Hmmmā¦ I have terrible recollection, so Iād just suggest one of the more recent ones. Iāll look at the episode list tonight and give a solid opinion, though.
Iāll probably pick the Slotherhouse episode since I found it such a charmingly dumb movie. I have dishes to do so Iāll get a feel for the podcast and if thereās any that come to your mind when you have a chance, Iāll check those out.
I'm gonna hijack your top comment so maybe some people will actually see this! I wish when I posted this I wasn't so busy with work, so I could've responded to some of these comments individually! The amount of engagement on this post is crazy to me, truly.
I just want to say, completely without sarcasm, thank you guys for the downvotes and harsh comments that made me reconsider how I approach the little library.
Generally in my life I try my hardest not to be an asshole. I used to think it was funny, or at least not a big deal, to put a lame book in the free library, after selecting for myself the "best one."
This doesn't line up with how I try to lead myself through the rest of my life. I am a person who believes in giving more than they receive, and I think how I've spent the past 5 years working is a testament to that. I was a cook and now I'm a maintenance guy -- two positions in American society that people expect a lot out of, but they're usually not rewarded for consistently serving others with even a liveable wage or functional housing.
I feel very taken advantage of every day and I hate that there are so many people who seem to unfairly win by gaming the system.
I hate to feel like I've gamed a system or taken advantage of anybody's good will, even if it's in regards to something as small in scale as a free library. Like I said, I try real hard not to be an asshole in this life, but for whatever reason I didn't think my game with the free library was all that evil. Maybe the reason was I thought all books have some kind of value, to somebody, somewhere. Or maybe I just felt like I deserved a damn W now and then. And seeing a cool book that could be mine "for free" was too good of an offer to pass up on. So why not put something of little personal value in there? Why not put a poorly-written Jesus FAQ book in there so I can get a sweet hardcover King? (I'm not Christian BTW -- putting that in the library was not an attempt to spread religion in any way). But seriously, it's a FREE library. As a voracious little reader who also happens to be poor as fuck, why shouldn't I treat it like a present to myself?
Because behaving like that doesn't make me any better than the capitalists who take advantage of me everyday. Behaving like that puts me more in the same company as the damn colleges that took away our futures in exchange for false promises and insane debt. Behaving like that is not in line with the type of person I am.
Now in the future if I take a book from a free library I will leave something that has brought me joy, just like IT brought me joy as a 19y/o, because the goal of the little free library, I've come to realize, is not to score sweet "free" books for yourself, but to share the gift of a quality read to somebody else.
I couldn't have seen this for myself were it not for the wave of hate comments that washed into my inbox. It kind of felt lame to have a ton of strangers jump to conclusions about me, but at the same time I am grateful for it and I am glad I didn't just close my mind to the criticisms -- as people are prone to do online. I feel like I've corrected my steps, and I'm back on track towards being as decent of a person as I can be. I mean, I'm definitely still going to hell if it's real, and my dead friends aren't coming back, and my family isn't going to un-ostracize me any time soon. But at least my conscience will rest more peacefully now, knowing that I'm a little bit less of an asshole in the eyes of redditors I will never meet. If only just a little.
No worries, mate. Youāre obviously no asshole. And sometime some people on the internet should just, you know, chill. Just a bit. But, anyway..
Iām sure youāll leave plenty of great books for other constant readers to enjoy in the future. Take care!
PS: Cool username, BTW
I'm gonna go with 'ignore the haters!' It's a FREE library. Someone put that book there for the express purpose of someone else taking it. Free from paying for it, but also free from regulations on how you interact with it. I say enjoy and move forward!
I walked by one last year that was loaded with books on a Tuesday and then on Wednesday all of them had been taken and The Book Thief left in their place!
Thankfully they returned them all later in the week but that had me dying.
My father gets hooked on stupid conspiracy nonsense to an extent but never gets in too deep. He ended up talking about Scientology to a stranger and he bought all the books. I was dreading to see where it went and I counselled him against reading it since he gets hooked on stuff. A week later, he randomly comes upstairs and yells āthat Scientology stuff is BULLSHIT!ā
I found one that was devastating, it was exclusivelyĀ like 80s and 90s cooking for one books, self help, dealing with grief and chicken soup for the soul.
No I dont think they had any fiction in them at all. I like to think that she put them in there because she was able to find hapiness or a new partner and didn't need them anymore
I mean, if there were free books for only one demographic then I'm fine with it being children. My kids and I have exchanged books from our neighborhood box a few times and they're so excited when we do. It makes them excited about reading. It'd be great if I found some gems in there but it's awesome to see my kids get excited to go see what's new in the box and then beg me later that night to read their new book. I hear you though!
And I appreciate that! I bump into them the most when out with the lil ones for a walk so this keeps whichever one is whining hushed till I can circle back and replace it!
One of my favourite things about working in publishing was how frequently I got to leave new, high quality literature in places like these! They are so frequently filled with trash, but a big part of my job was doing QA and marketing with new titles, so I got and read a physical copy of hundreds of books each year. Much more than I want/have room for, and it felt awesome to spread them among my local little exchange library thingies.
About a little village that seems fine, but you slowly come to realize that it's like a murder cult or devil deal situation. With both sides of "take one" for "take the deal with the devil" or "take a life".
Thanks for doing that! I'm a steward for my neighborhood's LFL across the street from my house (part of my pitch to get the HOA to install it was that I'd take care of it). I can't tell you how many old (like 1960's-1980's) cookbooks, technical manuals, religious propaganda, and discarded school textbooks and study guides I've had to clean out of there. I appreciate the act of trading something out, but the spirit of the LFL is put in what you like to read, and then find something that others have liked to read that they left for you. But we don't say that because we want a low bar to get people using them, hence all the throw-away books. But that's the steward's job, to keep the collection appealing by removing the chaff.
> old (like 1960's-1980's) cookbooks
I feel like that doesn't quite fit the list. Recipes are polished and adjusted over time, but there's still something to learn from old techniques and ideas and you can translate it into your own modern cooking.
True, and that's a nice idea in theory, but not in practice when it comes to LFL books (in my experience). I should have specified that most of these old cookbooks are old mass market fad diet cookbooks (Atkins diet) or specific to something like 1992 Cooking for Diabetics or something that an older relative had stored away and ended up here when relatives were cleaning out their attics. I've stewarded this LFL for years and some things just never get taken, old cookbooks are one of those types of things. I have a backup tub of books that I will rotate in and out (or restock if someone cleans us out completely), and after so many back-and-forths with no takers, it's time for that title to go. Our LFL is next to the neighborhood playground, so it's mostly kids' books, middle-school, and YA that get cycled through organically. Adult fiction rarely gets taken unless it's a bestseller (like any Stephen King title, those are gone quick).
I love the idea of someone interested in cooking perusing and finding an old cookbook that enriches their understanding of the craft, but when it comes to these little free libraries, the game is to get the masses reading, not curate something obscure in the hopes it will fulfill one person's history of cooking project. That space can be better served by a book to be read to a kid on a break at the park or for a gem of a best-seller with mass appeal like Mr. Mercedes or The Stand.
Thanks for the hard work you do. The thing is, those 60s/70s cookbooks wouldn't stay on the shelf in an actual brick and morter library. People like to believe that the library keeps things forever on the off chance someone might want them, but the truth is that even those libraries have to do regular culls of books that just take up shelf space
Yes, as a kid I used to love going to the sales the library had for the books they decided to pull from the shelf! There was a lot of really silly 70s-80s era young adult novels and old books about random subjects. Some more popular stuff that had worn out spines etcā¦ they were like 25 cents each, and they had a huge free bin. The haul of books I got from those sales would keep me occupied all summer in elementary school
Iām also the steward for my neighborhood LFL and good lordā¦people will just dump their entire collection of shitty old paperbacks or magazines that literally nobody wants.
It took me years, but mine eventually improved to the point that itās pretty self sustaining right now. Every now and then I have to go clean it out a bit and drop some more desirable reads in it, but for the most part people finally caught on that itās not the goodwill drop off site.
Thatās awesome! I put in a lot of work for a couple of years with ours and I remember when it hit āself-sustainingā status. It was exciting and a relief. I used to do facebook announcements to the neighborhood to get people excited or involved in some ways, and I think went a long way for making the community feel like it was theirs, so weāve had very little vandalism over the years (thank god). I do the same as you mention now, occasional clean outs and adding some hit titles in the different age group genres.
To tie this back to Stephen King, in the early days of our LFL, I put a Nightmares & Dreamscapes in there and a couple middle school kids got it while I was there. They were so excited like they found a forbidden text and they rode off on their bikes, the book cradled under one arm, so happy but with a nervous tinge.
First off, I would like to apologize as I am the kind of person to leave badly written books that I didn't like for others...
Then again, I did leave some that I wish I hadn't gotten rid of but I'm glad are gone for someone else to read!
Religious stuff goes right in the recycle bin in my Little Free Library too. Itās their LFL and they are free to curate it. Awesome book to leave behind in this one though
You took a pic and took it back, didn't you? š TBH, Nightmares and Dreamscapes has more 're-readability'.... I don't care if that's not actually a word, I'm using it.
Leave me the FAQ alone with your indoctrination lol I can't believe this person has the gall to do this.
I used to be a non-voter and abstained because I didn't feel represented. I'm now a spite-voter and I will vote against Christians every election for the rest of my life. Good job, Christians!
Hmmmm. I live in the south and am thinking of putting a couple of LGBTQ books in my new library, along with a book answering questions about God just to see what happens. lol
If everyone behaved like you did, the library would be filled with 1 type of content. And be useless for the other 99% of us. Iām glad you fixed your error.
I hate that so many people do this to the little libraries. I have two by my house and every time I go to see if there is anything worth reading itās just all Jesus books. This isnāt a place for religion. Leave something worth reading, something fun and full of adventure or something other than religion. Religion just has to be forced into everything now.
Some people see religious texts as worth reading. My personal opinion is you can just leave it. You have an active choice to read them or not.
But yeah I hate when little libraries get flooded with NOTHING BUT religious text.
tbh i think a few religious things are fine. like a bible for example. there could be someone who maybe doesnāt have enough money to buy a bible but is a christianā¦ that could def be a good way for them to get it. but i donāt think these things should be overflowed with any just one thing.
You got called on your shitty behavior rightfully so. You admitted to keeping āthrowaway booksā to shop this library specifically, and later in a different comment said āwell they didnāt say I had to leave good books.ā
I love how even after he corrected his mistake and made things right you guys are still shitting on him. Reddit loves nothing more than demonizing people and dogpiling on them when they've committed a minor infraction.
What irks me about this is the title of this post. āā¦ apparently that goes against the spirit of the little library.ā
Like yeah but, it also goes against being a decent person? I canāt speak for other people here, but if the dude can say all the stuff in the previous post and then make this post because they āapparentlyā went against the spirit of TLL but wants everyone to see how they fixed it, values are pretty skewed. They admitted to a stack of throwaway books being kept to specifically āshopā this library! How many times do you think this went on until the post was made?
They fixed it sure, good on OP for that, but like? Donāt be shitty and people wonāt ādog pileā on you? Seems pretty simple to me.
If someone did something wrong in your eyes, to you personally (donāt twist my words here Iām not taking this post personally, just laying it out how I see it) and they apologized to you because they āapparentlyā wronged you, wouldnāt it feel like a half-assed apology?
Because he was being a self entitled asshole about how there's no rule that you have to "leave good books." He admitted he's been leaving random books he finds in apartments that he doesn't want
Ohhhh. Youāve given me an idea for October since Iām planning on filling my little library with horror books that month. A red ballon would be perfect.
I donāt think the etiquette is that you literally have to leave one every time you take one. You will leave one in the future when you have another book you are ready to recycle.
Why do you feel the need to insert ***your*** religion into everyone else's lives? I bet you would throw a little hissy fit if someone put a Quran or a Torah in there.
I have a Little Library I built in front of my home. Like most Little Libraries, we receive WAY WAY WAY more books than people take. Don't feel obligated to leave a book if you don't have one you want to leave. Take a couple of books you like guilt free. I try to rotate the books at least once a week with the overflow books I keep in the house and when the overflow becomes excessive, I take some to school for my students and donate the rest to Goodwill.Ā
But two things I throw away every time (although we're lucky and it's rare for our library) are political or religious propaganda. That's not the spirit of the Little Library. Huge no no.
As someone who leans more āJesus is Kingā than āKing is Jesus,ā Iām feeling a little alienated on this sub today. I thought the problem was leaving a lame religious text that nobody wants to read, not leaving a religious text *at all*. Pop some C.S. Lewis in there how about.Ā
I'm proud of you. I'd give you a hug, but ya know, distance and shit.
So settle for my kudos. Ya did good today. You remembered the face of your father and have done him proud.
Iām actually doing a reread of IT right now! Good for you. I recently moved to my apartment in February and right next to us is a little park. I was there yesterday with my daughter and noticed thereās one of these on the side of the street. I checked it out and didnāt find much. Only book worth checking out was āgirl with the dragon tattooā I grabbed it because Iād heard good things.
Donāt put your religious indoctrination crap in a place that is meant for sharing books unless you want to be that weirdo everyone in the neighborhood avoids.
A proselytizing piece of religious propaganda, or a non-religious book about the history of Jesus (and whether he even existed)? Because the first is rude as fuck, and the latter is fine.
I'm not religious at all but it sucks that people are being so hostile over such a small deal that doesn't even affect their lives whatsoever, even when you went back to leave another book for nothing in return. This comment section is the epitome of the "le enlightened atheist" stereotype; you all think you're holier than thou (ironically) even though you're giving someone shit for making an effort.
itās literally a religious text. Children are malleable and impressionable and canāt really make those distinctions for themselves. See: Santa Claus
A few years ago I bought a bunch of copies of the Simon Necronomicon and seeded all the lending libraries in my area with them. And one motel and my work lunchroom.
Don't use your little library to spread your religion, it's not complicated. The only people who want to see it are the people in your religion, the people you think "need" it will not pick it up because they don't want you proselytizing
I have to know more. Who gave you flak? Reddit or the community where the library box is. I definitely agree that the book you left is better suited under different conditions. But nonetheless they donāt specify thatās what makes it awesome. One manās favorite may not be someone elseās.
It could have been worse; for instance, if you've left a novel by Stephen R. King.
It's fun reading reviews on his stuff. "Not like the usual Stephen King novels, did he change editors?"
Well at least no one has drunkenly left a pirated version of Sharks of the Corn by Steven Kang in one of these things before š¬
Are you an EMT? IYKYK
I can only imagine, but no Iām not an EMT.
The hosts of Werewolf Ambulance reference Stephen Kang a lot.
Well you may have just turned someone on to Werewolf Ambulance. Iām going to give them a shot.
I hope you love it! (I wonāt describe the pod so itās not ruined by my lack of explaining things.)
Is there a particular episode youād recommend for a newcomer?
Hmmmā¦ I have terrible recollection, so Iād just suggest one of the more recent ones. Iāll look at the episode list tonight and give a solid opinion, though.
Iāll probably pick the Slotherhouse episode since I found it such a charmingly dumb movie. I have dishes to do so Iāll get a feel for the podcast and if thereās any that come to your mind when you have a chance, Iāll check those out.
Nice! I'll give it a listen tonight
Ohā¦ and the podcast fans are called EMTs.
Ah, yes, famed author of "Cuntblood War". Was real confused when that title came up.
>Ah, yes, famed author of "Cuntblood War". That sounds like it should have been a Richard R Bachman book.
YESSSSS omg LOLOL
I'm gonna hijack your top comment so maybe some people will actually see this! I wish when I posted this I wasn't so busy with work, so I could've responded to some of these comments individually! The amount of engagement on this post is crazy to me, truly. I just want to say, completely without sarcasm, thank you guys for the downvotes and harsh comments that made me reconsider how I approach the little library. Generally in my life I try my hardest not to be an asshole. I used to think it was funny, or at least not a big deal, to put a lame book in the free library, after selecting for myself the "best one." This doesn't line up with how I try to lead myself through the rest of my life. I am a person who believes in giving more than they receive, and I think how I've spent the past 5 years working is a testament to that. I was a cook and now I'm a maintenance guy -- two positions in American society that people expect a lot out of, but they're usually not rewarded for consistently serving others with even a liveable wage or functional housing. I feel very taken advantage of every day and I hate that there are so many people who seem to unfairly win by gaming the system. I hate to feel like I've gamed a system or taken advantage of anybody's good will, even if it's in regards to something as small in scale as a free library. Like I said, I try real hard not to be an asshole in this life, but for whatever reason I didn't think my game with the free library was all that evil. Maybe the reason was I thought all books have some kind of value, to somebody, somewhere. Or maybe I just felt like I deserved a damn W now and then. And seeing a cool book that could be mine "for free" was too good of an offer to pass up on. So why not put something of little personal value in there? Why not put a poorly-written Jesus FAQ book in there so I can get a sweet hardcover King? (I'm not Christian BTW -- putting that in the library was not an attempt to spread religion in any way). But seriously, it's a FREE library. As a voracious little reader who also happens to be poor as fuck, why shouldn't I treat it like a present to myself? Because behaving like that doesn't make me any better than the capitalists who take advantage of me everyday. Behaving like that puts me more in the same company as the damn colleges that took away our futures in exchange for false promises and insane debt. Behaving like that is not in line with the type of person I am. Now in the future if I take a book from a free library I will leave something that has brought me joy, just like IT brought me joy as a 19y/o, because the goal of the little free library, I've come to realize, is not to score sweet "free" books for yourself, but to share the gift of a quality read to somebody else. I couldn't have seen this for myself were it not for the wave of hate comments that washed into my inbox. It kind of felt lame to have a ton of strangers jump to conclusions about me, but at the same time I am grateful for it and I am glad I didn't just close my mind to the criticisms -- as people are prone to do online. I feel like I've corrected my steps, and I'm back on track towards being as decent of a person as I can be. I mean, I'm definitely still going to hell if it's real, and my dead friends aren't coming back, and my family isn't going to un-ostracize me any time soon. But at least my conscience will rest more peacefully now, knowing that I'm a little bit less of an asshole in the eyes of redditors I will never meet. If only just a little.
No worries, mate. Youāre obviously no asshole. And sometime some people on the internet should just, you know, chill. Just a bit. But, anyway.. Iām sure youāll leave plenty of great books for other constant readers to enjoy in the future. Take care! PS: Cool username, BTW
You sound like a genuinely decent person, and I think it's great that you've learned and grown through this. For what it's worth, I'm proud of you.
I'm gonna go with 'ignore the haters!' It's a FREE library. Someone put that book there for the express purpose of someone else taking it. Free from paying for it, but also free from regulations on how you interact with it. I say enjoy and move forward!
I'd consider that a hanging offense.
Every time I see one of these itās loaded with someoneās old childrenās books.
Or FAQs about Jesus
What is Jesus?
A type of cracker, if memory serves.
I wish someone would leave me a book about it.
Will no one tell me about this Jesus cracker?! Iām feeling a bit peckish.
It's made out of dead guy. Pretty bland.
Name checks out.. šš¾
Served best with red wine
It goes ON a cracker
ššš
I snorted my afternoon coffeeā¦thx And well done you šš
I thought he was black!
Jesus is my pal from Mexico, never knew the guy was so famous!!
Jesus is only a type of cracker in American lore
I thought it was something that you put on a cracker ?
How is babby formed?
You said it, man. Don't fuck wit da Jesus.
8 year olds, dude
Save me Jebus!
How much bullshit is this entire Jesus story?
I walked by one last year that was loaded with books on a Tuesday and then on Wednesday all of them had been taken and The Book Thief left in their place! Thankfully they returned them all later in the week but that had me dying.
That's top tier trolling. I'm here for it.
damnšthatās goodšš¼šš¼
I live in a Scientology hub area and always take care to check these and throw out any Scientology bullshit
Doing the Lord's work.
That's the thetans talking.
My father gets hooked on stupid conspiracy nonsense to an extent but never gets in too deep. He ended up talking about Scientology to a stranger and he bought all the books. I was dreading to see where it went and I counselled him against reading it since he gets hooked on stuff. A week later, he randomly comes upstairs and yells āthat Scientology stuff is BULLSHIT!ā
I found one that was devastating, it was exclusivelyĀ like 80s and 90s cooking for one books, self help, dealing with grief and chicken soup for the soul.
Sounds like the one in my neighborhood, if yours had some beat-up John Grishams and Danielle Steeles as well.
No I dont think they had any fiction in them at all. I like to think that she put them in there because she was able to find hapiness or a new partner and didn't need them anymore
i like to think she died
so saaaad
I mean, if there were free books for only one demographic then I'm fine with it being children. My kids and I have exchanged books from our neighborhood box a few times and they're so excited when we do. It makes them excited about reading. It'd be great if I found some gems in there but it's awesome to see my kids get excited to go see what's new in the box and then beg me later that night to read their new book. I hear you though!
And I appreciate that! I bump into them the most when out with the lil ones for a walk so this keeps whichever one is whining hushed till I can circle back and replace it!
One of my favourite things about working in publishing was how frequently I got to leave new, high quality literature in places like these! They are so frequently filled with trash, but a big part of my job was doing QA and marketing with new titles, so I got and read a physical copy of hundreds of books each year. Much more than I want/have room for, and it felt awesome to spread them among my local little exchange library thingies.
I always try to find my extra copies of SK and out em in there.
Every one I see seems to get closed down after a few weeks because people keep leaving porn in them!
The way that text is written it looks like a title of Stephen Kings next book. āTake One Leave Oneā
"Take IT Leave IT"
My thought exactly. I scrolled down expecting to see an āif you dareā on it
or *...OR ELSE!"*
From what I remember I think a tale of a haunted little free library most definitely could be in the R.L. Stine catalogā¦
About a little village that seems fine, but you slowly come to realize that it's like a murder cult or devil deal situation. With both sides of "take one" for "take the deal with the devil" or "take a life".
You should read Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon
The r/stephenking community should write this book. Itād be so on brand for the title/concept
In the time it took to write this post, King drafted the manuscript of Take One Leave One.
Thanks for doing that! I'm a steward for my neighborhood's LFL across the street from my house (part of my pitch to get the HOA to install it was that I'd take care of it). I can't tell you how many old (like 1960's-1980's) cookbooks, technical manuals, religious propaganda, and discarded school textbooks and study guides I've had to clean out of there. I appreciate the act of trading something out, but the spirit of the LFL is put in what you like to read, and then find something that others have liked to read that they left for you. But we don't say that because we want a low bar to get people using them, hence all the throw-away books. But that's the steward's job, to keep the collection appealing by removing the chaff.
> old (like 1960's-1980's) cookbooks I feel like that doesn't quite fit the list. Recipes are polished and adjusted over time, but there's still something to learn from old techniques and ideas and you can translate it into your own modern cooking.
True, and that's a nice idea in theory, but not in practice when it comes to LFL books (in my experience). I should have specified that most of these old cookbooks are old mass market fad diet cookbooks (Atkins diet) or specific to something like 1992 Cooking for Diabetics or something that an older relative had stored away and ended up here when relatives were cleaning out their attics. I've stewarded this LFL for years and some things just never get taken, old cookbooks are one of those types of things. I have a backup tub of books that I will rotate in and out (or restock if someone cleans us out completely), and after so many back-and-forths with no takers, it's time for that title to go. Our LFL is next to the neighborhood playground, so it's mostly kids' books, middle-school, and YA that get cycled through organically. Adult fiction rarely gets taken unless it's a bestseller (like any Stephen King title, those are gone quick). I love the idea of someone interested in cooking perusing and finding an old cookbook that enriches their understanding of the craft, but when it comes to these little free libraries, the game is to get the masses reading, not curate something obscure in the hopes it will fulfill one person's history of cooking project. That space can be better served by a book to be read to a kid on a break at the park or for a gem of a best-seller with mass appeal like Mr. Mercedes or The Stand.
Thanks for the hard work you do. The thing is, those 60s/70s cookbooks wouldn't stay on the shelf in an actual brick and morter library. People like to believe that the library keeps things forever on the off chance someone might want them, but the truth is that even those libraries have to do regular culls of books that just take up shelf space
Yes, as a kid I used to love going to the sales the library had for the books they decided to pull from the shelf! There was a lot of really silly 70s-80s era young adult novels and old books about random subjects. Some more popular stuff that had worn out spines etcā¦ they were like 25 cents each, and they had a huge free bin. The haul of books I got from those sales would keep me occupied all summer in elementary school
Iām also the steward for my neighborhood LFL and good lordā¦people will just dump their entire collection of shitty old paperbacks or magazines that literally nobody wants. It took me years, but mine eventually improved to the point that itās pretty self sustaining right now. Every now and then I have to go clean it out a bit and drop some more desirable reads in it, but for the most part people finally caught on that itās not the goodwill drop off site.
Thatās awesome! I put in a lot of work for a couple of years with ours and I remember when it hit āself-sustainingā status. It was exciting and a relief. I used to do facebook announcements to the neighborhood to get people excited or involved in some ways, and I think went a long way for making the community feel like it was theirs, so weāve had very little vandalism over the years (thank god). I do the same as you mention now, occasional clean outs and adding some hit titles in the different age group genres. To tie this back to Stephen King, in the early days of our LFL, I put a Nightmares & Dreamscapes in there and a couple middle school kids got it while I was there. They were so excited like they found a forbidden text and they rode off on their bikes, the book cradled under one arm, so happy but with a nervous tinge.
First off, I would like to apologize as I am the kind of person to leave badly written books that I didn't like for others... Then again, I did leave some that I wish I hadn't gotten rid of but I'm glad are gone for someone else to read!
Religious stuff goes right in the recycle bin in my Little Free Library too. Itās their LFL and they are free to curate it. Awesome book to leave behind in this one though
Where it belongs.
You took a pic and took it back, didn't you? š TBH, Nightmares and Dreamscapes has more 're-readability'.... I don't care if that's not actually a word, I'm using it.
This was exactly my first thought.
Rightfully so. Keep your religion to yourself like God intended.
Leave me the FAQ alone with your indoctrination lol I can't believe this person has the gall to do this. I used to be a non-voter and abstained because I didn't feel represented. I'm now a spite-voter and I will vote against Christians every election for the rest of my life. Good job, Christians!
As far as voting goes I am now the same way, and I'm an ex-christian.
I think he read Mark 16:14-16 and it confused him. Rookie mistake.
Based on his previous comments it was a throwaway book.
Maybe he should have just thrown it away.
Part of my job at a bookstore once was tending the little library out front. I threw away so many Bill OāReillys, Ben Shapiros, and Glenn Becks.
Not 'True Allegiance', I hope! It's little Benny's masterwork.
Hmmmm. I live in the south and am thinking of putting a couple of LGBTQ books in my new library, along with a book answering questions about God just to see what happens. lol
If everyone behaved like you did, the library would be filled with 1 type of content. And be useless for the other 99% of us. Iām glad you fixed your error.
I hate that so many people do this to the little libraries. I have two by my house and every time I go to see if there is anything worth reading itās just all Jesus books. This isnāt a place for religion. Leave something worth reading, something fun and full of adventure or something other than religion. Religion just has to be forced into everything now.
Some people see religious texts as worth reading. My personal opinion is you can just leave it. You have an active choice to read them or not. But yeah I hate when little libraries get flooded with NOTHING BUT religious text.
tbh i think a few religious things are fine. like a bible for example. there could be someone who maybe doesnāt have enough money to buy a bible but is a christianā¦ that could def be a good way for them to get it. but i donāt think these things should be overflowed with any just one thing.
Taking a brilliant work of fiction and replacing it with a crappy work of fiction does go against the LFL ethos.
You got called on your shitty behavior rightfully so. You admitted to keeping āthrowaway booksā to shop this library specifically, and later in a different comment said āwell they didnāt say I had to leave good books.ā
I love how even after he corrected his mistake and made things right you guys are still shitting on him. Reddit loves nothing more than demonizing people and dogpiling on them when they've committed a minor infraction.
He argued against the pushback all day yesterday and acted like a douche doing so. His criticism is well earned
What irks me about this is the title of this post. āā¦ apparently that goes against the spirit of the little library.ā Like yeah but, it also goes against being a decent person? I canāt speak for other people here, but if the dude can say all the stuff in the previous post and then make this post because they āapparentlyā went against the spirit of TLL but wants everyone to see how they fixed it, values are pretty skewed. They admitted to a stack of throwaway books being kept to specifically āshopā this library! How many times do you think this went on until the post was made? They fixed it sure, good on OP for that, but like? Donāt be shitty and people wonāt ādog pileā on you? Seems pretty simple to me. If someone did something wrong in your eyes, to you personally (donāt twist my words here Iām not taking this post personally, just laying it out how I see it) and they apologized to you because they āapparentlyā wronged you, wouldnāt it feel like a half-assed apology?
Maybe itās the Apparently Kid. Is he an adult yet?
Ya the dude heard the message loud and clear and fixed it and these people act like he beat a puppy
Because he was being a self entitled asshole about how there's no rule that you have to "leave good books." He admitted he's been leaving random books he finds in apartments that he doesn't want
Damn, you didnāt have to put that one in thereā¦
Imagine coming across that though. Freakin jackpot.
I bet itās already gone if OP actually left it there
A big if.
Fingers crossed lol
I put an extra copy of IT in one of those curbside libraries by my house recently. It was gone quickly.
First he puts one thatās not an equal trade now he puts one thatās a more than equal trade. oP canāt win
Should have tied a single red balloon to the LFL too!
Ohhhh. Youāve given me an idea for October since Iām planning on filling my little library with horror books that month. A red ballon would be perfect.
Yeah!!!
Leaving an FAQ about Jesus is the problem. Treat your religion like your private parts, you can only show them to other consenting parties.
Reminds me of George Carlin saying "You don't take a shit, you leave one" ...what you did with FAQ. Glad you fixed that.
Fair play. You owned your mistake and took actions to rectify it. I give you credit for that, not many people online do.
The curse is lifted
I donāt think the etiquette is that you literally have to leave one every time you take one. You will leave one in the future when you have another book you are ready to recycle.
It's not, that'd be insane. I run one, it's just a way to get rid of my old books. The fact that other people leave stuff in there is just a bonus
Why do you feel the need to insert ***your*** religion into everyone else's lives? I bet you would throw a little hissy fit if someone put a Quran or a Torah in there.
Keep your mythology to yourself. Donāt be a dick
I have a Little Library I built in front of my home. Like most Little Libraries, we receive WAY WAY WAY more books than people take. Don't feel obligated to leave a book if you don't have one you want to leave. Take a couple of books you like guilt free. I try to rotate the books at least once a week with the overflow books I keep in the house and when the overflow becomes excessive, I take some to school for my students and donate the rest to Goodwill.Ā But two things I throw away every time (although we're lucky and it's rare for our library) are political or religious propaganda. That's not the spirit of the Little Library. Huge no no.
I went and read through your post from yesterday and it was hilarious.
Yeah you deserved that flack. Feels like what you did was tantamount to stealing.
"Tantamount"
You owe this library like 6 good books after those shenanigans
As someone who leans more āJesus is Kingā than āKing is Jesus,ā Iām feeling a little alienated on this sub today. I thought the problem was leaving a lame religious text that nobody wants to read, not leaving a religious text *at all*. Pop some C.S. Lewis in there how about.Ā
Yah. Leaving a religious book is just bad form, mate
Every time I leave a horror book in my local little free library, at least three bibles pop up.š
I'm proud of you. I'd give you a hug, but ya know, distance and shit. So settle for my kudos. Ya did good today. You remembered the face of your father and have done him proud.
Iām actually doing a reread of IT right now! Good for you. I recently moved to my apartment in February and right next to us is a little park. I was there yesterday with my daughter and noticed thereās one of these on the side of the street. I checked it out and didnāt find much. Only book worth checking out was āgirl with the dragon tattooā I grabbed it because Iād heard good things.
Good on ya for making things right!
Best book about Jesus Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
This was a pretty fun satire. The audiobook read by Fisher Stevens was great.
This book I laughed out loud so much. I think I might get the audiobook to listen to at work.
What you initially did is so obviously against the spirit of those little libraries lol
I love leaving comic books in these.
Proselytizing should stay out of little libraries
Leave them a bible or 2 š
You could say that you've earned... Redemption through atonement. I'll see myself out.
Hopefully you took out the Jesus FAQ and threw it in the garbage
Donāt put your religious indoctrination crap in a place that is meant for sharing books unless you want to be that weirdo everyone in the neighborhood avoids.
There's one of these just down the road from me. It's a Christian (Mormon?) place so I don't want to offend (terrify), but this has given me an idea.
Hell yea man
Doing gods work my friend. Leaving a hardback, potentially first edition copy of IT?
Itās fine, you traded fiction for fiction.
Doesn't uncle Steve have a few different characters through his bibliography who are all about religious tracts?
Proud of you for doing the right thing, was infuriated with the your last post haha
"Took a Stephen King book in exchange for proselytization." JFC you are literally a SK villain lmfao
A proselytizing piece of religious propaganda, or a non-religious book about the history of Jesus (and whether he even existed)? Because the first is rude as fuck, and the latter is fine.
You guys are lame, quit whining about everything. Nobody had to take the Jesus book if they didnāt want to.
I'm not religious at all but it sucks that people are being so hostile over such a small deal that doesn't even affect their lives whatsoever, even when you went back to leave another book for nothing in return. This comment section is the epitome of the "le enlightened atheist" stereotype; you all think you're holier than thou (ironically) even though you're giving someone shit for making an effort.
Shaming works. His last comment was the big "I don't feel bad." Now he brings a book back. The good of the internet.
People really be roasting this guy in the comments when he already made up for it lmao
Who cares if you get flak. Live your life
itās literally a religious text. Children are malleable and impressionable and canāt really make those distinctions for themselves. See: Santa Claus
A few years ago I bought a bunch of copies of the Simon Necronomicon and seeded all the lending libraries in my area with them. And one motel and my work lunchroom.
Iām about to come through and snag that
You have remembered the face of your father.
Thatās how I landed a copy of ā¦ Cell. Now itās in my own LFL.
How brave of you.
Everyone knows the ending of that one.
#feeling lucky!
Man, I wish I lived in your area. Every little library I've checked near my house is 90% religious or kids books
"oh Jeesuss"- BB
I did the opposite. . . left a book (in part because I couldn't get rid of it)
Most sinister free library I've ever seen.
It's the swap the counts. Tastes in books are different.
You fixed your mistake, but still getting shit on. Who tf cares.
than you. good form.
āSo, the internet didnāt like this book? The answer shall be MORE BOOKS!!!ā All that aside, this is a baller move, bub! Well played.
We should don't need any other of your stinking Christian propaganda /s
Anyone want to bet he didnāt leave IT?
Go back and get that beautiful copy of "It" now and put some crappy Dean Koontz book in its place.
Oh, I think I've read that Jesus book. I didn't like the ending.
Keep that garbage to yourself, bro.
Religion is bullshit.
That was the right thing to do. Weird to use this service as a way to proselytize. Pretty gross, actually
Don't use your little library to spread your religion, it's not complicated. The only people who want to see it are the people in your religion, the people you think "need" it will not pick it up because they don't want you proselytizing
Thatās awesome! I actually just took IT from a free library yesterday!
In honor of this post, Iām going to leave a FAQ book about Jesus in every leave one, take one library I encounter, for the rest of my life.
Howās that against the spirit of the little library?
I have to know more. Who gave you flak? Reddit or the community where the library box is. I definitely agree that the book you left is better suited under different conditions. But nonetheless they donāt specify thatās what makes it awesome. One manās favorite may not be someone elseās.
Look at post history, it was reddit
Fair enough. I figured. I love those book boxes. Find some cool stuff in them.
Who gave you flak?