Over the weekend, I spent Sunday mostly in Queens. With my old friend Dorothy from A.R.R.O.W., I joined NYC H2O in removing invasive grasses at the Ridgewood Reservoir, in Ridgewood, Queens NY. It was a beautiful day to be outdoor. Breezy, sunny, clear sky, a great day to be outdoor, before New York muggy summer arrives.
I was going to make a stop in Glendale, Queens to drop off some books for a Little Free Library that was recently cleaned out. Some people are just horrible. Take a book, leave a book, or if you cannot leave a book, take a few books, but NEVER EVER take everything. It's either a little kid who doesn't know any better and needs better parenting, or some evil person who planned to somehow sell the books. It turned out I couldn't find the post. I had an idea of where the LFL is, I thought on Cooper Avenue, but without knowing for sure, I scrapped the idea of a side trip. I was running late anyway, so that sealed the deal.
I still ended up visiting a few bookish places by the end of the day. The first place was the LFL at American Legion 2414 on Metropolitan, near Ascan Avenue. I dropped off some books, took two, one was a cookbook, a salad cookbook, that Dorothy liked, so that became a present for her. Next, after dropping off Dorothy at her home, with a parking spot across the street, such an unusual thing to see in Sunnyside Garden, I walked over to the Sunnyside Books and Media Swap. The Swap is a book exchange magnified many times! There were a few tables or books, then more in bins on the ground, then even more on a table labeled Last Chance. The typical book actually has a suggested donation fee of $2. Children's books are free, but donations welcomed. The Last Chance table has totally free books. There's also a sign that says if you are broke then take the books for free. It's New York City, at any point in time, there must be someone who is broke. Free books, what more do you want! I was hoping to pick up a copy of a DVD by Stephen Chow, ideally Kung-Fu Hustle, but I would settle for Shalin Soccer, too, but that day they only had books and LPs. The donation bin had some puzzles, but I have no room for that. On the way to the Swap site, I happened across the Amplify Library. It's actually part of a small network of LFL-inspired boxes, but focused on black, indigenous, and people-of-color authors. I actually have been stocking books by Asian authors for my home-grown book exchange, but I didn't have any with me for the Amplify Library. Lastly, just by chance when I went to visit a friend in Jackson Height, on the notorious 34th Avenue Linear Park, there were some books spread out on two tables, free to take but donation also sought. It may be there all day already, I was at the friend's apartment for only half an hour or so, when I went back to my car the tables and books were gone.
Four different locations for "free" books! A bona fide totally free Little Free Library, a little library with the same principle but with a focus on black authors etc, a donation-suggested mega-library, and lastly just some person's attempt to recycle some books with a simple ask for donation.