Messages in Books

I often buy used books, especially if there are some mementos left in them. I like bookmarks, receipts, memos. I like things written on the back-inside covers or maybe just one note in the margin on page 192. I don't like underlining and highlighting; it sounds like someone desperately trying to connect with the book, grappling with the neck of it, and I can't read with all that noise.

I like leaving my own mementos in books as well. I rarely write in them, but I leave bookmarks, receipts, memos, sometimes Polaroids or prints. If I ever sell a book, I hope that it will keep that memento like a secret until the right person finds it. If I lend you a book, it might very well have a bookmark that I insist you keep with it.

But today, as I lazily avoid working on my paper for class, I skimmed the spines of the books to my right and saw something I didn't ever recall: a heart sticker on the spine of my copy of Jeanette Winterson's Written on the Body.

And on the inside, opposite of the backmost cover, I found a note:


"Stamp redeemable for all positive feelings of receiving a 1.5 carat 'Bad Ted Special' diamond ring."

It's not my handwriting. The humor and the all-caps reminds me of an ex-girlfriend, but we were never even close to such a thing. Furthermore, it's not appropriate. Written on the Body is as sexy as its title, but, given the way the book ends, the reader would in not be in a joyous mood to be surprised by such a token.

But questions persist. Why did I never see these things before? I know I read this book to the end... maybe not this copy? Was someone proposed to through this book? And was the stamp unnecessary? Can I still redeem it? And where?