paris dice

Folded corners

I love reading a borrowed book and coming to a softened corner. Was this a favorite page? A stopping place? I wonder about what was special on that page to a previous reader, mostly because we all mark our places but we may have different reasons.

I have bookmarks in my library books and personal books whenever I’m reading. Most of the time it’s a magazine insert because they’re abundant in my apartment and they serve no real function otherwise. But other times I use whatever is within my reach. One of my favorite books, Tinkers, is full of bobby pins and underlining and stars. Luckily, I own it so I can do as I please, but there were too many pages and passages and sentences to mark, and the book was small, so, bobby pins. 

Which leads me to wonder about those readers before me who have marked these books, either on purpose or happenstance. Their folded corners aren’t concrete margin notes, they leave a little to my imagination. Did we love the same thing? Did we feel the same way? What stirred them to fold the corner? Did they need a break or did they hate what just happened?

I can’t mark pages in library books because I’m a square, so I’ve taken to using a small Moleskine to document my affections within them. My notes are small and many, and only have meaning to me, however I smile each time I write one, curious about what I might share with the compass of folded corners.