At one point recently, I looked at the pile of books by the back door waiting to be donated to a charity shop and wondered if it might be easier to find somewhere to leave them nearby for other people to enjoy. I envisioned a little shelf on my road with a sign asking people to help themselves. The main argument against this (aside from not having a spare shelf or anything to waterproof it with) was that I was concerned that my neighbour would spot the two books she gave me over the fence and realise that I hadn’t read them. (It was a nice gesture on her part, I just don’t fancy James Patterson books.)
Luckily for Nottingham, other people are less rubbish than me and do amazing things with scrap bits of wood. So, if you find yourself in the New Basford area, take a stroll to Central Avenue (it runs parallel to Nottingham Road) and check out the Little Free Library.
Here it is.
It’s jam packed with books, of all kinds, including a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book that E hadn’t read and was very pleased to find. The library works on an exchange system: you leave a book, you take a book. We took two books and left three. We also left a comment in the visitor’s book to say hello and thank you.
A while back, a local phone box was full of books and I thought that was great too. Certainly no one uses it for phoning people any more. Perhaps we should reclaim more spaces to share our books.
For now, you can find the Little Free Library on Central Avenue, New Basford, next to Cooper and Berry’s, and on Twitter @littlefreeng7
Susan E Barsby 