Between the Covers

I've got a huge collection (around 120) of Reader's Digest Condensed Books. Most of them were picked up at old library stock clearances, flea markets and garage sales - few of them cost me more than 2 bucks a book. They're my "bath books". Every night I take a long, hot bath and read for an hour or so. I've perfected the art of turning a page and refilling the hot water when it gets a bit chilly.

I'm fascinated by what's between the covers of these old books - and not just the stories. Last night a folded piece of paper dropped out as I turned the page. All it had on it was "15 Feb Spit Braai" and two verses, Habakkuk 3:10 & Zephaniah 3:17. I wonder who put it there? I wonder what these verses meant to them, and if the spit braai (barbecue) was with family or friends, if it was a time to remember? This same book has "Sorrell" written in pencil along the "spine" of the page edges - wonder what that's all about?

In another volume I found a bookmark, a souvenir of a trip to one of the big British cathedrals. Often there are names scribbled in the front, or cryptic numbers and letters.

With my overactive imagination, I find myself wondering what the story behind these books is. Who owned them? Did they read and re-read them as I do? Were they treasured, or seen as just another pile of papers? And what of the person who read them - what stories would they tell? Would their stories be even more fascinating than the ones printed on the page?