greek milf

"The Oedipus Plays of Sophocles"

The ironing is delicious:

"She always talks to me!

no me"

After the fall

Sometimes I find simple notes. Names, dates, phone numbers. But on occasion there are notes like Adam's, which just sap the energy out of you. Many thanks, Adam, for sending in your note:

It's the only reason I bought the book. There's a bunch of writing on the back inside cover, but the front inside cover is my favorite part.

The book is the Academy Classics edition of Three Narrative Poems (by Coleridge, Arnold, and Tennyson), edited by George A. Watrous, A.M. Copyright 1898.

Here's my best effort at a transcription. Enjoy!

"Francisco Meek
Suelo floor
techo ceiling

Francisco Meik the
Spanish Terror

Born Oct. 30(?), 1912.
Fell in love with Maxine
Darrow Sept. 9, 1927 Married
her ..., 19

this is past
and forgotten
it is history
Signed
Frank A. Meek"

[Opposite side:]

"Frank Meek
v.s.
Maxine Darrow"

Athens/Middle Ages Timewarp

"The Persians," by Aeschylus. A translation with commentary by Anthony J. Podlecki.

Inside front cover:

A gangland chronicle or just OCD?

Amy found a doozy of a note for notesinbook's first guest post (thanks, Amy!):

I picked this one up at Aardvark Books, on Church Street in the Castro.  I was looking for a vacation read that wouldn't embarrass me in front of my smart DC friends.  This one combined a notable author name with a shiny cover.  I'm not proud of my criteria, but there it is.

Budget constraints dictated that I only buy one book that day, so when I had narrowed down my search to two--this and something else I can't remember--I started flipping through both and found two things that tipped the decision to Glamorama.  The first was a train ticket to Berlin, dated May 22, 2009; someone else had taken this book on a trip.  The second was this note, which reads:

"Welcome back,
Everything went fine.  A worker showed up at 4 pm, checked the meter in the closet, under sink & bathroom.  He was never alone and it lasted no more than 10 min.  [Back]  Ate some nuts.  Hurry up now and have a great time tonight.
EC [?]
PS  no receipts"

My guess is that this was written by an extremely uncomfortable houseguest, asked to do a small favor for an overly-protective homeowner.  I think that EC is going to be sure to be out of the house tonight when the homeowner returns to change for the opera, but, having little money, will return to watch TV once s/he's sure the house will be empty.

Go Team!

"The Red Pony," by John Steinbeck.

The inscription:

"J. Molayem
#17
8th Grade"

Baseball, basketball, or soccer?

Zeppelin photography

I purchased this book on May 19, 2005, from Amazon's Used Marketplace. I read this book in high school like everyone else, but I didn't read this copy until two months ago. 

To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee.

 From the inside cover:

"Please Return 

           if found.

This is my life. 

(Even if I can't stand English Class)"

Scattered:

"4501 Lininger Ln

Dickinson, TX! 77539

337-1394

Melissa Baumanco [sp?]"

The address now belongs to an aerial photography business. I'm guessing the operation is run from home. The Google street view near this address shows houses set back off an old gray road. Everything is grassy and shaded by trees, which reminds me of Lee's description of Maycomb: "Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square. Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer's day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men's stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o'clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum."

from me to you

Brand Bookshop is alphabetized by genre and smells like sour dust--in a good way. There must be a leak somewhere behind the walls: picture drops of dirty water seeping through warped O-rings and collecting in small puddles on broken concrete floors. That, or dust smells sour to me or the homeless man sitting on the curb really needed his fix of used Michael Taussig before I passed through. Anyway, aside from the fusty smell and damp interior, Brand Bookshop is a great bookstore, and I purchase used books there every week. There's no question I'm a loyal customer, but I really have Ryan to thank for that.

I was searching for some David Sedaris on the cheap and came across "Barrel Fever."

I opened the book and knew immediately that there were two things I needed to do:
1) buy the book, which was marked down in pencil from $13.95 to $6.95, and
2) share with everyone I know this inscription from Ryan to Jessie

"Jessie --
   As you know, I'm one to reserve my smiles for the right occasion. But, David Sedaris, the author of these essays & short stories, has stolen a few smiles, just as have you.
   I have treasured, wrapped up, and put away the wonderful times that we have shared. Thank you for being such an amazing part of my life. And, thank you, for being my friend, with whom I've enjoyed a few smiles...
           [heart] Ryan
P.S. SantaLand"

Note: italics are substituted for underlined phrases.

Now, there's no doubt Ryan's note is elegant if not flirty and perhaps too smooth. There's something not kosher here. Maybe this is the book you give and the inscription you write to someone after a love affair ends and you don't really want to say anything yourself so you let a master of literature do the communicating for you. Or perhaps this is genuine sentiment and I'm just standing in the wake of this cosmic relationship that brought two people to heights of passion unrivaled by.... ah that's bullshit. The inscription is dated (not in the photo) "2/14/06" -- Valentine's Day. Strike one. This note ends up in a used book shop. Strike two. Jessie, rather than wrapping the book in plastic and storing the book in a freezer, sold the book for cold, hard cash. Maybe. There are plenty of unsupportable theories here: book thieves, book pirates, book aliens, etc. But perhaps store credit good toward the purchase of other used books is most easy to swallow. In any case, what keeps this note from being a strikeout is that I found it and put it on the internet, which is more like a fat catcher legging out that rare triple.

Now I'm on a mission to find all the little things people leave behind in the books they give away. Not just the inscriptions like the one above, but also the more unusual evidence of a book's previous life: personal notes, shopping lists, routes to new restaurants, animal drawings not drawn to scale, or receipts. Pretty much anything found inside a book that the author did not put there. That's what I'm looking for and I hope you'll help. Scour your used book stores and if you find something that steals a smile from you, send me a picture of the note and book cover, and I'll archive your addition for tens of people to appreciate.