Loaners: The Making of a Street Library

by Ben Hodgson (co-author), Laura Moulton (co-author)

In 2011, Laura Moulton founded Street Books, a mobile library serving people living outside in Portland, Oregon. That summer, Ben Hodgson became one of her most dedicated regulars, setting the still-unbroken single-season record for borrowing. Then Ben’s routine’s changed, and he didn’t cross paths again with Laura for almost two years. Loaners is the story they began to tell when they reconnected, offering a street-level perspective of a community whose stories are seldom told, alternating between their two unforgettable points of view in this addictively readable, occasionally sublime memoir.


“Loaners is the most heartening, encouraging book I’ve read in years. Ever? What a beauty, how human and terrifying and funny, what a strange conversation. This could be the account of an inspired woman who built a bicycle-powered library for unhoused folks, revealing the pull of reading and the rich inner lives of those whose outer lives might seem unseemly; it could also be the testimony of a well-educated veteran who, living on the street and in the woods, finds purpose and connection through the library. That the book is both of these things, and told in these two sharp, distinct, and compassionate voices, is a true wonder — and yet, that is not what’s deepest and warmest here: This is the account of a friendship between people in different situations, who find a connection through books, and whose care for and appreciation of each other is evident in every single word. I loved this book. Loved it.”
-Peter Rock, author of My Abandonment

“As someone saved by books when homeless, I know that true resiliency lies in the imagination. Kudos to Street Books for bringing the magic literature to so many souls on the street, and this illuminating, powerful story to all of us.”
-Rene Denfeld, bestselling author of The Child Finder

“One of the single best ideas I’ve seen in this town.”
-Omar El Akkad, author of American War and What Strange Paradise

“A wonderfully sui generis memoir, braiding together hilarious and devastating anecdotes from Ben’s years living on the street in Old Town — ‘the Baltic and Mediterranean’ of Portland — and Laura’s first decade of building her first bike library, ‘a beautiful, ungainly, rolling creation,’ into a sprawling, city-wide network of street librarians and patrons. Like Street Books itself, Loaners is a powerful collaboration between neighbors, a wonderful, chimerical book held together by the glue of humor, hope, and connection. The right book can change a person forever in a few hours time. Anyone looking for evidence to pair with this grand claim of mine should read Loaners immediately.”
-Karen Russell, author of Orange World and Swamplandia!

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Memoir, Books About Books

276 pages, Paperback

Published October 5, 2021

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book started out so strong for me! I think I got a little lost in the sauce with all the book references I didn’t know. However, the writing was pure magic. I loved the narratives and the alternating authors. Overall, so fascinating! What an amazing story that unfolded in the heart of one of my favorite cities. This is a book I hope to revisit after a few years on the shelf.

[Alissa Hattman · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOANERS is a story about friendship and the making of a street library. There are two main intersecting narratives—the story of Ben Hodgson’s time living outside (on the streets of Portland and in a tent on the outskirts) before eventually securing housing and Laura Moulton’s story of the founding of Street Books. The keen insights, wry observations, and friendly tone of the narrative is warm and inviting, even when detailing harsh realities. LOANERS challenges stereotype and shows how people intersect and connect in surprising, life-affirming ways. There’s a wonderful quality to the collective narrative of LOANERS—it invites us in while simultaneously urging us out and into conversation and community. It’s remarkable.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful book! If you've ever looked at a homeless encampment with disdain or indifference, read this heart-opening story of Laura Moulton's Portland Street Library and her friend, Ben, who, first a patron, then a friend and partner, co-wrote this book. In alternating vignettes, they knit their two separate stories. Everyone I know will hear about this very special book!

[KAT · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loaners. Book review. Stories of street life in downtown Portland, Oregon, told from the perspectives of a volunteer for a Bicycle Street library and a patron of the library living on the street. Straight forward and bold, each narrator alternates telling their story over several years as they reunited and completed this book. A powerful and subtle approach to sharing the uneasy experience and struggle of being houseless and feeling useless. Yet, making it through darkest times to be able to reach out to family - and realizing the importance of all types of families, communities, and friends.

[Emily Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite word is perspective and this book does not disappoint. ♥️

[Laine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading.

[Becca Ingledew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful read

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read about the bicycle library serving houseless people several years back, was impressed, and have often wondered if it continued. I was glad to learn, by the publishing of this book that it has. The alternating vignettes do wonders for humanizing the folk we tend to walk by with eyes averted.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely LOVED this book. Couldn't put it down. Definitely going on my favorites shelf.

Nuanced, funny, heart-wrenching, hopeful, and so very human.

[Natalie T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic read--the true story of the founding of Portland's (justifiably) famous street library, written in alternating reflections by Street Books' founder Laura Moulton and Street Books' patron Ben Hodgson, himself a hitherto undiscovered literary gem.

In 2011, Laura conceived an idea for a summer art project that involved bringing books to Portland's unhoused community by putting a library on a bicycle and rolling it "into the squares, the fountains, the sidewalks of Portland." Her idea worked so well that it was life-changing; as that summer ended, Street Books had built a community of dedicated readers who greeted Laura on her shifts week after week. "I realized suddenly that this was no longer the three-month art project I'd originally conceived," she writes. "Most every shift began with at least one patron waiting for me. Sometimes it was a small crowd. Where would they return their books if I disappeared? Where would they find new books to read? I had to keep the library running."

LOANERS presents life through both ends of the telescope--we learn not just what life was like for the founder of the library but also for the reader/borrower who suddenly has access to books, and both perspectives are presented on equal terms. For a taste of how wonderful this is, here's co-author Ben Hodgson describing his first visit to the library: "I'd arrived in my ratty-looking coat. Scruffy beard. Hair going every which way, like I'd just stepped off the cover of Gentlemen's Quarterly and then into a threshing machine. The way I must have looked to Laura at the street library, it could easily have been straight out of Wodehouse. Describing one of Bertie's lovesick acquaintances, he writes, 'He looked like a character in one of those Russian novels, trying to decide whether to murder several relatives before hanging himself in the barn.'"

Is the rest of the book this irresistible? Absolutely. And LOANERS is more than diverting; it is a constant reminder of all that is best in the human heart. As Nikki Giovanni observed, "No matter what else is wrong in the world, a book will take you away from it." Let LOANERS take you away from whatever has you discouraged about the world; it's an instant infusion of hope.

[Chris Witkowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, the true story of how an art installation created on a whim - a box full of books attached to a bicycle, turned into a bicycle-powered lending library serving the unhoused population of Portland, Oregon, stole my heart.

Laura Moulton had experimented with socially engaged art projects and came up with an idea of attaching a large square box full of books to a bicycle and then thought - hey, it could be a library on the street, focusing on people who live outside. She knew that if you don't have a permanent address, you can't get a library card, but her library would be different - anyone could borrow from it. Everyone told her she was crazy, people would take the books and she'd never see them again. But that didn't happen. Laura had people sign up for a card and allowed them to check out books, asking them to return it when they finished it. She even started taking requests and worked her best to fill them.

One of her patrons was Ben Hodgson, a man who had been living on the streets for some time, and who was a steady customer for a while and then dropped out of sight for two years. Eventually they met again, and slowly they built a wonderful friendship, with Laura hiring him as a street librarian and getting him on the board of what had become a legitimate non-profit organization.

Ben and Laura take turns recounting their stories: Ben's of life on the streets, Laura's of the day to day adventures with the library and then of their amazing connection working together. Their stories are funny, poignant, insightful, and a delight to read.

It is hard to describe the incredible pleasure I got from reading this book. Laura's deep empathy, compassion, fearlessness, and understanding of the many obstacles facing the unhoused blew me away. And to think - the mere act of giving someone access to books could change a life is evident in Ben's story, for his connection to Laura, her belief in him, certainly played a part in his gradual move towards a more stable living situation.

Everyone should read this book - it is wonderful! My brain is full of ideas of how this might work in my community. Hmmmm

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loaners is a memoir-cum-essay conversation between the two authors, Ben Hodgson and Laura Moulton. Laura is the founder of Street Books, a mobile library bringing books to people living outdoors in downtown Portland, Oregon. Ben was one of her patrons, and still holds the record for most books read in a year. Ben describes Laura as “a lighthouse because you save people” and eventually, he joins Laura in her mission.

Readers meet Laura at the beginning of her experiment and Ben at the beginning of his three and half years living outdoors, after losing his job and his trailer home. Laura works around the public library system, which requires an address and phone number to get a library card. Her model is simple: ride a bike outfitted with a box to hold books to the same location, at the same time each week. Check out books to people for free, using the old-school library pocket and a card that patrons sign and leave with her. The first summer trial run started slowly, as Laura needed to approach people gently and gain their trust. Once she did, the requests for specific types of books poured in—philosophy, history, poetry. Laura gets to know her readers—their tastes and troubles, their senses of humor and stories.

Stories and musings alternate between Ben and Laura, at times almost becoming a dialogue in which one vignette is enhanced, or humorously refuted, by the other. These conversations are often provoked by Ben’s witty irreverence and sometimes he responds in limericks. The segments leap from chuckle-inducing whimsy to sobering insights, from truly scary encounters to examples of heart-warming generosity of spirit. The short pieces may be inconsistent in style and focus, but they are always engaging and enlightening.

Check out my full review on Quaci Press:https://www.quacipress.com/loaners-th...

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't tell you how much I loved this book, about the making of Street Books, a library for the houseless community in Portland, Oregon that was launched by a friend of mine, Laura Moulton. The book is so many things, but at its heart, it's a celebration of literature and the power of books to bring people together—and bring joy to peoples' lives. In some ways, it reminded me of classics like 84 Charing Cross Road, the epistolary book between a book shop owner and a reader and how they became friends via discussing books.
Every other chapter is by Moulton, an avid reader herself and a writing teacher at Lewis & Clark, and the alternate chapters are written by Ben Hodgson, who was one of Moulton's first Street Books clients. "Hodge," as she calls him, is witty, well-read, and eccentric. He corrects her when she uses the wrong word and scolds her for not having P.G. Wodehouse's novels. Today, not to give anything away, he is both housed and on the Street Books board. (And is the co-author of this book.) Told with compassion and humor, this is more than a book about the making of a street library. It's about the importance of having conversations with our houseless neighbors and seeing them as the human beings that they are. It's about friendship and hope and yes, overcoming adversity through pluck and hard work. It's about challenging people to look beyond their first impressions.

[Judith · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an avid reader, this heartwarming story about two very different people's love of books touched my heart. Laura Moulton started a Street Library in Portland, OR as a 3 month art project to deliver books to Portland's homeless population. Ben Hodgson was one of her first patrons. I loved the format of this book in that Laura told her story with insights into each person she encountered among the homeless and in doing so, made us see that there are many homeless who are smart, educated, funny and very human, just like the rest of us. Ben tells his story of how he became homeless and his long journey back to being housed. This is an easy read as each of them only takes a page or two at a time to tell a piece of the story as their friendship develops and Laura's 3 month project turns into a 10 year ongoing service to the homeless community called Street Books.

It is a heartening and encouraging story and I highly recommend it as it might change how one looks at the homeless that we all encounter as we go through the day.

In an interview for a documentary about Street Books, the interviewer asked one of the Street Book patrons what sort of books he liked to read, he said: "I've read so much I'm worn out. I know too much. I gotta let my doing catch up with my knowing." Sometimes I feel this way and take a few days in between books to just absorb and appreciate what I have just read.

[Al Doyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cover caught my eye while enjoying the very well stocked book store in Manzanita Oregon. "Loaners" went home with me to Seattle, but not on loan... simply owned.

One of my best friends has spent a good portion of his life helping the folk who live outdoors in Portland so this was a topic near and dear to me.

I had it devoured in two days after I reached home in Seattle. This is a very insightful look to someone using their own passion to provide solace and care for friends who live outdoors. If you interested in books... or library...or caring for people living in challenging circumstances, this is a read the will inform you, encourage you, enlighten you and inspire you in many ways.

We get to see how one woman's passion turns into a blessing for her and the people she serves as she learned one the fly how to create a library and a community of readers in a setting where that might not be expected.

Grab a copy if you can. We all need to learn more about how we can help our friends who live outdoors OR support those already on the mission.

(I loved the shorty, punchy, small chapter format with alternating voices. Very compelling!

[Shirley · Rating 4 out of 5]

My friend Lois who owns a used book store and gives books to the homeless shelter 'made' me read this, she loved it so much. The alternating chapters are written by Laura Moulton who started a bicycle library for people living outside in Portland, and Ben Hodgson, one of the library's early customers, whose life was jolted into a different space because of it. I was reminded of so many people I have known over the years on the streets in Denver, and their reading and writing tastes. I was reminded of "Rev. Friendly" in my own town who wrote his own book, the Christian Yoga Song of God. I was reminded of the camaraderie created among people who have nothing material, but share skills toward a worthy project (in my case producing and distributing a monthly newspaper). Ben's wit and cynicism, his take on getting by, canning/salvaging and the kindness of strangers, or fading into the background when necessary were like stories from 'home' for me. I especially liked Armando the armadillo...the things a person finds! From a small press, not available at the library.

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I ordered this book I thought it would be a sort of “how to” book for someone interested in doing what was done in Portland. Although those steps, setbacks, and successes come through in the narratives, the book is way more than that. The narration alternates between Laura Moulton, the founder and mainstay of Street Books, snd Ben Hodgson, who was one of her first customers as a homeless man on the street - a very smart and incredibly funny person. Each tells their own story in chronological time that matches, though doesn’t always overlap the other’s narrative. Despite her strength and energy, Moulton’s account tends to put her in the background, whereas Hodgsin’s account highlights his journey with anecdotes of his days, some good snd some not do good. Aside from providing support for the Street Books project, I recommend this on its own for the insights and humanity, with a bonus of some very good jokes.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the way this book illuminated the story of the creation of a street library alongside the story of one of its patrons/now-workers. The stories of Ben (a person living with houselessness) and Laura (the creator of the titular street library) bounce back and forth in an effective, enjoyable way and give lots of room for the reader to sit with images or moments in between the vignettes. It reads easy for some thorny material. I appreciated the truth of what is displayed here - there is joy, there is pain, there is trauma, and there are just some great laughs. Also of note, the section at the end that has advice on how to duplicate the street library in your community. I very much enjoyed this book.

[Sandy Beery · Rating 3 out of 5]

While in Portland, Oregon, we picked up this book co- authored by a Portland entrepreneur and a formerly homeless person. Based on their experiences together: in Laura’s establishing a mobile lending library for the homeless and Ben’s story of living on the streets. How informative on so many levels. The library usage explodes myths about the homeless. And Ben’s honest assessments of life, wry humor, and often brilliant insights informed about the realities of mental illness and the homeless. Although narrow in its focus and simple in the storytelling, the narrative could readily be used for how to start a library for the homeless and how to educate yourself about what life on the streets is like.

[Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has an interesting construction of a narrative, with two authors, a street librarian and an unhoused person, writing alternating chapters about the same events and time periods.

Moulton ran a pedal powered street library cart in the downtown Portland area and Hodgson was a person without a home, whom she met and formed a relationship through the portable library, leading to this co-authored book.

The book tells the story of how getting books out to people living on the streets, and connecting to their humanity and interests, sometimes, but not always, changes lives.

As a Portland resident I enjoyed its local flavor also.

[Bev · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend gave me this book and it sat on the shelf until I finally decided I have to at least open it up. I was brought into the story immediately. Laura Moulton writes her view of starting a street library for the homeless in Portland, Oregon. Opposite her pieces are pieces written by Ben Hodgson, a homeless man. The chapters are 1/2 to 3 pages long and descriptive about life on the street for both the homeless and the people that serve them. If books can help people, this book is a good way to start.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ironically, this was loaned to me. I would not likely have heard of it otherwise. The format engages, though I found myself wondering how it would all tie off. It doesn't, but it does eventually end. Odd to call a collection of micro chapters "slow moving," but then the book is not trying to GO anywhere. Like its subjects, human and instutional, it is just "there" for the moment, ready to engage with whatever your experience is.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a labor of love for the authors, like their street library was. It is beautifully written from the point of view of the founder of the library and one of her patrons who becomes a librarian. There is intense insight about what it really means to be human and without a place to call home except the streets. Any reader of this book will learn more about the harshness and the goodness of humans.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The alternating entries by Street Books' organizer/patron worked really well; both were engaging. But what I really appreciated was the window into Life as a Homeless Person on the Street: why cardboard? shelters vs doorways? canning (I didn't know that was the word for it)? Ben's humor was wonderful and his efforts to clean up the streets moved me. But Laura's initiative and persistence were the basis of it all; she's truly role-model material.

[C. Beaudoin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a powerful book. At it's core, the message I took away was that there are some really compassionate people out there that can look beyond someone's bad situation (in this case being homeless) and see a human being. And to make an impact on the human spirit through a mobile book library is unique and brilliant. This book does something that few others do, totally motivate me to be a better person, to make a positive impact in the world around me, even if it is in my own little way.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful story of perseverance and truth.
So much compassion and understanding for our homeless population in Portland Oregon which has only grown larger since the pandemic
Thanks for sharing the journey from street to home from Ben & Laura’s drive to bring books to street folks. Beautiful Book!

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really delightful read. I’m hopeful that more books like this will make their way to publication. I appreciate the way Ben helps readers carve new insights into our house-less neighbors and the way Laura helps give space and light to this discussion.

This is such a great book to read for anyone hoping to learn more about our community that sleeps rough <3

[Austin Henley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fantastic, I think that through the perspective of someone who has been houseless it allows people to truly empathsize and understand without creating some fictional embodiment of what it means to be houseless. It is quite simple to digest and read, and I think this is a must read for people.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful story about seeing something that could make the world better and making it happen. In alternating chapters Laura and Ben tell the tale of the development of a street library for unhoused folks. Two very different people from very different circumstances find purpose and connection in the project, in books, and in their friendship. Beautiful!

[Laura Margery Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this book. Having the two perspectives throughout the book kept it both relatable but also gave great perspective. Insightful, humanizing, and both hopeful and poignant at the same time. For only reading a handful of non-fiction a year, they always end up in my top books of the year.