The mysteries of book ownership.

The article presents an adapted version of author Margaret Mahy's speech given at the 1994 American Booksellers Association conference, which focuses on the reader as a book buyer. According to Mahy, a book begins in a writer's mind, but as it moves toward completion in the hand and the mind of the reader, it externalizes and becomes a capitalist venture on the part of the publisher and finally the bookseller. The article discusses the power of books to confer status.