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introducing readers to writers since 1995

November 30, 2004

The Sort of Story We Here at Beatrice Love

by Ron Hogan

WaPo staffer Emily Messner ventures out to Baltimore to check out the Book Thing, a regular swap that organizer Russell Wattenberg claims distributes 20,000 free books every week.

Abishek Chitlangia, 23, picks through piles of forgotten fiction [Messner writes]. His friends consider visits to the Book Thing a ritual: "Anytime we come here, we have to pick up a book -- it's like when you go to a shrine and you have to touch the feet of an idol," he says. "This is a beautiful place."

The new landlord recently raised the rent on the Book Thing's basement space by nearly 125 percent, though, so Wattenberg's looking for a bigger location--and, in the meantime, more donations. If you're in the Baltimore area and you haven't pitched in yet, please give it a thought...

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