The Book Swap on Our Street
Two years ago, a wooden box appeared next to the bus stop on our street. It looked like a small cupboard with a glass door, and inside there were about twenty books. A note on the door said: "Take a book, leave a book. Thank you, Ruth from number 14."
At first, nobody paid much attention. People walked past it on their way to work, and the books stayed the same for weeks. Then, slowly, things started to change. One morning I noticed a cookbook that had not been there before. A week later, there were three children's books and a guide to Italy. By the end of the first month, the box was so full that Ruth had to add a second shelf.
I decided to meet Ruth and ask her why she had started it. She is a retired English teacher, and she told me that when she moved to a smaller flat, she could not keep all her books. "I didn't want to throw them away," she said, "and I didn't want to sell them either. I wanted them to be read."
The box has become more than a place for books. Neighbours who had never spoken now stop to talk about what they are reading. Parents bring their children on Friday afternoons to choose something for the weekend. Someone even left a notebook inside, and people write short comments about the books they have taken.
Of course, there are small problems. Sometimes the books get wet in winter, and once someone left a pile of old newspapers. But Ruth says that is part of the experience. "It belongs to everyone now," she told me. "So everyone takes care of it."