Treasures from the reject pile

Ed blogs at Powell's:

I confess that I didn't buy Tallahassee; I picked it out of the "reject pile" at the office where I used to work. Here editors would deposit old magazines, books, CDs, and less classifiable artifacts on a long, chest-high filing cabinet. There was a high junk quotient, and from time to time the clutter would be swept wholesale into the nearby trash bin. But there were frequently gems, and my bookcases and — well, all my CDs are kind of swimming around in this big wicker thing — are filled with these unexpectedly momentous treasures.