Judge by the cover

Stockholmers love to read. Summertime-lack-of-free-morning-paper-crisis makes them read even more books than usual, which is particularly visible during my tube ride to work in the morning (it's empty, so one gets to see more than the back of a co-traveller in front). They read paperbacks, mostly romance and crime, which is better than nothing, say I, the one who judge people by their cover.

A pick-a-book place should be available on all major tube stations in Stockholm, I think. Spots like that are wonderful: on the boat that L takes to work every day there is a bookshelf where the travellers can leave books that they do not want to have, for other passangers to pick them up. You leave Mari Jungstedt, pick up Henning Mankell. For example. No money needed, no strange librarian either.

We saw a spot like that in our hotel on Samui this summer. Mostly Scandinavian books, which means that the habit of leaving the books you have read already and do not want to keep is typical to the region. One of the reasons I like it here, actually. The one that makes me like it a lot!