Inspiring Books from Amsterdam's Spui Boekenmarkt

Today, as my students began to write in their marbled composition books, I wore my book earrings. I think I plucked one from my ear about 30 times today to give someone a closer look.

"Are there real pages in those books?"

"Can you really write in them?"

My reply? "I could write, but I'm worried that I'll ruin them. I don't think I can write both small enough and neatly enough. I write in bigger notebooks."

I bought these books earrings in Amsterdam in the summer of 2008 when we wandered through the Spui book market, a lane of shelves and boxes and tables of books under canvas tents-- A glorious wander for a book lover. Since I didn't want to load my luggage with weight, this tiny pair of books made the perfect souvenir of my wander through Amsterdam.

This pair may well be my very favorite: real marbled paper covers; blank pages calling for words and images to fill them; I'd like to think they were made by a local craftsperson, but I imagine that's a fantasy. I looked online and found many pairs of handmade book earrings. But I've never seen others as perfect as this pair I bought in Amsterdam.