Have you ever found a personal note in a book at a used-bookstore?

[JanMichael]

Ever wonder what the story is behind it being there? Was it left on purpose or by mistake?

EDIT: I should have added theis...The one I found was finished and it was apparently the start of a reltionship between two married individuals.

[Wickerman]

1. Many

A large majority seem to be writen on planes and never finished, just like the book. Never found anything real juicy though, just news - might be why they never got finished.

[JanMichael]

9. The one I found was finished and it was apparently the start

of a reltionship between two married individuals.

[salin]

16. share...

sounds interesting...

more fun to speculate and spread rumours about people who are anonymous that we don't know than about real people. Well, unless said real person is the Mayor of Spokane...

[JanMichael]

27. "Hi Rick"

"I really enjoyed spending getting to know you Friday-will have to do it again soon.

After our conversation about our respective spouses, I thought of a book that you may want to read. It's called, "A Louse in House" by Jean Gattuso-I really liked her perspective on relationships. On a personal level, it gave me hope that what I want in a life partner is realistic and attainable. It's got a spiritual bent to it which may or may not appeal to you, and that's my two cents worth on the matter. :)"

This is Stephanie, btw, and I typed the note exactly as it was written, by hand, in pencil on a folded up piece of printer paper--including the "happy face."

[salin]

30. lol

bet she never expected that to be aired in public. "Conversation"...book - Louse in the House (aka 'Can See Why You are not Into Your Spouse )... - wonder if it had started - or if this was part of the prelude.

Something about grown women drawing happy faces on notes...sorta makes them appear to have arrested development per age 15.

[Deja Q]

2. Well, as I read through various 'sex for dummies' books...

:evilgrin:

[Lars39]

3. My favorite was a note urging battered women to seek help.

[AlienGirl]

4. I like leaving weird notes in books

Sometimes I'll write a letter from one of the characters to another, leave it half-finished, and stick it in a book, then sell the book to the used-book store. I like imagining the buyer reading it and wondering who would do something like that? Or I'll write something just unbelievably weird in a note and leave that (usually in science-fiction books).

Tucker

[benburch]

5. Oh yes!

And newspaper clippings, and photographs.

And of course many books given as gifts have a message from the gift-giver written on the flyleaf.

[LoZoccolo]

6. Check this site out.

http://www.foundmagazine.com

[progmom]

8. yes - you beat me to it

amazing site.

[gollygee]

26. I was supposed to be getting laundry done today!

And now I'm trapped at my computer reading old anonymous notes!

[sam sarrha]

7. i found a cell phone, had text message "Bill come over and suck my dick

tonight"... it was on the ATM at the bank... ihanded it in...:rofl:

[tmooses]

10. I spend lots of time in bookstores and have several notes--

I find them alternately haunting,cryptic,touching and somehow indicative of time passing. I often wonder how the person who the note was addressed to reacted to the message and how it ended up in my hands.

[skygazer]

11. I found a photo in a book at the library

The amazing thing is that it was a photo I took. It was a pic of one of my friends and her husband at a wedding. I went to the library and found an interesting looking book so I checked it out and brought it home. There, I discovered the picture.

I must have taken the book out previously (I had a vague memory of it as soon as I saw the pic) and had tucked the photo inside because I was going to give it to my friend (which I obviously forgot to do). That had been at least a year before but the darn thing was still in there!

It was a really fun thing to find.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

12. Borrowed a copy

of Alan Watt's "Wisdom of Insecurity" from a friend, who'd gotten it in a used bookstore. Had notes in the flyleaf to someone's dope connection in Negril.

[Mojambo]

13. I worked as a buyer at a used bookstore

And used to find the best stuff.

One time this guy brought in a stack of books and as I was leafing through them checking condition I found a photograph... The guy had taken a picture of his own naked ass. You could actually see his head between his legs!

I had quite a chuckle when he came back for his offer and I presented the photograph to him.

[salin]

17. rotfl

that is hilarious!

[Placebo]

20. I can't believe you gave him the photo back!

It would have gone straaaaaaaaaight into my back pocket...well...unless he was a hideous troll. O8)

[Mojambo]

25. Management was pretty strict about returning personal posessions

Plus the look on his face will stay with me forever.

[valis]

14. Yup, I found the secret to time travel. That was in 2025. Now I'm stuck.

:P

[Reverend_Smitty]

15. They were giving away books at my high school library...

the librarian put out a stack of books that no one had checked out in over 10 years so I was sifting through the pile and came across a craft book from the 70's. How to make crafts from stockings, I took it because it was so dated and my friends and I would get a laugh out of it.

We were flipping through the pages during my music class and came across a note from 1973 and it was typical high school girl writings, you know the "I heart Johnny" and a lot of drug references (being 1973) but the funniest thing about it was our music teacher (who graduated from our school years before) actually knew one of the people mentioned on the paper. Small world eh?

[Book Lover]

18. Yep, and left a few as well

Do you know about www.bookcrossings.com?

[cleofus1]

19. i had some very close freinds once

maybe 20 years ago and they left a note for me in my book the little prince...i didn't find it till years later...almost made me cry...i don't know where they are...so many years and so many people...

[Left Is Write]

21. Oh, yes.

Inscriptions, notes in margins, scraps of paper evidently used as bookmarks, and my favorite: handwritten notes in cookbooks.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

22. Not exactly but this was spooky

Several years ago, I went to a store called Upstart Crow to get a cappucino and read.

On the shelf was a paperback version of GB Shaw's Man and Superman. Since it had been a while since I read it, I took it off the shelf and began reading.

A slip of paper fell from inside the sleeve. It was an order form filled out exactly one year to the date prior to the day I was reading it.

The order form was filled out by a good friend of mine, by the name of Nick Cornwell who I had not seen in about 2 years.

I was so struck by the coincidence that I called Nick that evening and went to visit him the next day. We rekindled our relationship and had dinner. We talked about the past but not the future.

One month later he was dead.

I SWEAR this is a true story. I still have the book and order form along with various "Nick" memorabilia..the guy was a local artist and an all around renaissance man.

[salin]

23. Wow.. very spooky

that sorta energy... meant to be (the reconnect) spooky.

[last_texas_dem]

24. Yes, and I find that stuff very interesting

I've found a few interesting messages in books: mostly "So-and-so loves so-and-so"'s and occasionally some interesting observations in the margins- especially of college books. Occasionally an interesting sixties- or seventies-era photograph; those are always my favorites. Old addresses of old bookstores or the addresses of books' former owners are interesting to find, too.

On a semi-related note, I got very sad the other day when I was digging through some books from my childhood. I read a note in the front of one of them that said, "Read by your best friend, Jordan." He had written this when we were in second grade together and were good friends. We stopped being close friends over the years, but were always on good terms, and then a couple of years ago he died from an overdose. It was just really sad seeing his name there.

[tanyev]

28. I like to put notes in any Tim LaHaye book

informing the reader of Mr. LaHaye's ties to Rev. Moon.

[Jean Louise Finch]

29. Not me, but my brother

He was at the library up in Hanover, NH, and was, for unknown reasons, having an investigation into the whole Scientology thing. So he went to find "Dianetics". He was flipping through it, and this note fell out reading to the effect of "Put this book back where you found it, Scientology ruined my life and if you give it the chance, it'll ruin yours." My brother put it back quietly and slowly backed away.

Yikes. Honestly, that scared the bujesus out of me from afar.

[RumpusCat]

31. I found a pact with Satan once (no kidding!)

At a used book store I was browsing the occult section and picked up a LeVay book. Inside I found two pages out of a Daily Horoscope desk calender, and on the back of one someone had drawn a pentagram and on the other they had written a note that went like: "On this day ___ I pledge my soul to Satan. If I break this pact I will suffer horrably. In excange for financial gain and sucess. Signed ______."

Misspellings and all. Whoever wrote it never filled in the date and signed it, tho'. Chicken! I still have that note somewhere--how could I part with such a random thing?

[Kathy in Cambridge]

32. I found a note in an old Julia Child cookbook from the '60s

written by a mother to her daughter. it was really sweet. it was written on Bllomingdales stationary from Stamford, CT. The handwriting and diction was really old-fashioned.