When a used book is purchased, often times there will be a name written in the front. At some point that individual and the book were separated, but how and why is an unknown that is not paid any attention.

But what if it were? Might there not be something to learn about authors’ abilities to influence their readers? Are their commonalities between the folks that would own such a book that would provide insight into the work’s significance?

Perhaps as an exercise in literary scholarship this effort would bear no fruit, but the potential for a great story is there nonetheless. Documenting the search for a past book owner might reveal a trail with unexpected twists and turns that would be entertaining enough to warrant the attempt. Imagine a knock on the door in the upper northwest at a home where an elderly woman is surprised to learn her book was bought and inspired a young writer in SoHo 60 years after her parents donated it to a book drive without her permission.

The possibilities are as limitless as the plots that fill the pages of the world’s libraries, and I believe the stories are potentially as intriguing as most plucked from imagination.