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.