Have you ever pondered the life of a used book? Whose hands it graced before falling into yours?
The other day, as I was about to begin one of the assigned poetry books for my English senior seminar, I noticed an inscription on its title page.
It’s a love note of sorts…
To mine sweetie,
who loves nature so much,
A love gift…
John
5-29-97
I couldn’t help but feel that I was intruding on a little secret between two lovers, a poignant love note that I had no right to read. It’s funny because I write that with the full knowledge that I am publicly sharing this note on my very public blog. At the same time, the book is in my hands. I own it now…and such a curiosity is worth sharing.
And I wonder–who is John? Who was his sweetie? In the space of eighteen years, how did this book that was given with so much thoughtfulness end up in my hands?
What is this book’s story?
It's a Britta Bottle! 
Maybe John and his sweetie are no longer together. The book just reminds her too much of John and it hurts beyond words to keep it in her possession. 🙂
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I thought of that, too. Not the happiest of endings, but I guess endings aren’t always happy.
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Love this concept. I thought the same thing when my friend bought her secondhand car. She found a card inside the glovebox which was from a dad to his daughter, very touching..,
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Hmm…that makes me wonder about the life of my car, which happens to be used. 🙂
It is a great concept, though. I will probably never know the story, but it’s interesting to think about and ponder, especially since I got this book from Amazon…John and his sweetie could have lived anywhere!
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Yes! It reminds me of that movie – Serendipity!
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Hmmm how intriguing! I bet they’re still together and he’ll write a poem for her for Valentine’s Day!!😍😍
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That would be so sweet. I can’t figure out why they gave the book away though, if they’re still together. If it were me, I’d want to keep such a nice gift from the person I love, even if I could care less about the book anymore. That’s just me, though. 🙂
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Maybe it got mistakenly sold at a garage sale by his mom or something! Lol!
Yes I would still keep it even if I weren’t together anymore !
Have a super start to yr day!
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I guess we’ll never know!
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That’s a great inquiry and wonderment is it not?
But apart from quenching our innate curiosity, what else could such a discovery, of who John and his sweetie might be, serve?
Rather, using that inscribed line to create a context for ourself that says, ‘ Nature and Love are intertwined’ could illuminate our reading of the book in new ways…..
Shakti
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Well, there really isn’t any purpose in such a discovery. I’m just a curious person and thought it was a curious thing to find in the book. I don’t necessarily believe everything we experience in life must have a purpose.
I read this book for a class and we did touch a bit on how nature and love are intertwined in our discussion.
Thank you for stopping by and for your comment.
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If cars could talk, imagine all the stories it could tell. Pretty awesome!
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It would be pretty awesome! Oh, the stories they would tell. Especially the earliest cars from the late 19th, early 20th century. 🙂
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I love this post so much! I know it’s not a recent post, but meh, I’ll tell you what happened. I’m sorry that the coment is late, first off. I’ve not been great with reading/commenting recently, and like, I kinda bookmarked it and I’ve had the tab open for like, ever, and finally I’ve got round to properly reading it again! I love the concept, you see! I always wonder about the “history” of a book; whose hands held this very copy in which sit in mine today?
And AWWW, this John! 😀
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Don’t worry about just getting around to reading it…I’m actually really quite flattered that you’ve had it open in a tab for this long! Life gets busy and we only have so much time to read all the blog posts we want to read.
I’m so glad you liked this post! It really is quite an interesting concept!
Yes, John was quite sweet to write that little note. 🙂
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