Saturday, February 28, 2009

Buried Treasure

Sorry for the absence last week folks. Things were a little crazy but have finally calmed down. Right. Let's get to this!

Books will often offer hidden treasures in their stories. But sometimes, you can find something more. Specifically, have you ever bought a used book and found someone else's shopping list tucked away between page 98 and 99? When I looked through one of my old books, I found the bookmark from the store where I bought it (the store had closed down years ago). Sometimes, my mom would use heavy books to press dried flowers. Musician Dan Zanes once used a book to store a prized possession given him by his mother — a rare photograph of J. D. Salinger, taken by Mrs. Zanes’s mentor, the German photographer Lotte Jacobi. Henry Alford wrote in The New York Times Book Review that one time even bacon was found within a book's pages. Though, I have to question that one.

So, how about any of you out there? Have you ever found some interesting item in a book? Any of you used a book to stash a little something?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I once found forty bucks in my copy of Mystic River.

Bobby Mangahas said...

Finding money tucked away in books is always a good thing, especially if you need gas money :)

Jake Nantz said...

Nope. I wonder if they could market something like the metal-detectors you see geriatrics using on the beach. Like a drug-sniffing dog that checks the used bookstacks for cash. Porbably would have as much chance of paying for itself as the metal-detectors, but it would at least be funny to see a dog on his hind legs, paws on the second shelf, barking wildly at an old used copy of CUJO.

Bobby Mangahas said...

Jake ---

I love the idea. Maybe you could create it, then hock it on your very own half-hour infomercial :)

Jake Nantz said...

Can't do it bud. Can't grow the beard that Billy Mays has, and we all know that's what really sells his crap.

Bobby Mangahas said...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Samantha said...

I found an old photo of my great grandparents in an old copy of REBECCA.

Bobby Mangahas said...

Sam ---

that's just cool. Both the fact you found that picture and that you have an old copy of that book.