The Sort of Story We Here at Beatrice Love

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...