Hit 200 books from library sales this year and it changed how I see used books

I hit my 200th book from library sales last week and it honestly surprised me how many hidden gems I found. Most of them were under a dollar each with some real classics buried in old boxes. My top find was a 1960s travel guide to small towns in Ohio with hand written notes from some guy named Frank. It made me realize that these books have whole lives before they end up on the shelf. Has anyone else kept a count of their finds and noticed a pattern in what shows up?

2 comments

2 Comments

dylan_stone337d ago

Dude my friend once found a whole 70s love letter stash in a copy of Moby Dick

dylanbell4d ago

And that's the thing, right? Like @dylan_stone33 found those love letters in Moby Dick, it's almost like these books are time capsules for whoever picks them up next. I've noticed a pattern where the really beat-up paperbacks from the 70s and 80s always seem to have something tucked inside, like a bookmark or a grocery list. It got me thinking about how we all leave little traces of ourselves behind, whether we mean to or not. You start a book, put it down, and years later some stranger is reading your scribbles in the margin. That travel guide from Frank is probably the coolest thing I've heard of this whole thread.