You can buy all kinds of weird things from vending machines these days – from live crabs to blue jeans to gold bars – but this new iteration is more entertaining than most, and it’ll certainly keep you busy longer than a bag of Skittles. Peruse the covers of a curated selection of books through the glass of these BooksActually vending machines in Singapore for a new distraction on demand. If only this idea caught on everywhere, maybe we’d spend a bit less time standing around staring at our phones.

Two of the machines are now ready for reading enthusiasts in high-traffic areas, including the National Museum of Singapore and the Singapore Visitor Center. Fittingly for these locations, the selections appear to be Singapore-centric, including books by local authors as well as helpful guides for tourists. Each machine contains about 150 books with up to 22 titles, and the outsides of the machines are painted by local artists to indicate what’s inside.

“The whole idea is about accessibility and eyeballs,” says Kenny Leck, owner of BooksActually. “There are not enough bookstores in Singapore… these vending machines could be a visual touchpoint. You may not buy [a book] but we’ll let you know these exist. And from there, there could be more possibilities. We start with visual awareness: books where you see a local author’s name. The ultimate place we want to put them are at train stations.”

Of course, book vending machines aren’t entirely new, though they’re far more popular in Asia than they are stateside. The first book-dispensing machine, called the Penguincubator, was installed in London way back in 1937. An Irish company called ‘A Novel Idea’ installed a machine at London’s Heathrow airport, but went out of business. It’s kind of hard to pick out a book when you can’t even read the back cover, but the concept could work with highly recognizable beach-read-type titles that are about the equivalent of junk food for your brain, anyway.

If you have ever wanted to fully experience life as a bookseller in a small town by the sea, this quirky combination home-and-bookstore holiday rental may be just be the page-turner you need.

Located in Wigmore, Scotland, The Open Book is an independent retailer that lets interested parties both rent the flat above the store and oversee its operations during their stay. Guests inclined toward working vacations get to double as volunteers, performing all the duties of the shop owners, including opening, closing, shelf restocking and display design.

It may not be a fun novelty for every type of traveler, but presents an opportunity well-suited for those of us who are bookworms, like to stay busy, learn new things and meet locals on getaways.

At less than $50 USD per night for up to two guests, the work effectively subsidizes the stay, not to mention giving a more complete experience of the place.

With small bookshops closing up around the country (and the world), the owners wanted to bring more attention to their store and ask their guests to blog about and share their time as a store manager. People are also asked to stay for a minimum of a week, giving them time to learn the ropes and greet a variety of store visitors, from locals to fellow travelers.

Looking like a bookshop flipped ninety degrees, this coffee shop stands out even in Manhattan, a world of off-the-wall spaces and strange conceptual designs.

This new location for D’espresso was crated by Nemaworkshop, “a team of architects, designers and thinkers who create spaces which are conceptually bold yet highly sensitive to cultural and social contexts.”

Referencing the historical combination of cafes and bookstores as well as the nearby New York Public Library, the book photographs wrapping the floor, back wall and ceiling above become conversation pieces as well as a wraparound backdrop for sipping lattes. Meanwhile, the ‘floor’ on the left wall provides a backdrop for seating and contrasts with the functional ‘ceiling’ lighting on the right, which illuminates and differentiates the service space behind the counter.

About Nemaworkshop: “The studio approaches projects through research and collaborative brainstorming wherein ideas are discussed and reworked until a team emerges with a single cohesive concept.” Like its results, “the process is a non-linear approach, adhering to the conviction that good ideas can come from unlikely places. Ultimately, the designs challenge architectural typologies, demonstrate acute cultural awareness and propose original spatial concepts.

About this particular project itself, the designers write: “The client approached nemaworkshop with a single espresso bar existing and the ambition to build an espresso empire. For the location for the second shop, on Madison and backs up to Grand Central Terminal, Nemaworkshop and the client agreed that the design needed to be immediately striking to the goal-oriented suits and wandering tourists alike.”