The life of books

I prefer books so much more when they've been thoroughly read, with creases and folds and wrinkles. When pages that have been opened more than once have deeper grooves, where the cover is battered from being brought around rivers and mountains and squeezed into bags on top of airplanes. There are stories of the books themselves - where they have been, where it was that they were first read or when it was that the reader opened its many pages, and at what background has it been featured. Was this book read in a Parisian cafe? In a crowded Tokyo tube station? Were some of the quotes memorised during a heartbreak or a revolution?

I admire people who love to keep their books in pristine condition - fresh out of the book store, almost new, lovingly cared for and handled. But I much prefer the tomes with notes in the margins, and sentences highlighted, letting a viewer know that yes, it exists, it's been read and examined, with fingerprints and stains on its surfaces, all showing that it had lived vicariously through its owner.