One amazing thing about getting so many books ready to sell is how many memories have spilled out from between the pages.
Bookmarks. Messages. Reminders of when I last read the books, who gave them to me, or how long I’ve had them.
One book, Room 13, was a Christmas present from my godmother in 1990, the same year I got my Nintendo with Super Mario Bros. I still remember Boxing Day that year. All day I was shut in my room, alternatively playing and reading.
A picture of Enjolras was tucked inside The Scarlett Letter as a bookmark. Once I saw it, I distinctly remembered cutting out of a Les Mis program in the 1994. Thinking about it, my godmother was responsible for that, too. She gave me the ticket for Easter. Enjolras will always be the greatest fictional love of my life. The second one is Thorin Oakenshield.
A bookmark inside The DaVinci Code reminded me that I must last have read that when I went to London in 2013 to celebrate one of my best friend’s birthdays.
Inside another book I found a boarding pass in the name of an old boyfriend. That brought back memories of our trip to Florence.
That’s something an e-book can never give us. All those memories. All those random bookmarks that we put inside books and then forgot about. Places we’ve been. People we’ve connected with.
Treasure your memories. Read a book.
The Story Cellar 