There is in Baltimore, Maryland, a unique shelter that was opened some years ago by Russell Wattenberg with the idea of giving a loving home to hundreds of books that are not wanted any more.
The way it works is simple: People take their books to The Book Thing (http://bookthing.org) and leave them there. Then, Russell and a group of book lovers classify them and put them in shelves, so that more people can go there and take the books that they want for free.
When I first went there, about ten years ago, Russell’s place was in a small place all filled with books. I found this idea absolutely amazing!
Some time later, he moved to a bigger place and ever since I’ve had the chance to visit this unique place several times. The last one, I remember myself carrying some novels in my arms, and while looking for some more titles, I started rocking my books, just like little kids being embraced by a proud parent. It was such a tender feeling, that’s remained in my mind, wishing there were much more places like this around the world!