Gentle Adventure is a project that aims to encourage a beautiful, ethical and sustainable lifestyle.

Home Is Not Where The Books Are

pile of books with a cup of coffee on top

We love books and magazines. We are very much into typography, photography, illustrations, colours, materials, words, facts and stories. We read children’s books and Swedish horror, cookbooks and essay collections. Witches, fashion and climate disaster. Books about people and books about plants. But we don’t really buy any.

 

Daniel listening to an audiobook in his room

Tablet showing the audiobook version of Moominpappa at Sea

Daniel enjoys not owning too many things, so he doesn’t have any physical books or magazines anymore. Instead, he reads ebooks, digital magazines and listens to audiobooks on his tablet. He reads magazines for free using Zinio and his library card, and is thinking about getting a digital subscription to the gorgeous vegan magazine Chickpea. He has a subscription to Audible and listens to at least one audiobook a month, choosing ebooks mostly when a specific title he’s interested in is not available as an audio version. Not owning books doesn’t mean not reading them. Actually the ones he used to own he read very rarely. Now he listens to some almost every day. It feels like reading invisible books.

 

A book about plants and a cup of tea

Closeup of a book about plants and a cup of tea

Amir on the other hand owns and reads physical books. He is a collector of many things, but his treasures are mostly things found for free or secondhand. He loves old illustrations of plants and mushrooms and old styles of layout and cover design. But when there is specific book he wants to read, he doesn’t buy it. He reads it. He borrows an insane amount of books from the library all the time, simply out of interest for each title. He goes to the library each time a new issue of any of his favourite magazines comes out. He also goes to a book club once a month, sharing a read with his friends. Books are fuel and solace for him.

 

A pile of books about plants and insects

Closeup of a pile of books about plants and insects

Libraries are one of the greatest things in our modern society. They’re a way to own knowledge, entertainment and resources together, to share.

They are also places for doing things. Libraries host lots of different clubs and events. And they offer music, movies, internet access, games, office spaces, and even sewing machines, 3D printing and cargo bikes. Most for free, or at a very low charge. In short, libraries pretty damn cool. Go there.

 

A pile of library books

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