After going through the comments it seems the general understanding of the LFL is "take one give one", tbh it may not cross some ppl's mind (me included) that they should return it, it does make sense tho. Maybe a fun little message on the door to encourage them "to pass along and share your love for your book recommendations" can help to align perspectives.
I’m really okay with people not returning them (as I mentioned in the video) but I do think it’s nice and in line with the spirit of LFLs to continue to share the books so more people can enjoy them (and I personally get a lot of joy from seeing that my favourite books are being enjoyed by several people!) ❤️ it does seem that people have a knee jerk negative reaction to the idea of not keeping the books permanently, which surprises me as I have always brought the books back to LFLs when I finished them in the past as that seemed to make the most sense to me. But at the end of the day I started my LFL to share books with my community and if they’re reading them I’m happy, no matter where they end up ☺️
I use an LFL about a block from my house. I mostly bring books to it and once in a while I will clean it out especially after a rain since the door is broken. I've taken a few books from it and honestly don't feel any obligation to return those exact books to that exact LFL. These books are in circulation more like dollar bills are in circulation rather than the way regular library books are in circulation.
I have some Little Free Libraries in my neighborhood and I've noticed the same problem that most of the books that get exchanged in end up being outdated and unappealing. There's not often anything I want to read in them.
That’s the main reason why I hope people will bring back the books they actually enjoy from a LFL instead of keeping them - to keep the selection interesting/current for everyone rather than LFLs being stuffed full of books no one wants to read (or costing a fortune for someone to stock!) ❤️
I didn't realize its expected that we should put books back in that we took out, I thought the idea was to take a book if we are interested, and leave another book in its place, not return it again like a literal library. Have I been doing it wrong?
I am the same, I thought it was more intended to take one leave one. I go to a lot of little libraries when I travel, so returning isn't really an option. I don't think we are doing it wrong, it's just a different expectation or perspective.
This is what I always thought as well. I never realized there was an expectation of returning the book you took out to the same or different location. I thought it was fine to put different books in.
It really depends on where you are I think! The basic idea is “take a book share a book” ❤️ I don’t live in a touristy place so 99% of the people using my LFL are local and able to bring books back to my (or another) LFL when they finish them! They don’t have to, of course, but it’s nice to give another person the chance to read the book rather than keeping it on their bookshelf collecting dust, you know?
I think it also helps prevent what I call "Dan Brown creep" - if it's take a book, leave a book, people tend to leave copies of books they no longer *want* rather than books they want to share... which leads to a saturation of bestselling fiction from 5-10 years ago. If people are encouraged to return *the book they borrowed* specifically, it keeps better variation in the circulation!
Yeah, this is the first time I heard of someone treating this kind of like a "real" library. Usually it's treated like a way to swap books. It's interesting to see books making a reappearance though. At my last visit at our free library I saw a book I donated like a year ago and it was a bit like seeing an old friend.
I think the cards for the books you have added makes the most sense. Maybe a hashtag for social media so people who find it in a little library somewhere else can post about it and you would see some of the journeys your books have gone on.
I'd love an Agatha Christie vlog! I've read a few of her books and I really like them! They're a quick and easy read. Also, a yearly update of the Little Free Library would be interesting! Seeing how it evolves as time passes
Good to know! And that’s a great idea, honestly. Though it looks like every time I make a video about my LFL I just end up fighting for my life in the comments since I don’t think the purpose of them is to take and keep the books forever 😂
I definitely want one of these as soon as I have a driveway to put it in! I think, as long as people were donating as well as taking (and I'd be happy to keep refreshing it as well) I'd actually rather not see the same books coming back because I'd prefer that people who frequent the area have new books to peruse on a regular basis. We have a fantastic free library in our local train station that I regularly take books from and donate books to - it seems to get refreshed a lot, so I think the station staff must be curating it regularly, which is awesome.
That’s a great perspective! I guess I feel some of the books I’d initially put in are good enough/classics that I think many people would love - so I get a bit sad thinking they were only read by a few people before disappearing into the ether 😂 I think the majority of the selection changing regularly but some core books being available for a little longer would be nice 🤔
@@PlantBasedBrideI feel like this as well. I have a little free library of my own and also buy a lot of the books for the library to be able to refresh it a bit. Where I live there is a national children books week in which a highly voted book by kids will be published specifically for that week. When buying enough new (children's) books you will get it as a gift at a bookshop. But stock is limited and they "sell out" fast. At those moments I just hope more kids get a chance of reading it. But it sadly never returns to my or another local lfl. I find it difficult to keep the library new and interesting as I have to spend quite a bit of money and I want the collection to be diverse, but it seems to become the same as a lot of the lfl's in the area which are almost not used. People just periodically add encyclopedias and as you say, "lower quality" outdated books where it seems people just want to get rid of it I guess and I even saw people selling one of the books. Sorry for the long comment. I was just really passionate doing this but struggle a bit with how to make sure it will be/stay actively used. But I still notice it makes some people happy, there are still people that use it and donate and children visit it regularly so it is definitely still worth it. And just to be clear, I also don't want people to feel pressured to return a book when they love it or put something back if they can't! Please take a book and enjoy.
The Sorting Books section gave big library/donation pile energy. So many little paperbacks and children’s books! I jumped when I saw Beastly followed by SpongeBob. 😂
Thank you for sharing your lovely little library. The care and intention you put into it is very showing of your care and love for people. Most of our little libaries are more comminity than individual. (local parks/train station/churches/etc) It's interesting to see the curation from an individual owned library. Thank you :)
Elizabeth, this is such a cool update! It’s fascinating to hear the progress and all you’ve accomplished with your library! I do think some people see these books as gifts and keep them, which is why I think the library cards are a good reminder ( though I do understand the cost factor)! Another wonderful video, love all that you do to brighten the lives in your area…🎉🎉❤
Aw thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it ❤️ That’s a good point! I like reminding people that the books are meant to be freely shared and read and enjoyed by as many people as possible ☺️
I like the idea of putting the library cards and info only in the books you’ve curated, read, and added. It may be an extra incentive for people to return those particular books to your little free library. I’ve enjoyed some Dean Koontz books (“Lightning” being one of them) but I will say… our parents’ generation love Dean Koontz 😅
That Hork-Bajir Chronicles will be a good find for someone! A lot of people are trying to complete their Animorphs collections again. Parents had a tendency to toss/donate them, but they're really, really good, especially the four "Chronicles" books.
@@PlantBasedBride They're available for free (with the authors' blessing) out there. Katherine and Michael love how popular the books are, especially how they resonate with queer audiences. And they were out of print for quite some time. So let's just say... they found their way online
I like that the stickers are just on books you personally selected! I like that better than putting them on every book since you are unlikely to feel passionate about recommending a lot of those random books and it might make that detail feel less special if it’s on all of them. It’s such a cool and personal thing to do, I would be so excited if I found that in one of the books I picked up 💗
One thing I think might be interesting is the “where’s my George” method. Basically you can type in the serial number of any $1 and if someone has previously registered that you can see everywhere in the country that dollar has been. If you did a free Google form (which can automatically connect to a Google sheet with a spreadsheet of the info and that can be connected to notion too!), basic questions like first name, where you’re from, book title, book rating, comment….. then you could get a custom QR code (free in your canva pro) and get a custom stamp made and stamp the books! That stamp could even mention the goal of wanting to see where the books travel to, how many people it’s been passed to, and how much people love them. That could help align with your vision of spreading the joy of the book and also give you some really fun data!! Which you love! More pie charts… a LFL bojo… more content on it ❤️❤️❤️
I, too, aspire to make everyone in my neighborhood read Legends and Lattes lol. I really enjoyed this update. It's interesting to hear what you think about the purpose and impact of your library. Good luck with the weathering. Some LFLs I've seen have a step stool next to it for shorter humans.
I tour the LFL's around my hometown every ~3 months or so, and I have to say I've never made a concentrated effort to return a book I've borrowed to it's original LFL 😬 If a book had a borrow card like the one's you're making, I'd probably make sure it stays in the book, and if I donate it to an LFL going forward, that it had that card inside. There's no way I'd personally remember which LFL exactly I'd borrowed it from, but that has to do more with my own reading schedule and memory! 😅
I think the library cards are a really nice touch, but I don't think it's worth the time and it might disappoint you more when you put so much work into them and the books don't come back. The sticker with the description and the embosser are really good ideas and should really do the job!
I really don’t mind - I enjoy doing it! I have seen one or two books come back with a name filled out which made me happy so I don’t mind continuing to do it for the books I purchase to put in to make them extra special ❤️
I wrote my 8th grade book report on Flowers in the Attic with my mom's help she was the one who gave me the book and helped with my report. There are some mature themes sprinkled in there and I think my teacher thought it was weird that it was the book I chose. However, now as a 28-year-old I don't look back thinking the book was inappropriate for me and I remember it fondly. It is going off my personal experience but I would say that it is ok to be in the library!
Someone in my 8th grade English class did a book report on that book! I've read two books because of book reports--Flowers in the Attic, and Wuthering Heights.
This concept is very sweet and cool! In my country we just take one and bring another book to the shelf. The reading vlogs also sound awesome. As for Danielle Steel - my grandma had a bunch of her books, so maybe elder people would enjoy it. She is kinda old-fashioned tho, and most of her characters are conventionally attractive, white, cishet and upper class. Which is fine for main characters if she can't write about other experiences well, but she has written like a hundred books? So for my taste very limiting but I heard some premises from my grandma and they are not practically harmful books.
dean koontz has been a favorite author of mine since being a young teen - they're typically really fast/easy reads, and he can be quite silly/whimsical with his stories. tick tock is one of my favorites, and then the odd thomas series holds a special place in my heart, specifically the first book in that series.
I'm glad I'm not the only one to put in tarot things! 😅 There's some lore that you're not supposed to buy the cards for yourself... I had extras from a friend's care package and didn't know what else to do with them... I put them in one of my favorite ones by a park, walked the path and came back around/took a peak and someone had already grabbed on of the sets of cards. ❤
When you put books you read back in the library, do you include your annotations and sticky notes for others to peruse? I love your idea of inserting the library card and description 💞
That was so fun to see your beautiful little Library one year later. The V. C. Andrews books were a blast from the past. I read so many of them when I was a teen in the 80s. They were creepy and I loved them! They started me on my lifelong love of reading. I'm glad to see the copy of Hannah's Suitcase made it back into the library. My daughter loved that book as a child. We still love it. Don't Sweat the Small Stuff was life changing to me as a young mother in the 90s. I'm not sure if it still holds up today with so much information easily accessible on the internet, but it holds a place in my heart.
This is making me reconsider if I want to have one. It hadn't really occurred to me that I could have one, but also that maybe I would have feelings about the books... then again, I live in a cul-de-sac and IDK if it would get much traffic
Sleepers!!! Never read the book but watched the movie. It was so great! Heartbreaking for sure. Based on a true story which to me makes it even more heartbreaking.
Oh wow, havent thought about flowers in the attic in forever! I was waaaay to young to read it. I should reread as an adult to see how bad it messed me up, lol.
I feel like reading it as a preteen and encountering some startling content for the first time was some kind of rite of passage for a lot of girls. Me included!
Darn, I wish I had an Elizabeth by my neighbourhood. Just so thoughtful and nice. And I would love to get my hands on the regrets of clover. Thank you for the recommendation
A better deterent would be to emboss the cover directly! People would feel more guilty keeping the books than if its only inside.. Also adding the library card only in your books is also a way to show what YOUR own selection is, and can be seen as a way to connect comunicate with your library audience (and its a lot of work to add in all the books)
@@PlantBasedBride I second embossing the cover. Books can't be sold without the cover then it can't be hidden away. I also support the idea of a stamp on the inside of the front cover (or that awkward glued first page)
It broke my heart when it was said it wasn't quality! As soon as I saw it my heart soared and I had such nostalgia because I loved reading those in my teens. Lightning and Cold Fire were my favorites. Gave me great nostalgia. :)
Lightning by Dean Koontz was my first Koontz book and remains my favorite of his. His newer stuff is horrible but his older stuff like the Odd Thomas books, Fear Nothing and Seize the Night can be worth a read.
Oh cool, that’s great to know! I did read somewhere that his earlier stuff was better and it seems the books that were donated are mostly pre-2000 or so ☺️
He went along with John Saul, Peter Straub, and Stephen King at one time for me. Pre-teen / teenage me (90s 🤭) would check them out of the library regularly. These days though, the only one I still read is Stephen King.
I‘m halfway through Stephen King‘s „Shining“ and loving it so far! It’s my first Stephen King book. So if you read any of his books, I‘d love to hear your opinion.
I'd love a VC Andrews reading vlog! ☺She is one of my favorite authors. You have copies of different series, whereas I would recommend reading an entire serie ☺
You definitely don’t have to! I always have since I don’t need to keep every book I read/I have limited space and I tend to assume someone else might want to read the book, too! Especially if it’s a newer release or a popular book.
Where I live, NYC, these structures are much more "take a book leave a book" than "libraries"; I don't know anyone here who necessarily plans to return the books they take. And yes this definitely leads to lower quality stock in there, but there's not really a way around it - the point is for it to be a place to pass on what you don't need to the community, rather than throwing it away. Sometimes you find a gem, often you don't. But it's also sort different here because we have an extremely robust library network that people can rely on when they genuinely want to borrow a good book that's been well taken care of.
I think this is a very important point that some are missing! We don’t have a robust library system in my town - the library barely has classics let alone new and popular releases. This is a big reason why it would be nice for more people to be able to read the books rather than them being kept by the first person who comes across them!
@@PlantBasedBride and it is so kind of you to buy brand new books just for this purpose! Even if it doesn't get returned, I think you should be proud to pay the knowledge forward to someone, especially the YA stuff, even if it was just one person ❤️
I remember reading Flowers in the Attic in grade 5 or 6 because someone in my class' Mum let her read it, and she brought it around and we all took turns reading. I believe that (many) children are able to assess their own reading level and stop reading when something isn't right for them, and I got through the book and was totally fine, that said that was definitely NOT the right age to be reading that book. If you do get around to it I would be curious to see your review.
14:33 my thought is: i would not even notice the embossed logo. i would write (and have seen) LITTLE FREE LIBRARY in sharpie on the top, bottom and side of the book (on the page edges, not the spine). Maybe a lender forgot where they got the book from, or it was given as a gift and the receiver doesn't know it was ever a LFL book, or someone is meaning to return it and that big letters will remind them.
I went back and watched the first video. I love this idea so much. We have LFL in my hometown of Olympia, WA, USA and am thinking about adding one to my home in Georgia. These videos are inspirational.
If it snows or rains a lot in your area you need to make sure the roof has a slope or else it isn't going to last very long. You want the slope to be around a 30 to 45 degree angle to ensure anything will easily slide off it. If it's flat water will stay there and cause the wood to warp and rot even if you have the waterproof protective layer. If it gets humid there you should put a little bag of a natural dehumidifier in it to make sure the books don't get moist. You can do that by placing a little bag of rock salt, charcoal, or baking soda in it. A little sandwich-sized plastic bag will last you all summer. You could also use a little jar with holes in the lid. Just make sure you change it out every season. If you buy shoes pretty often you can also use the silica gel packets that come with them so that doesn't become a single-use item. It looks like the roof is flat, which means it'll probably last another year or two before it needs to be replaced again. But that doesn't mean you need to redo it right away. All it takes is some regular maintenance to care for it until it's time for a sloped roof to be put on. Anytime it rains or snows go out there and wipe it off. I find a small squeegee works great. With the cold weather you have in Canada, it wouldn't hurt to put a few cheap shingles on the roof either to protect the wood. Doing all of that should give you a few more years out of that roof. 💜💜💜
The Legacy is an old horror film from the early 80s. Looks like that is a book version of it since it’s the same movie poster. That movie freaked me out when I saw it as a kid. The pool scene, especially. It’s why I won’t swim underwater 😬 Also- loved Flowers in the Attic and entire series. Definitely not for children. Wonderful video- thank you!
Similar to other comments about VC Andrew’s. Read the Flowers In The Attic when I was a teenager and when I realized there were others I read when I was older I read the other books to include If There Be Thorns. Being older I enjoyed it enough to read the series to see what happened with the different characters. However, there was a lot going on (others would be triggered) in each book that I did not venture to read any of the other series she did… something just kept holding me back.
I would so love to have a little free library! Sadly, I live in an apartment so there's no space for it, and I don't have much trust on people donating back, tbh. Regarding religious books, I totally agree with keeping them out of the library. I think promoting any religion can lead to conflict, so it's best to stay away from sensitive topics. I do want to say that once a friend lent me a Christian novel (I didn't know it was Christian, though) and it was honestly pretty good, leaving the religious aspect aside, it could have been just a dope magical realism novel.
re: not having many bookstores or libraries, maybe your town hasn't prioritized funding it or just underfunded in general? I moved from an area where there was an abundance of libraries, bookstores, etc. to a town where the more wealthy neighborhoods have much better access to libraries. One of our "poorer" neighborhoods doesn't have a library at all - a coffee shop actually put together her own little library for folks in that area. :) I haven't borrowed anything yet from a LFL, but before I moved, I went around and added a few books in each that I'd decided to get rid off. It was 2021 so local libraries definitely weren't taking donations and I didn't really want to sell them to Half-Price Books (they don't give much + don't know where the rejects go). We also threw in a few DVDs in the libraries - some were dubbed into my first language and I put them in areas where I knew the demographics were similar haha. The map was super handy, so I wonder how many unofficial ones there were. Anyway, TL;DR lovely video as always! ♥
The Stand by King is so great! I’ve read it multiple times. I don’t really recommend reading it when you are sick though. I did once and I had to put it down.
Oh, I'm also reading Ismail Kadare right now - The Palace of Dreams! What do you think of this writing style? I've been getting massive Kafka vibes (if Kafka were able to be concise and write an actual full-length novel ha) but that might just be this specific title.
I haven't read Danielle Steele either, but I do often see her books in free little libraries, I was always under the impression that they were cheesy, spicy romance vibes
I think you should keep the library cards to books you donate or books you read. It would give them a special from the librarian/librarian approved vibe. Also as someone who has sorted through donations unfortunately people do use it as a way to get rid of junk. See a trip to the dump costs money and donations give people a false sense of doing good even if the net impact of that donation is negative. I once worked at a litterary festival that partnered with a small town library that lost a lot of books in the fire. We asked for people to donage 1 beloved children's book because thag section was most effected. We did not have the facility to hold or sort through donations. People got so mad when we wouldn't take their boxes full of junk (books or otherwise). One lady said we were ungrateful and refused to leave without dropping of a box similar to tne books you removed. It didn't contain a single children's book but there were old magazines and diet books.
@PlantBasedBride tbh I'm not sure how I got through it. I think the found family aspect really drew me in and now that I realize that I kind of want to try it again 🤔
I’d be so happy watching a Stephen King blog! ❤ I’ve read very little of him but I have like what I’ve read a lot. So it would be lovely to get some opinions on his work!
I'd be interested on a Stephen King's vlog if you decide to read the ones from him! I like some of his books and you got one of them (the rest of them I haven't read yet), it would be interesting to hear your opinion 😊
I was wondering what happened to your LFL, so thanks for this video. I would love to see an Agatha Christie reading vlog, and also LFL reading vlog as I enjoy immensely your reading videos. I'm surprised many people in the comments thought they could just keep a book from a LFL as that's not the purpose of any kind of library. You get a book, you read it then you return it. If I really really loved a book then I go and buy a copy. That's how it should work. Little free libraries work the same as any kind of library and books from a library are meant for borrowing only. Anyway, much love and waiting for your next video ❤❤❤
I don’t mind if people don’t bring them back to my LFL specifically, but yes I find it a bit odd that so many people think it makes more sense to keep the books rather than sharing them so more people can read them 🤔 I thought community sharing and promoting literacy and access to diverse books was the spirit of the idea, and it never occurred to me personally to keep a book I borrowed and read from a LFL!
I agree. I have always thought the difference between a LFL and thrifting is that you return the book to the LFL when you finish reading it. You were clear that you didn't mind people returning them to somewhere else and I am surprised to see so many feel strongly about wanting to keep the book. Thanks for the update and I think it would be fine to add a sign about being happy to receive the books back or about encouraging people to keep sharing.
Off topic, but I really need to know how you care for your hair; because I have a similar hair type and mine is very dry brittle and tangled. Despite the fact I don’t dye it or use any heat.
I think how you use a free library really depends on the location. In my town in Germany most of them have cards that encourage you to take and keep books as long as you bringt in a book in the same condition. We also have a room with used books in the philosophy department of my university and my friend that supplies the room is really happy when you take something permanently. But we also have a big library, so no one would ever get the idea to buy something for a free library.
I think it’s quite different when they’re opened/operated by individuals, especially in towns like I live in with no independent or used bookstores and a tiny library with a very small collection! It’s not wrong to keep the books by any means, but sharing is nice and more people getting the opportunity to read a book is always better in my mind ❤️ I don’t have to buy books for my LFL but then it would have very few new, diverse, and exciting books (especially for young adults)
Maybe just putting the library cards in the little library blank for people to take if they want to, then they can also be an option for the books you don’t put in
I would continue to put the notes on your book only or at least the book you read, not the donated/not read ones? I would love an Agatha Christie reading vlog.
Nightmare and Dreamscapes i highly recommend listening: the readers are : Woopie Goldberg, Rob Lowe, Stephen and Tabitha King, and Tim Curry! Danielle Steal are Life Time movie type books. They are not great literature but some peoples popcorn candy book. Straub and Koontz and King i love. VC Andrew is... ment to be older teen to 20s type. Think teen dramas but "darker" psudo gothic fiction. I am pretty sure they were ment to help create trigger warnings! Lol! As a 8th grader through part of high-school I enjoyed them. A weird rite of passage. But i also loved the weird 70's and 80s dark, creepy, evil and satanic books. I like to think that someone will find their next favorite out of some of the gems you put in there.
I might need to come raid your LFL ;) Thank you for sharing. I have several book bins like this around my town and I always enjoy walking around to each of them and dropping a few of my old books off. As for the VC Andrews books, please be careful reading Flowers In The Attic. I had a hard time with some of the content of the books, specifically in Flowers In The Attic.
Could you put the library cards in the little free library itself for people to potentially choose to take? Maybe with a little bit of double sided tape with a protective strip on so they can stick them in?
I had to read the gift of fear when I worked at a DV shelter and I HATED it. It’s very victim blamey and uses survivor bias. The central thesis is basically if something makes you wary you should trust your gut unequivocally without adequately addressing what to do in situations where you can’t do that or things like how racism and other isms can skew a person’s sense of ease to cause fear where there is none or how things like anxiety or personality disorders literally warp your ability to make rational decisions about whether your feelings of fear or unease are proportional to the situation you are in.
the tarot cards is incredible- because as far as I'm aware you're "supposed" to only use tarot cards that have been gifted to you, so if someone was into it and had no one in thier life to gift them a set they would probably be so excited to see that manual with cards.
Oh that’s so cool, I didn’t realize that! Too bad I bought my set 😂 I’m excited to put the tarot deck and book in next time it looks a little empty and hope someone enjoys it!
I read a ton of VC Andrews as a tween. They were intense, full of taboo subjects, and major trigger warnings. Was I the right demographic for them... unclear, haha. That being said, I don't find them all that different that what you can find in network teen dramas. They are sort of terrible but also like a train wreck you cannot look away from. Interesting she passed in 1986 and some of those books could be written by her estate authors - I forget how they phrase it exactly.
They sound wild from what I’ve heard 👀 I’m not against kids/teens reading books with difficult subject matter (I certainly read MANY books before I was the “right” age for them) but I’m also trying to be responsible about the books I provide to the neighbourhood 🤔 it’s an interesting balance!
@@PlantBasedBride I don't think that VC Andrews will pass the vibe check 😬 Granted I haven't read any of those books since way back when I was probably 13-ish, so my recollection is hazy. But idk if it's worth putting them out there
@@michellecreutzberger7665my friend hadn't read Flowers in the Attic. We convinced her to read it 2 years ago when she was in her early 30s. She was shocked by the content and couldn't believe we had read them as tweens, haha.
Uuuh with the V.C. Andrews books, while I love her work, I would not let My Sweet Audrina in the library because it's a bit... heavy. I'm not sure about the others, I know I've read If There Be Thorns but it's been a loooooong time. Would not recommend putting Flowers in the Attic in there either. And I'm telling you this as someone who started reading these books at 9 years old, which was far too young to have ever picked up a V.C. Andrews book. Some of them are fine but most of the ones I've read are kinda messed up on some level.
I know you're trying to donate a lot of the extra stuff, but could you keep some to use in the bujo later (if the text material or size isn't too distracting)?
I am curious about what you decide about VC Andrews. I read probably all of those that were out in middle school-ish mid-80’s (pretty normal I think back in the 80’s since I had no trouble getting them). They do need content warnings in my opinion if you choose to include them later. I think after a certain point they were written by someone else using a ‘formula’ and became very repetitive. My Sweet Audrina was the one that really freaked me out but they were all…dark. I don’t think I would read again or like my daughter reading them as young as I was. They do movie adaptations on Lifetime in the states and there was a bad movie of Flowers in the Attic at some point. I think officially they are gothic horror and I would be afraid to reread them as an adult to find out I really should not have as a teen. I love my local free libraries and cart around a box of books I have read to donate whenever I see one! Great video!
I know it's a painful thing for a book lover to think about, but things like outdated reference books and textbooks (if you get any) can be recycled. Public libraries cull things like that, bestsellers that are out of the limelight, damaged books, and many more, all the time. I've seen other comments that mentioned a kind of downward drift in quality and relevance of selection when users are left to their own devices. It's a good thing to know that the runner of a LFL will probably have to put their own resources into it on an ongoing basis.
Yes that’s true - I was thinking of putting a box by the side of the road with a note for people to take whatever they like and then recycling what’s left over (since I imagine our local library and few secondhand shops won’t take the books I have). I think that’s an important point that people don’t always think about! I’m not averse to spending money to maintain a quality selection, I knew going into it that that would be part of the process, but I do think there’s a tiny bit of entitlement to the perspective that taking and keeping the only good books in a little free library is within the spirit of the idea. Even taking a current bestseller and replacing it with an outdated book of little interest is not really in the spirit of a little free library in my mind. It’s certainly ok to do occasionally, but consistently doing that will mean your local LFLs are going to be full of books no one wants to read OR become a very expensive endeavour for the person stocking it.
@@PlantBasedBride Putting a checkout card and embossing in the books is a clever idea and adds character, and I hope that at least some of the patrons will be encouraged to return them. Looking forward to future updates.
Have you ever had to deal with vandalism where people have damaged the library or the books? I ask because where I used to live, people would sometimes wreck furniture and other things that people put out for people to take.
Maybe your little library is telling you that it needs an annex or expansion building? Maybe people wanted to return your books but the library was full? 💕🌞🌵😷
Thanks for the update! I'm glad to hear you are curating the collection regularly, and not leaving certain kinds of books (religious, outdated) in there. As for some of the books you asked about... V.C. Andrews's books are seriously twisted. I mean, in an interesting and disturbing way, lol. I read them as a young teen. Most of their MCs are teens. Lots of trigger warnings--mostly abuse and rape. So much abuse. Not just physical, but emotional and psychological. GenX grew up reading them, so maybe we are permanently damaged by that, lol. Not appropriate for kids under 12. Over 12, it would depend on the kid. Danielle Steele--I read a lot of her stuff back when I was a teen and young adult. I haven't read anything of hers in more than 20 years now. The books are a far cry from literature, but harmless. There was nothing too steamy in them, nothing really objectionable, other than the overuse of shallow tropes and the phrase "he/she mattered."
Thank you for sharing this info, it’s good to know! I got a bit overwhelmed trying to research all of the books to determine what I might not want to put back in 😅
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After going through the comments it seems the general understanding of the LFL is "take one give one", tbh it may not cross some ppl's mind (me included) that they should return it, it does make sense tho. Maybe a fun little message on the door to encourage them "to pass along and share your love for your book recommendations" can help to align perspectives.
I’m really okay with people not returning them (as I mentioned in the video) but I do think it’s nice and in line with the spirit of LFLs to continue to share the books so more people can enjoy them (and I personally get a lot of joy from seeing that my favourite books are being enjoyed by several people!) ❤️ it does seem that people have a knee jerk negative reaction to the idea of not keeping the books permanently, which surprises me as I have always brought the books back to LFLs when I finished them in the past as that seemed to make the most sense to me. But at the end of the day I started my LFL to share books with my community and if they’re reading them I’m happy, no matter where they end up ☺️
Yesss a little free library reading vlog would be so cute!📚✨
🥰
I use an LFL about a block from my house. I mostly bring books to it and once in a while I will clean it out especially after a rain since the door is broken. I've taken a few books from it and honestly don't feel any obligation to return those exact books to that exact LFL. These books are in circulation more like dollar bills are in circulation rather than the way regular library books are in circulation.
I have some Little Free Libraries in my neighborhood and I've noticed the same problem that most of the books that get exchanged in end up being outdated and unappealing. There's not often anything I want to read in them.
That’s the main reason why I hope people will bring back the books they actually enjoy from a LFL instead of keeping them - to keep the selection interesting/current for everyone rather than LFLs being stuffed full of books no one wants to read (or costing a fortune for someone to stock!) ❤️
I didn't realize its expected that we should put books back in that we took out, I thought the idea was to take a book if we are interested, and leave another book in its place, not return it again like a literal library. Have I been doing it wrong?
I am the same, I thought it was more intended to take one leave one. I go to a lot of little libraries when I travel, so returning isn't really an option. I don't think we are doing it wrong, it's just a different expectation or perspective.
This is what I always thought as well. I never realized there was an expectation of returning the book you took out to the same or different location. I thought it was fine to put different books in.
It really depends on where you are I think! The basic idea is “take a book share a book” ❤️ I don’t live in a touristy place so 99% of the people using my LFL are local and able to bring books back to my (or another) LFL when they finish them! They don’t have to, of course, but it’s nice to give another person the chance to read the book rather than keeping it on their bookshelf collecting dust, you know?
I think it also helps prevent what I call "Dan Brown creep" - if it's take a book, leave a book, people tend to leave copies of books they no longer *want* rather than books they want to share... which leads to a saturation of bestselling fiction from 5-10 years ago. If people are encouraged to return *the book they borrowed* specifically, it keeps better variation in the circulation!
Yeah, this is the first time I heard of someone treating this kind of like a "real" library. Usually it's treated like a way to swap books.
It's interesting to see books making a reappearance though. At my last visit at our free library I saw a book I donated like a year ago and it was a bit like seeing an old friend.
I think the cards for the books you have added makes the most sense. Maybe a hashtag for social media so people who find it in a little library somewhere else can post about it and you would see some of the journeys your books have gone on.
OMG there’s an Animorphs and Goosebumps book in your free little library? AHHH that’s amazing! My childhood 🥰
Haha yes I was excited to see them! I remembering being traumatized watching Goosebumps with my big sister as a kid 😂
I'd love an Agatha Christie vlog! I've read a few of her books and I really like them! They're a quick and easy read.
Also, a yearly update of the Little Free Library would be interesting! Seeing how it evolves as time passes
Good to know! And that’s a great idea, honestly. Though it looks like every time I make a video about my LFL I just end up fighting for my life in the comments since I don’t think the purpose of them is to take and keep the books forever 😂
Aw! I love Legends and Lattes! Glad that made it into the little free library.
I definitely want one of these as soon as I have a driveway to put it in! I think, as long as people were donating as well as taking (and I'd be happy to keep refreshing it as well) I'd actually rather not see the same books coming back because I'd prefer that people who frequent the area have new books to peruse on a regular basis.
We have a fantastic free library in our local train station that I regularly take books from and donate books to - it seems to get refreshed a lot, so I think the station staff must be curating it regularly, which is awesome.
That’s a great perspective! I guess I feel some of the books I’d initially put in are good enough/classics that I think many people would love - so I get a bit sad thinking they were only read by a few people before disappearing into the ether 😂 I think the majority of the selection changing regularly but some core books being available for a little longer would be nice 🤔
@@PlantBasedBrideI feel like this as well. I have a little free library of my own and also buy a lot of the books for the library to be able to refresh it a bit. Where I live there is a national children books week in which a highly voted book by kids will be published specifically for that week. When buying enough new (children's) books you will get it as a gift at a bookshop. But stock is limited and they "sell out" fast. At those moments I just hope more kids get a chance of reading it. But it sadly never returns to my or another local lfl. I find it difficult to keep the library new and interesting as I have to spend quite a bit of money and I want the collection to be diverse, but it seems to become the same as a lot of the lfl's in the area which are almost not used. People just periodically add encyclopedias and as you say, "lower quality" outdated books where it seems people just want to get rid of it I guess and I even saw people selling one of the books. Sorry for the long comment. I was just really passionate doing this but struggle a bit with how to make sure it will be/stay actively used. But I still notice it makes some people happy, there are still people that use it and donate and children visit it regularly so it is definitely still worth it. And just to be clear, I also don't want people to feel pressured to return a book when they love it or put something back if they can't! Please take a book and enjoy.
The Sorting Books section gave big library/donation pile energy. So many little paperbacks and children’s books! I jumped when I saw Beastly followed by SpongeBob. 😂
LOL I love this 😂
Thank you for sharing your lovely little library. The care and intention you put into it is very showing of your care and love for people. Most of our little libaries are more comminity than individual. (local parks/train station/churches/etc) It's interesting to see the curation from an individual owned library. Thank you :)
Aw thank you! It feels really nice to encourage reading in my neighbourhood and provide some more diverse books that I absolutely adore, too! ❤️
Elizabeth, this is such a cool update! It’s fascinating to hear the progress and all you’ve accomplished with your library! I do think some people see these books as gifts and keep them, which is why I think the library cards are a good reminder ( though I do understand the cost factor)! Another wonderful video, love all that you do to brighten the lives in your area…🎉🎉❤
Aw thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it ❤️ That’s a good point! I like reminding people that the books are meant to be freely shared and read and enjoyed by as many people as possible ☺️
Love this ❤ I’d be very interested in an Agatha Christie reading vlog 🕵️♀️
Good to know! 🥰
Reading random books donated to your little free library would be a fun video idea!
I was writing this when you said it LOL
Great minds and all that 😂
I like the idea of putting the library cards and info only in the books you’ve curated, read, and added. It may be an extra incentive for people to return those particular books to your little free library.
I’ve enjoyed some Dean Koontz books (“Lightning” being one of them) but I will say… our parents’ generation love Dean Koontz 😅
That’s kind of what I was thinking! Haha yeah it seems some of my older neighbours have quite the Koontz collection 😂
If you're worried about kids taking book not their age you can also have a little divider with the "adult books" label on
I might make little section dividers, that’s a good idea!
That Hork-Bajir Chronicles will be a good find for someone! A lot of people are trying to complete their Animorphs collections again. Parents had a tendency to toss/donate them, but they're really, really good, especially the four "Chronicles" books.
I never read the animorph books but I remember them being super popular!
@@PlantBasedBride They're available for free (with the authors' blessing) out there. Katherine and Michael love how popular the books are, especially how they resonate with queer audiences. And they were out of print for quite some time. So let's just say... they found their way online
I am currently working on setting up my little free library. I am 100% planning on embossing or stamping my books.
How exciting! I hope you love being a steward as much as I have ❤️ it’s so rewarding!
I was literally thinking about your original LFL video yesterday and wondering when you were going to make an update. Can’t wait to watch! ❤
Oh nice! Perfect timing 🥰
I like that the stickers are just on books you personally selected! I like that better than putting them on every book since you are unlikely to feel passionate about recommending a lot of those random books and it might make that detail feel less special if it’s on all of them. It’s such a cool and personal thing to do, I would be so excited if I found that in one of the books I picked up 💗
It is autumn again and that means, that I am so obsessed with your videos again 🥹 I loved this update!! Thank you so much
One thing I think might be interesting is the “where’s my George” method. Basically you can type in the serial number of any $1 and if someone has previously registered that you can see everywhere in the country that dollar has been.
If you did a free Google form (which can automatically connect to a Google sheet with a spreadsheet of the info and that can be connected to notion too!), basic questions like first name, where you’re from, book title, book rating, comment….. then you could get a custom QR code (free in your canva pro) and get a custom stamp made and stamp the books!
That stamp could even mention the goal of wanting to see where the books travel to, how many people it’s been passed to, and how much people love them. That could help align with your vision of spreading the joy of the book and also give you some really fun data!! Which you love!
More pie charts… a LFL bojo… more content on it ❤️❤️❤️
I love the idea of the library card in the book, especially with the sticker of your notes on the book
I think it’s so cute 😭 I really enjoy setting them up ❤️
Wow - someone put a copy of RED (a Haida manga) in your library! That's very cool.
It is very cool! I was surprised to see it in there!
Love your library! It is so lovely how you add in notes and library cards. That's so fun.
Thank you so much! 🥰 I have fun with it
I, too, aspire to make everyone in my neighborhood read Legends and Lattes lol. I really enjoyed this update. It's interesting to hear what you think about the purpose and impact of your library. Good luck with the weathering. Some LFLs I've seen have a step stool next to it for shorter humans.
I tour the LFL's around my hometown every ~3 months or so, and I have to say I've never made a concentrated effort to return a book I've borrowed to it's original LFL 😬 If a book had a borrow card like the one's you're making, I'd probably make sure it stays in the book, and if I donate it to an LFL going forward, that it had that card inside. There's no way I'd personally remember which LFL exactly I'd borrowed it from, but that has to do more with my own reading schedule and memory! 😅
I think the library cards are a really nice touch, but I don't think it's worth the time and it might disappoint you more when you put so much work into them and the books don't come back. The sticker with the description and the embosser are really good ideas and should really do the job!
I really don’t mind - I enjoy doing it! I have seen one or two books come back with a name filled out which made me happy so I don’t mind continuing to do it for the books I purchase to put in to make them extra special ❤️
I wrote my 8th grade book report on Flowers in the Attic with my mom's help she was the one who gave me the book and helped with my report. There are some mature themes sprinkled in there and I think my teacher thought it was weird that it was the book I chose. However, now as a 28-year-old I don't look back thinking the book was inappropriate for me and I remember it fondly. It is going off my personal experience but I would say that it is ok to be in the library!
Someone in my 8th grade English class did a book report on that book! I've read two books because of book reports--Flowers in the Attic, and Wuthering Heights.
This concept is very sweet and cool! In my country we just take one and bring another book to the shelf. The reading vlogs also sound awesome. As for Danielle Steel - my grandma had a bunch of her books, so maybe elder people would enjoy it. She is kinda old-fashioned tho, and most of her characters are conventionally attractive, white, cishet and upper class. Which is fine for main characters if she can't write about other experiences well, but she has written like a hundred books? So for my taste very limiting but I heard some premises from my grandma and they are not practically harmful books.
dean koontz has been a favorite author of mine since being a young teen - they're typically really fast/easy reads, and he can be quite silly/whimsical with his stories. tick tock is one of my favorites, and then the odd thomas series holds a special place in my heart, specifically the first book in that series.
As a child, I had a little neighborhood library for a summer. I love how the Little Free Library has really taken off.
I'm glad I'm not the only one to put in tarot things! 😅 There's some lore that you're not supposed to buy the cards for yourself... I had extras from a friend's care package and didn't know what else to do with them... I put them in one of my favorite ones by a park, walked the path and came back around/took a peak and someone had already grabbed on of the sets of cards. ❤
I’m excited for someone to take them home! Once there’s a bit more room in there from this restock I’ll put them out 🥰
The Stand is the best of the Stephen King books you've got there.
When you put books you read back in the library, do you include your annotations and sticky notes for others to peruse? I love your idea of inserting the library card and description 💞
The little cards and notes are such a nice touch
I love putting them in and getting the books all set up! 🥰
That was so fun to see your beautiful little Library one year later.
The V. C. Andrews books were a blast from the past. I read so many of them when I was a teen in the 80s. They were creepy and I loved them! They started me on my lifelong love of reading.
I'm glad to see the copy of Hannah's Suitcase made it back into the library. My daughter loved that book as a child. We still love it.
Don't Sweat the Small Stuff was life changing to me as a young mother in the 90s. I'm not sure if it still holds up today with so much information easily accessible on the internet, but it holds a place in my heart.
I’m glad you enjoyed the update! I always enjoy seeing the books that are left in there - some duds but also definitely some gems! ❤️
This is making me reconsider if I want to have one. It hadn't really occurred to me that I could have one, but also that maybe I would have feelings about the books... then again, I live in a cul-de-sac and IDK if it would get much traffic
Sleepers!!! Never read the book but watched the movie. It was so great! Heartbreaking for sure. Based on a true story which to me makes it even more heartbreaking.
Oh wow, havent thought about flowers in the attic in forever! I was waaaay to young to read it. I should reread as an adult to see how bad it messed me up, lol.
😂
I feel like reading it as a preteen and encountering some startling content for the first time was some kind of rite of passage for a lot of girls. Me included!
@@Ruse3 I would totally agree with that take!
Darn, I wish I had an Elizabeth by my neighbourhood. Just so thoughtful and nice. And I would love to get my hands on the regrets of clover. Thank you for the recommendation
your bookshelves in the background look so nice! i would love to see a video of a bookshelf tour
A better deterent would be to emboss the cover directly! People would feel more guilty keeping the books than if its only inside..
Also adding the library card only in your books is also a way to show what YOUR own selection is, and can be seen as a way to connect comunicate with your library audience (and its a lot of work to add in all the books)
Oh interesting! I’ll have to try that and see if it works 🤔
@@PlantBasedBride I second embossing the cover. Books can't be sold without the cover then it can't be hidden away. I also support the idea of a stamp on the inside of the front cover (or that awkward glued first page)
I really liked Dean Koontz's Lightening. It's a suspense novel with some fun sci fi bits thrown in.
It broke my heart when it was said it wasn't quality! As soon as I saw it my heart soared and I had such nostalgia because I loved reading those in my teens. Lightning and Cold Fire were my favorites. Gave me great nostalgia. :)
I would love to see a reading vlog of you reading books from your little free library!
I wish I had infinite time for all the reading vlogs I want to make 😂
Lightning by Dean Koontz was my first Koontz book and remains my favorite of his. His newer stuff is horrible but his older stuff like the Odd Thomas books, Fear Nothing and Seize the Night can be worth a read.
Oh cool, that’s great to know! I did read somewhere that his earlier stuff was better and it seems the books that were donated are mostly pre-2000 or so ☺️
He went along with John Saul, Peter Straub, and Stephen King at one time for me. Pre-teen / teenage me (90s 🤭) would check them out of the library regularly. These days though, the only one I still read is Stephen King.
I‘m halfway through Stephen King‘s „Shining“ and loving it so far! It’s my first Stephen King book. So if you read any of his books, I‘d love to hear your opinion.
Would absolutely looove reading vlogs of Agatha Christie's and Stephen King's books!! ♥
Noted! 🥰
I'd love a VC Andrews reading vlog! ☺She is one of my favorite authors. You have copies of different series, whereas I would recommend reading an entire serie ☺
I never knew you were suppose to return lol I’ve always taken a book to replace if I take one, or leave it if there’s low books.
You definitely don’t have to! I always have since I don’t need to keep every book I read/I have limited space and I tend to assume someone else might want to read the book, too! Especially if it’s a newer release or a popular book.
Where I live, NYC, these structures are much more "take a book leave a book" than "libraries"; I don't know anyone here who necessarily plans to return the books they take. And yes this definitely leads to lower quality stock in there, but there's not really a way around it - the point is for it to be a place to pass on what you don't need to the community, rather than throwing it away. Sometimes you find a gem, often you don't. But it's also sort different here because we have an extremely robust library network that people can rely on when they genuinely want to borrow a good book that's been well taken care of.
I think this is a very important point that some are missing! We don’t have a robust library system in my town - the library barely has classics let alone new and popular releases. This is a big reason why it would be nice for more people to be able to read the books rather than them being kept by the first person who comes across them!
@@PlantBasedBride and it is so kind of you to buy brand new books just for this purpose! Even if it doesn't get returned, I think you should be proud to pay the knowledge forward to someone, especially the YA stuff, even if it was just one person ❤️
That's awesome that someone did a donation. A reading vlog of the donations would be cool. I wonder if you could do a metal roof.
I remember reading Flowers in the Attic in grade 5 or 6 because someone in my class' Mum let her read it, and she brought it around and we all took turns reading. I believe that (many) children are able to assess their own reading level and stop reading when something isn't right for them, and I got through the book and was totally fine, that said that was definitely NOT the right age to be reading that book. If you do get around to it I would be curious to see your review.
14:33 my thought is: i would not even notice the embossed logo. i would write (and have seen) LITTLE FREE LIBRARY in sharpie on the top, bottom and side of the book (on the page edges, not the spine). Maybe a lender forgot where they got the book from, or it was given as a gift and the receiver doesn't know it was ever a LFL book, or someone is meaning to return it and that big letters will remind them.
Our town has several Little Libraries. We also have several that are for Bibles Only.
I went back and watched the first video. I love this idea so much. We have LFL in my hometown of Olympia, WA, USA and am thinking about adding one to my home in Georgia. These videos are inspirational.
That’s a good point - adding the library card/sticker so I can put warnings for content even if I haven’t read the book might be a good idea 🤔
If it snows or rains a lot in your area you need to make sure the roof has a slope or else it isn't going to last very long. You want the slope to be around a 30 to 45 degree angle to ensure anything will easily slide off it. If it's flat water will stay there and cause the wood to warp and rot even if you have the waterproof protective layer. If it gets humid there you should put a little bag of a natural dehumidifier in it to make sure the books don't get moist. You can do that by placing a little bag of rock salt, charcoal, or baking soda in it. A little sandwich-sized plastic bag will last you all summer. You could also use a little jar with holes in the lid. Just make sure you change it out every season. If you buy shoes pretty often you can also use the silica gel packets that come with them so that doesn't become a single-use item. It looks like the roof is flat, which means it'll probably last another year or two before it needs to be replaced again. But that doesn't mean you need to redo it right away. All it takes is some regular maintenance to care for it until it's time for a sloped roof to be put on. Anytime it rains or snows go out there and wipe it off. I find a small squeegee works great. With the cold weather you have in Canada, it wouldn't hurt to put a few cheap shingles on the roof either to protect the wood. Doing all of that should give you a few more years out of that roof. 💜💜💜
The roof isn’t flat! It angles down at the back quite a bit (not sure the exact degree of the angle). But I love the other tips, thank you! 🙏
The Legacy is an old horror film from the early 80s. Looks like that is a book version of it since it’s the same movie poster. That movie freaked me out when I saw it as a kid. The pool scene, especially. It’s why I won’t swim underwater 😬
Also- loved Flowers in the Attic and entire series. Definitely not for children.
Wonderful video- thank you!
Haha well I already have thalassophobia so no worries there 😂🌊
Similar to other comments about VC Andrew’s. Read the Flowers In The Attic when I was a teenager and when I realized there were others I read when I was older I read the other books to include If There Be Thorns. Being older I enjoyed it enough to read the series to see what happened with the different characters. However, there was a lot going on (others would be triggered) in each book that I did not venture to read any of the other series she did… something just kept holding me back.
I would so love to have a little free library! Sadly, I live in an apartment so there's no space for it, and I don't have much trust on people donating back, tbh.
Regarding religious books, I totally agree with keeping them out of the library. I think promoting any religion can lead to conflict, so it's best to stay away from sensitive topics.
I do want to say that once a friend lent me a Christian novel (I didn't know it was Christian, though) and it was honestly pretty good, leaving the religious aspect aside, it could have been just a dope magical realism novel.
Yes i'd love to see all the vlogs you mentioned ❤
Good to know! 🥰
re: not having many bookstores or libraries, maybe your town hasn't prioritized funding it or just underfunded in general? I moved from an area where there was an abundance of libraries, bookstores, etc. to a town where the more wealthy neighborhoods have much better access to libraries. One of our "poorer" neighborhoods doesn't have a library at all - a coffee shop actually put together her own little library for folks in that area. :)
I haven't borrowed anything yet from a LFL, but before I moved, I went around and added a few books in each that I'd decided to get rid off. It was 2021 so local libraries definitely weren't taking donations and I didn't really want to sell them to Half-Price Books (they don't give much + don't know where the rejects go). We also threw in a few DVDs in the libraries - some were dubbed into my first language and I put them in areas where I knew the demographics were similar haha. The map was super handy, so I wonder how many unofficial ones there were.
Anyway, TL;DR lovely video as always! ♥
Ive red one Dean Koontz book and it was surpisingly scary😄 in a good way, sooo
I think you should put the library cards on the ones you purchase, it just makes the most sense to me, but keep embossing them all.
That’s what I was thinking, too ☺️
The Stand by King is so great! I’ve read it multiple times. I don’t really recommend reading it when you are sick though. I did once and I had to put it down.
It’s been at the top of my list for Stephen King’s novels! I’ve heard it’s great.
Oh, I'm also reading Ismail Kadare right now - The Palace of Dreams! What do you think of this writing style? I've been getting massive Kafka vibes (if Kafka were able to be concise and write an actual full-length novel ha) but that might just be this specific title.
I haven't read Danielle Steele either, but I do often see her books in free little libraries, I was always under the impression that they were cheesy, spicy romance vibes
Totally random but I’m also in the prairies lol. Wondering if you’re anywhere near Calgary because I’d totally come hit up your library :)
I am actually quite a ways away from Calgary! I live quite a bit further north but I appreciate the love ❤️
I think you should keep the library cards to books you donate or books you read. It would give them a special from the librarian/librarian approved vibe.
Also as someone who has sorted through donations unfortunately people do use it as a way to get rid of junk. See a trip to the dump costs money and donations give people a false sense of doing good even if the net impact of that donation is negative.
I once worked at a litterary festival that partnered with a small town library that lost a lot of books in the fire. We asked for people to donage 1 beloved children's book because thag section was most effected. We did not have the facility to hold or sort through donations. People got so mad when we wouldn't take their boxes full of junk (books or otherwise). One lady said we were ungrateful and refused to leave without dropping of a box similar to tne books you removed. It didn't contain a single children's book but there were old magazines and diet books.
I enjoyed The Stand, I read that exact edition, but as a teen. So many many seasons ago
It’s been on my TBR for a while! It’s a bit intimidating in length, though 😂
@PlantBasedBride tbh I'm not sure how I got through it. I think the found family aspect really drew me in and now that I realize that I kind of want to try it again 🤔
I’d be so happy watching a Stephen King blog! ❤ I’ve read very little of him but I have like what I’ve read a lot. So it would be lovely to get some opinions on his work!
Good to know! I’ve never read a King novel (just a short story) and I’m definitely curious
I'd be interested on a Stephen King's vlog if you decide to read the ones from him! I like some of his books and you got one of them (the rest of them I haven't read yet), it would be interesting to hear your opinion 😊
I’ll have to see if I can fit it into the schedule! I feel like I have more reading vlog ideas than time to read and film and edit 😂
I was wondering what happened to your LFL, so thanks for this video. I would love to see an Agatha Christie reading vlog, and also LFL reading vlog as I enjoy immensely your reading videos. I'm surprised many people in the comments thought they could just keep a book from a LFL as that's not the purpose of any kind of library. You get a book, you read it then you return it. If I really really loved a book then I go and buy a copy. That's how it should work. Little free libraries work the same as any kind of library and books from a library are meant for borrowing only. Anyway, much love and waiting for your next video ❤❤❤
I don’t mind if people don’t bring them back to my LFL specifically, but yes I find it a bit odd that so many people think it makes more sense to keep the books rather than sharing them so more people can read them 🤔 I thought community sharing and promoting literacy and access to diverse books was the spirit of the idea, and it never occurred to me personally to keep a book I borrowed and read from a LFL!
I agree. I have always thought the difference between a LFL and thrifting is that you return the book to the LFL when you finish reading it. You were clear that you didn't mind people returning them to somewhere else and I am surprised to see so many feel strongly about wanting to keep the book. Thanks for the update and I think it would be fine to add a sign about being happy to receive the books back or about encouraging people to keep sharing.
Off topic, but I really need to know how you care for your hair; because I have a similar hair type and mine is very dry brittle and tangled. Despite the fact I don’t dye it or use any heat.
I think how you use a free library really depends on the location. In my town in Germany most of them have cards that encourage you to take and keep books as long as you bringt in a book in the same condition. We also have a room with used books in the philosophy department of my university and my friend that supplies the room is really happy when you take something permanently. But we also have a big library, so no one would ever get the idea to buy something for a free library.
I think it’s quite different when they’re opened/operated by individuals, especially in towns like I live in with no independent or used bookstores and a tiny library with a very small collection! It’s not wrong to keep the books by any means, but sharing is nice and more people getting the opportunity to read a book is always better in my mind ❤️ I don’t have to buy books for my LFL but then it would have very few new, diverse, and exciting books (especially for young adults)
Maybe just putting the library cards in the little library blank for people to take if they want to, then they can also be an option for the books you don’t put in
The godfather is really good and suprisingly easy to read (language and pace ).
I would continue to put the notes on your book only or at least the book you read, not the donated/not read ones? I would love an Agatha Christie reading vlog.
Good to know! I need to read more Christie ❤️
Nightmare and Dreamscapes i highly recommend listening: the readers are : Woopie Goldberg, Rob Lowe, Stephen and Tabitha King, and Tim Curry!
Danielle Steal are Life Time movie type books. They are not great literature but some peoples popcorn candy book. Straub and Koontz and King i love. VC Andrew is... ment to be older teen to 20s type. Think teen dramas but "darker" psudo gothic fiction. I am pretty sure they were ment to help create trigger warnings! Lol! As a 8th grader through part of high-school I enjoyed them. A weird rite of passage. But i also loved the weird 70's and 80s dark, creepy, evil and satanic books. I like to think that someone will find their next favorite out of some of the gems you put in there.
As someone who loves stars, I was sad to see you taking out the star book..!
I put it in the “keep in rotation” pile! I’ll put it in the LFL next time it’s looking a touch empty or needs a refresh ❤️
Flowers in the Attic has some triggers. My fiance told me about the series and i honestly wouldn't. Mostly due to the triggers.
I might need to come raid your LFL ;) Thank you for sharing.
I have several book bins like this around my town and I always enjoy walking around to each of them and dropping a few of my old books off. As for the VC Andrews books, please be careful reading Flowers In The Attic. I had a hard time with some of the content of the books, specifically in Flowers In The Attic.
That’s good to know, thank you for the warning! ❤️
Could you put the library cards in the little free library itself for people to potentially choose to take? Maybe with a little bit of double sided tape with a protective strip on so they can stick them in?
Hmm I could but I would worry they’d just be taken 🤔 maybe I don’t need to worry about that, though!
Basically if you have tea done Danielle steel you have tea them all they are all the same haha except Malice which is my favourite by her
Hi. Do you dye your hair or is it your natural colour. Whatever you do it looks beautiful...
I dye it (or rather my husband dyes it for me lol). I’m a brunette naturally ❤️
I had to read the gift of fear when I worked at a DV shelter and I HATED it. It’s very victim blamey and uses survivor bias. The central thesis is basically if something makes you wary you should trust your gut unequivocally without adequately addressing what to do in situations where you can’t do that or things like how racism and other isms can skew a person’s sense of ease to cause fear where there is none or how things like anxiety or personality disorders literally warp your ability to make rational decisions about whether your feelings of fear or unease are proportional to the situation you are in.
the tarot cards is incredible- because as far as I'm aware you're "supposed" to only use tarot cards that have been gifted to you, so if someone was into it and had no one in thier life to gift them a set they would probably be so excited to see that manual with cards.
Oh that’s so cool, I didn’t realize that! Too bad I bought my set 😂 I’m excited to put the tarot deck and book in next time it looks a little empty and hope someone enjoys it!
I read a ton of VC Andrews as a tween. They were intense, full of taboo subjects, and major trigger warnings. Was I the right demographic for them... unclear, haha. That being said, I don't find them all that different that what you can find in network teen dramas. They are sort of terrible but also like a train wreck you cannot look away from. Interesting she passed in 1986 and some of those books could be written by her estate authors - I forget how they phrase it exactly.
They sound wild from what I’ve heard 👀 I’m not against kids/teens reading books with difficult subject matter (I certainly read MANY books before I was the “right” age for them) but I’m also trying to be responsible about the books I provide to the neighbourhood 🤔 it’s an interesting balance!
@@PlantBasedBride I don't think that VC Andrews will pass the vibe check 😬 Granted I haven't read any of those books since way back when I was probably 13-ish, so my recollection is hazy. But idk if it's worth putting them out there
@@PlantBasedBride I would skip putting them in then. They are so dark and problematic.
@@michellecreutzberger7665my friend hadn't read Flowers in the Attic. We convinced her to read it 2 years ago when she was in her early 30s. She was shocked by the content and couldn't believe we had read them as tweens, haha.
Uuuh with the V.C. Andrews books, while I love her work, I would not let My Sweet Audrina in the library because it's a bit... heavy. I'm not sure about the others, I know I've read If There Be Thorns but it's been a loooooong time. Would not recommend putting Flowers in the Attic in there either. And I'm telling you this as someone who started reading these books at 9 years old, which was far too young to have ever picked up a V.C. Andrews book. Some of them are fine but most of the ones I've read are kinda messed up on some level.
Very good to know! I was feeling wary and the comments are telling me I was right to be 😅
I know you're trying to donate a lot of the extra stuff, but could you keep some to use in the bujo later (if the text material or size isn't too distracting)?
Oh that’s true! I hadn’t thought of that, but that’s a nice way to recycle any books that aren’t wanted ❤️
I am curious about what you decide about VC Andrews. I read probably all of those that were out in middle school-ish mid-80’s (pretty normal I think back in the 80’s since I had no trouble getting them). They do need content warnings in my opinion if you choose to include them later. I think after a certain point they were written by someone else using a ‘formula’ and became very repetitive. My Sweet Audrina was the one that really freaked me out but they were all…dark. I don’t think I would read again or like my daughter reading them as young as I was. They do movie adaptations on Lifetime in the states and there was a bad movie of Flowers in the Attic at some point. I think officially they are gothic horror and I would be afraid to reread them as an adult to find out I really should not have as a teen. I love my local free libraries and cart around a box of books I have read to donate whenever I see one! Great video!
I’ll definitely read it to decide how I feel about it! I might decide to leave them out to avoid young kids reading them 🤔
I know it's a painful thing for a book lover to think about, but things like outdated reference books and textbooks (if you get any) can be recycled. Public libraries cull things like that, bestsellers that are out of the limelight, damaged books, and many more, all the time.
I've seen other comments that mentioned a kind of downward drift in quality and relevance of selection when users are left to their own devices. It's a good thing to know that the runner of a LFL will probably have to put their own resources into it on an ongoing basis.
Yes that’s true - I was thinking of putting a box by the side of the road with a note for people to take whatever they like and then recycling what’s left over (since I imagine our local library and few secondhand shops won’t take the books I have).
I think that’s an important point that people don’t always think about! I’m not averse to spending money to maintain a quality selection, I knew going into it that that would be part of the process, but I do think there’s a tiny bit of entitlement to the perspective that taking and keeping the only good books in a little free library is within the spirit of the idea. Even taking a current bestseller and replacing it with an outdated book of little interest is not really in the spirit of a little free library in my mind. It’s certainly ok to do occasionally, but consistently doing that will mean your local LFLs are going to be full of books no one wants to read OR become a very expensive endeavour for the person stocking it.
@@PlantBasedBride Putting a checkout card and embossing in the books is a clever idea and adds character, and I hope that at least some of the patrons will be encouraged to return them. Looking forward to future updates.
Have you ever had to deal with vandalism where people have damaged the library or the books? I ask because where I used to live, people would sometimes wreck furniture and other things that people put out for people to take.
Luckily I haven’t dealt with that! I’m very grateful everyone has been respectful and gentle with the books and the library itself 🥰
Maybe your little library is telling you that it needs an annex or expansion building? Maybe people wanted to return your books but the library was full? 💕🌞🌵😷
Haha maybe you’re right!
@@PlantBasedBride, you could label one "take" a book and one "leave" a book? 💕🌞🌵😷
Fun fact! -40°C and -40°F are the same temperature! It’s the only time the two meet and measure the temperature as the same number 😄
Haha that’s amazing, what a coincidence! -40 degrees is cold no matter what system you use 😂
Danielle steel is romance I think, don't sweat the small stuff is a self help book,
Thanks for the update! I'm glad to hear you are curating the collection regularly, and not leaving certain kinds of books (religious, outdated) in there. As for some of the books you asked about... V.C. Andrews's books are seriously twisted. I mean, in an interesting and disturbing way, lol. I read them as a young teen. Most of their MCs are teens. Lots of trigger warnings--mostly abuse and rape. So much abuse. Not just physical, but emotional and psychological. GenX grew up reading them, so maybe we are permanently damaged by that, lol. Not appropriate for kids under 12. Over 12, it would depend on the kid. Danielle Steele--I read a lot of her stuff back when I was a teen and young adult. I haven't read anything of hers in more than 20 years now. The books are a far cry from literature, but harmless. There was nothing too steamy in them, nothing really objectionable, other than the overuse of shallow tropes and the phrase "he/she mattered."
Thank you for sharing this info, it’s good to know! I got a bit overwhelmed trying to research all of the books to determine what I might not want to put back in 😅
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