'Loaners: The Making of a Street Library' by Ben Hodgson & Laura Moulton, 2021

[paralleljalebi]

Quick read from the creator (Moulton) and patron-turned-librarian (Hodgson) of Portland's bicycle-powered street library. A story weaved together by both narrators' words printed back-to-back, feeling more like a conversation than a memoir. Hodsgon is a satirical, self-deprecating, yet deeply-caring man that fell down a spiral of problems leading to being on the streets of Old Town. Moulton is a busy mother looking to bust out of the monotony and get creative. She starts gathering used and discarded books, gets help building a display set on a bike, and props up near the Park Blocks and the Mission and such, not expecting to get much buzz. Over tstahe summer she develops the courage and wisdom interacting with all sorts of people on the streets, finding out what books they want to see stocked, how to handle uneasy characters. The street library gradually transforms from an on-the-whim art project into a staple of Portland.

I really enjoyed this one. Very easy to pick u p due to the chapters being only one or two pages long, and alternating between narrators each time. The opposing personalities make for an amusing story. Hodsgon's coverage of his time spent living off shelter meals, collecting cans for beer money, taking camp up in the hills, and all the perils and highs and adjustments that come with being homeless, it's just so interesting. A book like this reminds you why solving homelessness is an incredibly important issue. Both Hodgson and Moulton write about lively people bonding over books, a simple joy, and it gets you to contemplate the differences between the people and how reading can really bring everyone together. Anyway, if you see this book around, pick it up. Good one to keep and now I want to reach out to my English teacher in senior year and see if she'll want to borrow it.

https://streetbooks.org/loaners-book