Old Books by Joyce Lavene

There's nothing like cracking open a new book that you've waited for by an author you love. I like to buy books and hurry home to sit and read in a quiet corner somewhere.

But I also love old books. They have a romance and flavor to them that is very attractive. They have been well worn and loved, in any cases. And I'm always eager to see what's inside - not just the words either.

I've found shopping lists in old books. Probably used as a book mark and forgotten. I found a love letter once that was started but never finished. The words haunted me for months, wondering who Rosa was and if her friend ever got up the courage to tell her he loved her.

I've found parking tickets, report cards, memos about going to the vet or the eye doctor. These sneak peeks into other people's lives, people I will probably never meet, are always interesting.

I know some people believe it is wrong to sell these old books - after all, we don't get royalties more than once. But I would have missed so much by not reading them that I hate to think I'll never see another.

The last book I bought, Roses Love Garlic by Louise Riotte, had a pressed rose in it. It is a story in itself. I'll probably wonder about how and when it got there (and make stories up about it) for a long time to come.

Joyce Lavene
A Timely Vision
from Berkley - May 4