Library Books and Things Left Behind

8/7/2014

I know it's no secret that I have, for most of my life, loved books.  I like cozy murders (the kind where there is a body, but no blood or gore - just dead), romance novels, and books that have a gorgeous hero just waiting to rescue a likewise gorgeous heroine.  I used to read the grizzly murder mysteries, but gave up on blood and guts, no longer my thing.

If I find a new author (to me), and I like book "x", then I am in hot pursuit of everything he/she has ever written.  Right at the moment, I'm reading pretty much back to back, books by Sujata Massey.  Her books are mysteries that occur in Japan. The heroine is half Japanese, half American who sells antiques and chases down clues after a murder. 

Another author is Rhys Bowen, who writes mysteries, but again just a body with no clues.  Are any of the books I'm reading great books?  Doubtful.  Fun to read? Absolutely.

When I check out books at the library, I'm always amazed at the "bookmarks" left in books.  One reader had her hair colored and face waxed in August, 2013.  Luckily, for her, the credit card that she used only shows the last four digits.

Somebody else had a dentist appointment last year, a Metro fare card with a zero balance was placed in other books.  None of these things I've found in books, could be damaging to the person who left them.  With all the present day challenges to keep your life private, I am very careful about what I use for a bookmark - I use blank envelopes as well as those annoying tear-out cards from magazines.

Sometimes I can tell if a reader smokes because of the smell that still resides in the pages.  Likewise, there is evidence of reading and eating at the same time.  When I was younger, I used to dog ear the pages, but at that point in my life, I was doing more buying of books than making use of the library.  I am happy to see that I haven't checked out a book from the library recently with any pages turned down.  

I can read books on my Kindle, which allows me to enlarge the print to make it easier for my old eyes to read easily.  What I have found on Amazon is that in many cases it's cheaper to buy a used book, than an electronic one.  I don't care how sophisticated we get about electronic data, nothing will ever replace the joy I feel in having a real book in my hands.

Since I'm trying to write the "next greatest novel", I've been all over the internet looking for research about the civil war, private diaries of Lincoln and his secretaries and the Underground Railroad.  I found a book on Amazon about Lincoln and instead of trying to read it electronically, I bought a used book.  Since I own it, I can highlight relevant parts for use in my story.  The unfortunate part is that book one was cheap, less than $5.00.  You want the other nine volumes?  Those cost over $300.00!  I'm hoping that volume one will have some historical information that I can use, because I'm not shelling out money for the other volumes.  

Remember before you return a book to the library, give it a shake to make sure that nothing falls out so that you don't leave any of your personal information behind.

P