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Post by dem on Oct 21, 2015 7:54:30 GMT
Now here's a project looks dead worthy of our support. .... Proliferating across the globe (32, 000 to date), the Little Free Library project. Am planning to attend opening of the latest, on Wapping High Street (junction of Lilley Close) at 1pm today. Local author Stephanie Saulter (The ®Evolution trilogy, "literary science fiction") is doing the honours. These lovely little libraries seem very spread out across the UK, so let us know if there's one near you and your experience of same. |
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Post by ohthehorror on Oct 21, 2015 13:02:56 GMT
Now here's a project looks dead worthy of our support. .... Proliferating across the globe (32, 000 to date), the Little Free Library project. Am planning to attend opening of the latest, on Wapping High Street (junction of Lilley Close) at 1pm today. Local author Stephanie Saulter (The ®Evolution trilogy, "literary science fiction") is doing the honours. These lovely little libraries seem very spread out across the UK, so let us know if there's one near you and your experience of same. Last time I was back home in Essex, there was a little stall outside in the main Street. My dad said they'd been doing it a while. You can take 1 book a day while leaving one in return. I didn't realise at the time that it was an actual 'thing'. |
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Post by dem on Oct 21, 2015 14:14:34 GMT
Here's a neat blog about it all LFL UKCall me Mr. Community Spirited, but I'd much rather pass on any surplus to LFL than the local charity shop where, like as not, your tatty book donation will wind up as landfill before anybody gets a chance at seeing if they want it. Anyway, I flashed my face at the Lilley Close tiger box earlier (beautifully designed by urban artist Hannah Adamaszek) and suffice to say, there is already talk of a blue (or, probably black) plaque: "This library was inaugurated by Dem Bones of Vault of Evil, 21 Oct. 2015" because that's what happened. Anyway, did my bit and was rewarded with a copy of .... Stephen Jones (ed.) - Fearie Tales: Stories of the Grimm and Gruesome (Jo Fletcher, 2014: originally P.S., 2013)  Alan Lee
The Wilful Child
Ramsey Campbell - Find My Name
The Singing Bone
Neil Gaiman - Down To A Sunless Sea
Rapunzel
Tanith Lee - Open Your Window, Golden Hair
The Hare's Bride
Garth Nix - Crossing The Line
Hansel And Gretel
Robert Shearman - Peckish
The Three Little Men In The Wood
Michael Marshall Smith - Look Inside
The Story Of A Youth Who Went Forth To Learn What Fear Was
Markus Heitz - Fräulein Fearnot
Cinderella
Christopher Fowler - The Ash-Boy
The Elves #1
Brian Lumley - The Changeling
The Nixie Of The Mill-Pond
Reggie Oliver - The Silken Drum
The Robber Bridegroom
Angela Slatter - By The Weeping Gate
Fräu Trude
Brian Hodge - Anything To Me Is Sweeter, Than To Cross Shock-Headed Peter
The Elves #2
Peter Crowther - The Artemis Line
The Old Woman In The Wood
Joanne Harris - The Silken People
Rumpelstiltskin
John Ajvide Lindqvist - Come Unto Me
The Shroud Blurb: In 1884 Margaret Hunt's translation of the Brothers Grimm's Kinder- und Hausmärchen was published as Grimm's Household Tales — and since that day those stories have inspired writers, artists, poets, songwriters, playwrights and movie-makers the world over. Now, following in the grand tradition of the Brothers Jacob and Wilhelm, some of today's finest fantasy and horror writers have created their own brand-new fairy tales-but with a decidedly darker twist. Fearie Tales is a fantastical mix of spellbinding retellings of classic stories such as 'Cinderella', 'Rapunzel', 'Hansel and Gretel' and 'Rumpelstiltskin', amongst others, along with unsettling tales inspired by other childhood classics, all interspersed with the sources of their inspiration: the timeless stories first collected by the Brothers Grimm. These modern masterpieces of the macabre by Neil Gaiman, Garth Nix, Ramsey Campbell, Joanne Harris, Markus Heitz, John Ajvide Lindqvist, Angela Slatter, Michael Marshall Smith and many others, are illuminated by Oscar-winning artist Alan Lee, who has also provided the magnificent cover painting. But be warned: this stunning volume of frightening fables is definitely not suitable for children! |
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Post by dem on Oct 22, 2015 12:15:26 GMT
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Post by ohthehorror on Oct 22, 2015 12:38:16 GMT
Fame at last :0)
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Post by dem on Oct 22, 2015 19:14:47 GMT
I went back today. Virtually every book from the launch had gone, to be replaced by a whole new bunch of stuff, which is a very encouraging start. I'm real serious about this. I despise that certain charity Shops are so quick to condemn paperbacks to landfill sites just because they're a bit tatty, or - in the case of one particular outlet - flog them at astronomically inflated prices. At least with the FLL boxes there's a chance your donation will survive to be enjoyed and even looked after by other book lovers. There have been some very strange and wonderful developments in the history of this board, but I never thought we'd see our name and Chrissie's signature artwork turn up on the Tower Hamlets Council twitter feed! |
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Post by ohthehorror on Oct 22, 2015 19:33:57 GMT
It's a fantastic idea, and one that I really hope takes off, and more importantly keeps going, if not from strength to strength then simply... well, keeps going really. It'd be a real shame if it died out within a year or two. One of the many down-sides to living in rural Ireland is that nothing like this ever makes it out into the sticks. There's a reason I use Amazon's kindle service so much. At least I have the little book-table to look forward to when I visit the motherland. I'll have to save a few choice books to donate when I'm next over(which was going to be christmas, but is now more likely to be end of January) since I must admit their selection was very sparse and, it has to be said, a little underwhelming the last time I was there.
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Post by dem on Oct 22, 2015 20:14:27 GMT
It's a fantastic idea, and one that I really hope takes off, and more importantly keeps going, if not from strength to strength then simply... well, keeps going really. It'd be a real shame if it died out within a year or two. One of the many down-sides to living in rural Ireland is that nothing like this ever makes it out into the sticks. It's certainly far healthier for the local community than a poxy Ripper "Museum." From what's been said, there are a few disparate souls determined to keep the Wapping box going, and several of the earlier ones seen to be thriving. Am still reading up about it, but Little Free Library is a worldwide concern, so, technically, no matter how rural, you could have one anywhere. Public parks seem a popular choice. |
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Post by dem on May 29, 2016 19:47:28 GMT
Little Free Library News Update: Build Your OwnHello happy readers! Having built and installed close to 100 Little Free Libraries around the UK, our project funding has now come to an end. We will continue to create a few bespoke projects each year and will continue to promote the existing network of LFLs as well as collecting books to help stock the little libraries. So, it's over to you now! Why not build your own Little Free Library. It can be any shape or size and made from a whole range of materials. You could repurpose a bathroom cabinet, hollow out a log, or maybe use a 3-D printer to create an R2D2 themed LFL for people to swap their books. These are just a few of the Little Free Libraries that have been created around the world. The possibilities are as big as your imagination! When you have finished you can register your LFL here too www.littlefreelibrary.org. Happy building and happy reading!
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Post by Shrink Proof on May 30, 2016 5:37:52 GMT
A few years ago, in a tiny, remote village on the North York Moors I came across one of these that had no real structure of its own at all. The locals had simply comandeered the traditional red telephone box in the village centre and stuck a sign on it. The phone itself was almost buried in books.
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Post by dem on Aug 1, 2017 14:13:53 GMT
The local Little Free Library is still ticking along, though I suspect there are very few of us actually support it which is a shame as, for obvious reasons, it's a far preferable alternative to donating any surplus to charity shops who will, like as not, pulp anything that was either (a) published before 2016, or (b) has the most microscopic crease on spine, etc. Today I actually came away with a book, so many thanks to whoever donated the NEL hardcover of F. Paul Wilson's The Keep (1981)! |
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Post by Swampirella on Aug 1, 2017 14:22:40 GMT
I didn't know this thread existed....There's one in a former newspaper stand near my closest metro station. I haven't checked it much lately since there's never been anything I like there and often nothing at all. But it's a great idea and I'm glad it's surviving....
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Post by dem on Jan 28, 2022 11:30:28 GMT
Struck Little Free Library Gold this morning. Many thanks to whoever donated; Jen Campbell - Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops (Constable, 2012) Tales from the Edinburgh Bookshop
Tales from Ripping Yarns
Weird Things Customers Say in Other BookshopsBlurb: A John Cleese Twitter question ('What is your pet peeve?'), first sparked the Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops blog, which grew over three years into one bookseller's collection of ridiculous conversations on the shop floor.
From 'Did Beatrix Potter ever write a book about dinosaurs?' to the hunt for a paperback which could forecast the next year's weather: and from 'I've forgotten my glasses, please read me the first chapter' to 'Excuse me . . . is this book edible?': here is a book for heroic booksellers and booklovers alike.
This full-length collection, illustrated by the Brothers McLeod, also includes top 'Weird Things' from bookshops around the world.Self-explanatory, really. To give you some idea, rather than spoil whole book, will restrict myself to two exchanges apiece from the Edinburgh bookshop at Bruntsfield Place ... ... and two from Ripping Yarns, Highgate, which, sadly, went under not so long ago. |
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Post by andydecker on Jan 28, 2022 12:15:03 GMT
Customer: Do you stock Nigella Lawson under 'Sex' or 'Cookery'? Bookseller: It's a tough call, isn't it? That's a good one. 
Reminds me of my day of yore when I worked in a book-shop in the end of the 70s. A good customer bought a set of language dictionaries. 12 volumes. Kind of the official German grammar. Problem was, some volumes were more often reprinted than others because some have fairly seldom needed topics. Vol.1 gets every few years an overhaul until today, it still is THE standard volume of grammar. The Picture-Lexikon which contains 30000 drawings of objects and how they are called - not so much.
The guy was a precision engineer, and when he had the whole set he discovered that the spines were a bit uneven. 3 was some quarter of an inch lower than 4 and so on. And he wanted a set where you could put a bubble level on the books and everything was straight. For his eye the differences were huge, he couldn't get that these books were not produced for uniformity, thanks to different print years. He insisted on replacing those volumes which offended his sensibilities as a precision engineer. Of course it was impossible to order a set which was even. My collegues virtually fled when they saw him coming, I got the shitty end of the stick as an apprentice and had to politely listen to this nonsense and order the same volumes again and again. The boss humoured him for a couple of weeks, after that he grudgingly gave up.
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Post by Swampirella on Jan 28, 2022 13:11:45 GMT
Customer: Do you stock Nigella Lawson under 'Sex' or 'Cookery'? Bookseller: It's a tough call, isn't it? That's a good one.
Reminds me of my day of yore when I worked in a book-shop in the end of the 70s. A good customer bought a set of language dictionaries. 12 volumes. Kind of the official German grammar. Problem was, some volumes were more often reprinted than others because some have fairly seldom needed topics. Vol.1 gets every few years an overhaul until today, it still is THE standard volume of grammar. The Picture-Lexikon which contains 30000 drawings of objects and how they are called - not so much.
The guy was a precision engineer, and when he had the whole set he discovered that the spines were a bit uneven. 3 was some quarter of an inch lower than 4 and so on. And he wanted a set where you could put a bubble level on the books and everything was straight. For his eye the differences were huge, he couldn't get that these books were not produced for uniformity, thanks to different print years. He insisted on replacing those volumes which offended his sensibilities as a precision engineer. Of course it was impossible to order a set which was even. My collegues virtually fled when they saw him coming, I got the shitty end of the stick as an apprentice and had to politely listen to this nonsense and order the same volumes again and again. The boss humoured him for a couple of weeks, after that he grudgingly gave up.
I'm glad didn't have to deal with him for any longer than you did.
You have to feel sorry for people like him; I wonder which came first, the OCD or the choice of profession. My bookshelves would give him a heart attack; all different levels & even a few hardcovers with the spines facing the shelf ceiling so as to fit (shame on me).
My hand still automatically tries to click "Like".....
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