So I started thinking.....

So here I am. A lover of, an addict of, a collector of... all things books. Fueling this habit for the past five years now, I have come to realize that, as of late, my compulsion has become two-fold.
I have loved books for longer then I can remember but only recently have I obessively begun to collect them....413 to date. Which averages out to about one "new to me" book every four days.

I collect all types.... meaning any subject that happens to beguile me that day. So my collection is quite eclectic. New books. Old books. Big books. Small books. And my most favorite...used books.

I say used books - in part, because they are cheaper than new books but also because they are two-for-oners. They not only tell the story writen on their pages but then they also TELL the STORY WRITTEN of their pages. Through inscriptions, through notes, through little drawings and diagrams, through makeshift bookmarks of castaway paper... used books offer a behind the scenes look into the lives of the readers who owned them.

It's these personal glimpses that have fascinated me for some time now. And upon discovering this more personal side of a book's character, I clearly realized that books serve many purposes for many people:

There are of course the traditional purposes:
1. They entertain.
2. They educate.
3. They inspire.
4. They help you escape. (Mentally, that is. Not literally. Although I am sure there is some great story out there in the world where one book actually aided/abbetted a real life escapee. If you have heard of such a story - please email me.)

Then there are the not so traditional purposes:
1. They act as file folders. For paper products. For used tickets, shopping receipts, love letters, pictures, prayer cards, maps, semi-important documents, money (more on that one later).
2. They act as paper towels. For life's little messes. For spilled coffee, melted chocolate, greasy fingers, rain storms, make-up smudges, bathtub accidents, chocolate ice cream, fingernail polish, the list goes on and on....
3. They act as chew toys. For teething children, spirited pets, out of control vacuum cleaners, hungry garbage disposals and furry basement creatures with long tails.
4. They act as building blocks. For space laden interior designers. For new, overwhelmed homeowners. For imaginative children. For strict school teachers. For working professionals with too much shelf space.
5. They act as notepads and scratch paper. For crayon drawings, for mathmatical figures, for telephone numbers for absent-minded doodling, for self validation, for to do lists, for unanticiapted reminders, for website addresses and for want to read book lists.
6. Further more...they act as weapons. In my case... for annoying eight year old sisters.

Clearly books are a help-mate for all of us in wonderfully unexpected ways. They make us laugh, they make us cry, they make us furrow our brows in puzzlement and arch them in awe. Most importantly they act as a tool for individuality.

Simply put, I am just enthralled by the things I have unexpectedly found in books over these past few years and I am equally enthralled by the person (or persons) behind each book. Who are these people that give books and read books and use books? How and why did their personal markings end up in the publics hands? And what do their personal little left-behinds tell us? About readers? About society? About ourselves?

Welcome to...the people that gives books.
Thoughts & comments encouraged!