> I once read an article by a retired librarian who told about all the things that were found in returned library books. She mentioned money, tree leaves, cigarette butts, gum wrappers, handkerchiefs, bottle caps, draft cards, credit cards, business cards (including the business card of a belly dancer), a parking ticket, wire, a chop stick, popcicle sticks, string, leather, keys, and at least one razor blade.
>
> She also told about some more or less personal messages such as love letters and poems. Some of it may have been used as a book mark. But she seemed to think that people sometimes used books as storage space.
>

My favorite is when you find the printout of all the books that that person took out at the time. If you liked the book you found it in, you can usually use it as suggestions for further reading. But the best are when they took out a ton of books with really diverse styles and topics. Then you get to try and figure out if and how all their interests go together and what they must be like. Mine are often like that, 'cause I usually wander when picking my books.

Maz"Jane Austen, Terry Brooks and Northrop Frye? She's going to get mental indigestion!"er31