s there an echo in here?

No, actually, this blog is about… dog earring.

Just noticed it today – I’m reading an adventure yard from Douglas Preston, Tyrannosaur Canyon. The thing is, if you open the cover, you’ll see the Maya Books and Music pencil notification in the front – yeah, I bought it used, $3.50. I love Maya’s, a groovy little bookshop in Sanford, and will generally pick up a couple of covers just to help support them. So this thing is a foster book.

Tonight, I was sitting on the back porch with a glass of wine, getting ready to read it. Then I noticed a curious thing. There were gaps in the book when viewed edge-on. A moment later I realized it was dog-eared. Starting from the front of the book, someone dog eared corners every 20-30 pages, which is about an average reading session for an average reader. Footprints in the snow, the carne of rocks, an old campfire. Someone’s come this way before.

Now, I’m not about to expect that I’m getting a virgin book from a used book store. Of course most of them have been read. And I’ve mentioned finding other things in books – library checkout lists, old bookmarks, a scrap of newsprint, even a long stand of blonde hair. These things interest me – they are the details of reading.

However, there is one ominous feature at work here. The dog ears stop about a third of the way in.

So what’s that say about the book? Looks like someone started, didn’t like it and sold it to book slavers. I don’t know if the story is going to go crazy on me – anyone who reads knows that feeling when a book goes south (the Gunslinger series being one good example of this). So is something going to happen that will put me off the book? Since I invest time in these things (every book, I try to review), am I going to find myself slogging through a terrible story?

Of course, I can’t say that with any confidence. Maybe the story is fine (it’s fun so far). Maybe it wasn’t to the reader’s taste. Maybe they died while reading it (and into the estate sale it went). Maybe they fell in love, joined a commune, or raptured to heaven. Who can say. All I know is that their trail goes cold about 100 pages in.

So now I’m curious. I’ll report back on my coming review what I find.

Unless I never get out alive.

Hmmmm….

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