There is something about rain which makes me want to pick up a good book (well you wouldn't deliberately choose a bad one would you?) settle in a comfy chair, with a contented spaniel at my feet and a coffee by my side, and relax, or at least try to. I like books, I have far too many and not enough time to get through them all — one day though, especially as I get more than my fair share of wet weather in this part of the country.
I think this obsession of collecting/buying books stemmed from the time I lived in Edinburgh. Across from my flat was a library and they often had clearance sales. I never missed them. I quite happily queued on a Saturday morning and left with a 100 or more. Yes I know ridiculous.
As you will be aware there is a distinct style about most books — the majority will have the name of the author, then the title, maybe a brief paragraph giving the gist of the story on the back page, the year of publication and the name of the publisher.
One day I happened to notice that a couple of antiquarian publications had the abbreviation WAF at the end of a brief synopsis. I discovered that the letters stand for: 'with all faults.' When you see this you'll know that the dealer is warning you that the book is imperfect. It will have faults. Perhaps some pages are missing or its suffered significant damage. Basically the dealer, has discovered some faults, but there may be some more. If you really want the book you have to accept it as it is.
I have never met anyone who has been faultless — like the books, we could all carry the label, WAF — that's just human nature. However some people have their faults highlighted by others, sometimes they do it themselves.
I came across the phrase — look past the body and see the soul — it's the thing which makes you beautiful. If we did that wouldn't the world be a nicer place? I can only agree.