running, there has been a complete turnover in the contents. It encourages neighbourliness, decluttering, recycling, and reading, and saves people the trouble of carting unwanted books to the public library. it's also nice to get something for free. The public library accepts book donations but resells them. My earlier donations to the LL - Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and a book by John Berends, have been snapped up. Today Roger contributed a book by Christopher Hedges, and I came away with a heavily annotated book by Bart Ehrman.
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