My Never Ending List

I loved the concept of this book.  A scrapbook of the interesting finds that Michael came across while working as the manager in his family’s book selling business.  Taking my magnifying glass, I loved looking at all the details in the photographs that were contained inside this book.  The still smoldering photos of Mount Pelee that covered two pages captivated me with its devastation and bleakness. Simple text scratched on the back of each photo relaying the feelings at the moment. Found inside the book Dead Souls is a picture of a gentleman that fascinated me. It reflected a man who had lived a rough life, had a hard story to tell and here he was, just waiting to tell it.  The titles of the books in which Michael found his valuables in were entertaining also. You have the classics but you also had some that my eyes had never seen.  These books were treasures to me.  Some of these titles brought laughs and their pictures were under the glare of my lens.  The letter a son wrote to his mother outlining his expenses and explaining why he needed additional funds to survive caught my eye. His attention to detail and his ability to plead in such a constructed mature way was fascinating, “Remember Mother you may never see me again.” “Please address every thing to the Armory.” (found inside The Standard American Speaker and Entertainer).  I loved the bookmarks that Michael found and the cards that people used as bookmarkers, those are the things that are truly a piece of history. It’s sad to think that individuals lost so many pictures by leaving them in books where they landed in the hands of someone who stares at them and knows nothing of the story of the person behind those eyes.  I think this would make an excellent coffee table book with a magnify glass set on top, so readers can truly enjoy the finer details of what is inside this creation. I do wish that there would have been more historical artifacts that we as readers could relate to. Bookmarks, receipts, photos of events, postcards, and letters talking about world events, as these are the items I was drawn to and I wanted more, much more.