Bookmarks.

Do you ever find things in books that you'd forgotten about? I do. All the time. I find bits of paper, old check stubs, pressed flowers, lengths of ribbon, etc. And sometimes I find something more conventional: actual bookmarks. I buy a nice bookmark from time to time--you know the nice ones you see at Barnes & Noble sometimes, with cool artwork on them, covered in a plastic sleeve. Today I found just such a bookmark in my copy of Robert Wrigley's "Reign of Snakes."  The bookmark bears Mike Caplanis's artistic rendering of Earnest Hemingway and a brief bio of this renowned author is written on the back of it.

I'll admit, I need to read more of Hemingway. I've read a number of his short stories, but to my shame I've not read any of his novels. Sometimes something as cheesy as the blurb on the back of a bookmark from Barnes & Noble can inspire you to read something you've never read before. Here's what inspired me (from the bookmark bio):

"Hemingway was recognized at an early age for his unique literary voice and his terse style. In Our Time, a book of short stories about youth in Illinois and his experience in World War I, established his reputation with critics. The Sun Also Rises, his depiction of "The Lost Generation," became a bestseller.But early in his 50's, Hemingway was in decline. A lifetime of adventure had left him with numerous injuries. He was overweight and drinking heavily.His writing had declined as well.Then, in 1950, in an amazing eight weeks, he penned his last book, based on a story he'd heard about an old Cuban fisherman who fought a swordfish for four days and four nights, only to have it eaten by sharks on the way home. He called The Old Man and the Sea 'an epiloque to all my writing and what I learned...while writing and trying to live.'It was a triumph. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1952 and helped bring him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954."