‘‘The Library of Bookmarks and Worn Soles’ consists entirely of items donated in pairs: one book, marked and unfinished, and one pair of shoes, worn at least a year. These are displayed together, the bookmark glued in and the soles of the shoes turned outward. Some say ‘The Library’ is a shrine to unfinished business but this author believes it is a testament to lives lived right up until their ends.’
It smells, ‘The Library of Bookmarks and Worn Soles.’ The smell of the books isn’t enough to cover the smell of the shoes which, admittedly adds to the realism of the exhibit but practically reminds me that some of these were the shoes people died in. They stink and they distract me from the books which are sad in their own way. I recognize a number of books with stellar endings sitting unfinished at the halfway point.
More than one section of the museum includes bookmarks placed in books for children, accompanied by the shoes of their parents. I wonder if it’s better to have gotten halfway through Paddington with your kid than never having started it in the first place and I’m interrupted in this thought by the smell, again. I wonder if waterproof shoes collect the blood of their owners during violent deaths. I wonder if that’s the smell.
-traveler
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