Showerthought: The $6 thrift store copy of A Little Life hit harder than any fancy hardcover I ever bought

I was at a Goodwill in Wichita last Saturday, just browsing after my car got an oil change. Saw this beat up paperback with a bent spine and coffee stains on the cover. Paid six bucks cash. Took it home and finished it in three nights. I've read sad books before but something about how worn that copy was, like someone else had cried over the same pages, just wrecked me. I'm still thinking about it a week later. Has anyone else had a random cheap find completely floor them like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

hugo64512d ago

Got a buddy named Dave who found a copy of "The Road" at a library sale for fifty cents. Cover was falling off, someone had dog-eared half the pages. He said he started reading it in his car, just to kill time before picking up his kid from soccer practice. Ended up sitting in the parking lot for two hours sobbing with the engine running. Told me later that the worn pages and the scribbled notes in the margins made it feel like he was reading alongside someone who had been through it too. He still keeps that copy in his glovebox, won't throw it out.

faith_price712d ago

Totally feel that @hugo645, it's like the book chose him as much as he chose it.