books and covers

i love books. i love, love, love, love books! me + books = <3. especially used books. see, they have a few stories to tell.

obviously, there is the story drawn with words for which you acquired the book in the first place. but that is there whether the book is new or old, engaging or boring. it doesn't tell you about the journey of that book...who that book is.

check to see if the spine of the book is wrinkled or cracked. maybe it is permanently arched. that means it has been opened many times. people like what is between the covers of this one.

are the pages dog-eared? someone made time to read this book in their hurried life. maybe it was in five minute intervals between picking up the kids and making dinner, but someone carved out time for this book.

i like finding food stuck on the pages. not whole slices of pizza pressed like a culinary wildflower, but crumbs and smears. this book was so entertaining it went on a lunch date!

have you ever found a swollen and wrinkled book? more importantlyly, have you ever made one? the bathtub book. most bookstores consider this kind of book damaged and will not put it back on their shelves. it's a shame, really. if someone is willing to share their personal, honest to goodness down time with this book, it is worthy of reading.

i like to read the books that people loved. the crisply perfect and pretty ones on their precisely maintained shelves are too good for me. so i guess they, in their untelling covers, can stay right there.