A Very Curious Phenomenon

January 27, 2009 by
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic 

(Or: The Franklin Street Lending Library)

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Anyone who lives on Franklin Street near India  and has eyes (or ears) probably knows the story of this place. It used to be a garage but thanks to Karl Fischer (and the stringent criteria used for the issuance of modification permits) it is being “modified” GUTTED into a ten story luxury apartment building replete with professional office space. But the purpose of this post is not to malign this development (although it richly deserves it). Rather it is about a certain bicycle parked in the premises.

bikeonindia

This bike, to be precise. Over the last month I have noticed a very curious phenomenon: people are leaving (exchanging?) books via its basket. Follow are a few visual aids (in chronological order) to give you a better idea what I’m talking about.

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Three poetry books.

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One book on web design.

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My husband is a big fan of Neal Stephenson so after I took  the above photograph he nabbed this tome.

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A how-to book about knitting and a book about contemporary American women artists.

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The top book in this assortment is about pirates. It should be noted that took the above photograph at 8:00 p.m. When walked back by later (11:00 p.m.) the books were gone. Anyone know what’s going on here? If so, please share. My curiosity is driving me crazy!

Miss Heather

Comments

4 Comments on A Very Curious Phenomenon

  1. sodafine on Tue, 27th Jan 2009 2:27 pm
  2. this is awesome! i haven’t noticed it at all, but now i want to trade some books…

  3. missheather on Tue, 27th Jan 2009 2:32 pm
  4. We should start doing this. Leave what you don’t want, take what you like.

  5. al oof on Wed, 28th Jan 2009 1:06 am
  6. that’s pretty weird. maybe it’s one of those bookcrossings sites?

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