How to make your reading life more sustainable

Books bring simple, unadulterated joy, and a solid household collection is one of life’s great pleasures. But quickly, that collection can run amok until, one day, you look up and say, “why so many books?”

There are more sustainable ways to approach the enjoyment of reading. Buying books secondhand is one. The fate of beloved used bookstore Cottonwood Books, which was slated to close last month, was a sad moment for Baton Rouge and even sparked a group of volunteers to try to keep it open.

But you can also find lightly used books at Red Stick Reads, the recently opened Mid City bookstore. It features a curated, secondhand section in the store’s breezeway. In a further commitment to sustainability, the large doors that conceal these particular shelves are, themselves, repurposed from a fence destroyed by Hurricane Ida, co-owner James Hyfield says.

Hyfield is also exploring the idea of repurposing well-worn books otherwise headed for the trash for garden mulch.

Stop by and find deeply discounted best sellers and eclectic reads in the used section that you can take home guilt-free. Sometimes, Hyfield says, customers resell the same used books back to the store once they’ve read them.

Another sustainable strategy is to borrow books from the growing number of Little Free Libraries that have popped up in some Baton Rouge neighborhoods, each holding titles for children and adults. Pick one up while you’re walking your dog, and return it at your leisure. You can also donate books to the library you think would be good additions to your fellow borrowers.

And don’t forget about East Baton Rouge Parish’s outstanding public library system. Along with scores of titles, it also features modern amenities that make borrowing a breeze.

Try the concierge drive-in window at the Main Library, where you can pick up books you’ve reserved online, or the Libby app that allows you to borrow and download books and audiobooks on your smartphone or tablet, at no cost, of course.

The library system also holds a monthly Recycled Reads book sale, where hardback books and DVDs are sold for $1, and paperbacks, 25 cents.   

This article was originally published in the April 2022 issue of 225 magazine.