Living Bookmark

As of April this year, I've been trying to get back into reading. I joined two bookclubs and have been trying to create third spaces out and about to force myself to carve out time for reading.

On Fourth of July, I was walking around town and saw this woman sitting on a restaurant patio reading and I decided to strike up a conversation. One thing led to another and she recommended "The Book" for her and it was Ron Currie's Everything Matters.

I read the book and loved it. I felt sad that I didn't know anything about this person or even where I specifically talked to her but I had this great book that she led me to.

This got me thinking of a way to archive these random moments with strangers. Not just by writing down names but by getting something more personal and meaningful.

I bought a pack of single-sided oil painting bookmarks and got this idea. Anytime I engage with someone about books and the topic of recommendations come up, I will ask them if they want to participate in something. If they say yes, I will hand them a stack of these bookmarks, they pick the vibe, and then they write (so it's in their handwriting, an important part of the "living" part):

1) Name of book and author
2) Their name (Last is optional but preferred)
3) Date
4) Location we met

Then I buy the book and keep that bookmark with it forever. It's "their book." My goal is to collect these and have some "living memory" associated with that book.

So far, Ive collected dozens of these from random interactions as I pursue this new journey. Ive read a decent amount and it has been fruitful so far.

Everyone seems to love this idea when I talk about it so I wanted to spread it even further. It's a great way to get out of reading bubbles and get a curated list of important books to people.

Have fun!