Mr. X and I were in Baltimore this weekend (the Walters, romance) and checked out The Book Thing, where all the books are free. Really! There's no suggested donation, no limit on the number of books you can take (well, not a binding limit; it's 150,000), nothing but books. Most of them are categorized and shelved--all but the children's books, which are piled haphazardly in a dozen or so bins. Twice while we were there someone wheeled over a shopping cart full of children's books and flung more into the bins. The selection in that department wasn't great, but I managed to come home with about 20 books, including a copy of what is probably my favorite Frances book (and that's saying a lot, because I love them all): A Bargain for Frances by Russell and Lillian Hoban. For (ahem) Milly. Other highlights included a lovely hardcover edition of The Bronze Bow for Leo and a handful of L.M. Montgomery paperbacks for me. I was quite pleased. Free books!