237. This Book Belongs To

Nora loves to go thrifting, and one of her favorite things to hunt for at the thrift store is books. Today she reads the inscription from an old book, a note from a dad to his daughter. 

Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.

I am a collector of books. 

Not first editions, not a particular author or genre. Just books in general. I am happy with the hunt of walking into a second hand store, wandering the stacks, and seeing what jumps out at me.

I say second hand because I like a book that has been somewhere. I like a book that has been someone’s.

People’s book collections tell us so much. About who they are, who they want to be seen as, who they want to be. And the books they discard tell us something, too.

I have several old cookbooks, like Campbell’s COOKING WITH SOUP from 1968, or The Weight Watchers Cookbook from the same year, with underlines and stars on favorite recipes like…tomato soup…cake? Okay!

A book called Can I help how i feel? Used to be a part of the New Carlisle Junior High LIbrary, and was last checked out in February 1986. Someone – i don’t know who – underlined huge parts of the chapter on anger.

And then there is a book I found at Goodwill one night, which I picked up just knowing there would be something in it: