How do you get to know a neighborhood? Walk around, visit a restaurant, pop into an art gallery, shop at an indie boutique. One more way to sense the spirit of a place, to get a glimpse of the people who live there: Visit one of its Little Free Libraries and see which books its inhabitants think are worthy of putting out into the world to inspire. The nonprofit, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, has libraries in 91 countries and has shared 120 million books since its inception. We traveled across St. Louis County and city and St. Charles to get a glimpse of which books its residents love, and the results were revealing: sophisticated and classic, not a Tom Clancy novel in sight. littlefreelibrary.org.
FLORISSANT
Outside a Lutheran church in Florissant, a LFL contained, surprisingly, only a single copy of the Bible but also The Jungle by journalist Upton Sinclair, which exposed the poor working and living conditions of immigrants at the turn of the 20th century. 1285 N. New Florissant.
NEW TOWN
A picture-perfect Little Free Library in the equally cookie-cutter neighborhood of New Town revealed something more mysterious: a John le Carré novel—A Legacy of Spies. 3181 Canal.
ST. CHARLES
In a sleepy corner of St. Charles, across from a playground, we found Sellevision, the first work by Running With Scissors author Augusten Burroughs. 337 Montclair Tower.
LITTLE CREEK NATURE AREA
The Catcher in the Rye is a fitting addition to a library in the Little Creek Nature Area, maintained by the Ferguson-Florissant School District. Who better a companion to go reflect with in the woods than angsty Holden Caulfield? 2295 Dunn.
UNIVERSITY CITY
Outside the nature laboratory of The Green Center in University City, chickens strut and cluck, and hidden away in its library: a battered copy of The Maytrees—the story of an estranged couple reunited in difficult circumstances—by Pulitzer winner Annie Dillard. 8025 Blackberry.
RICHMOND HEIGHTS
Works by American behaviorist B.F. Skinner (Beyond Freedom & Dignity, which argues that if technology could control behavior, society would be more pleasant) and Russian and Stalin critic Aleksander Solzhenitsyn (One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, which describes a day in the life of a labor camp prisoner) set a rather…cool tone in Richmond Heights. 1241 Highland Terrace.
BOOKSOURCE
Stacked in a library on the Booksource campus on Macklind, a classic: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. 1230 Macklind.
THE HILL
It’s The Hill, so of course there’s a book of prayers and devotions by Pope John Paul II, but also The Bridges of Madison County, by Robert James Waller. (And of course the library is decorated with red and green stained glass.) 5345 Wilson.
TOWER GROVE SOUTH
In Tower Grove South, a library is kitted out with quotes from Romeo and Juliet and Anne of Green Gables but contains a modern treasure: Nicole Krauss’ Great House. 3617 Juniata.
