Christmas Reading

Greetings to my blog readers. I hope that whoever you are and wherever you are, you are getting along well.

Before Christmas break, I took one of my fourth year classes to the library to give them books to read over break. I scanned up and down the shelves looking for books that I loved reading, and when I found one, I would pull it out and survey the room to find the student who would like it the most. I had given out a book to almost every student and then I saw Denis without a book and picked up T.S. Eliot's "Murder in the Cathedral." I picked this book for Denis because we have had conversations about books and what we like and I knew he would like this book. So I gave the book to Denis.

He looked at it and said, "Professor, it's poetry. I hate poetry. I want a novel. I don't want poetry."

I smiled and said, "Oh you'll like it. It's the story of the murder of Thomas Becket."

Apparently this didn't help much. He was adamant in his refusal to change his mind. The next days before break, he kept saying, "Professor, find me another book. Please, I don't want to read poetry." I told him he was out of luck because the library was closed.

So, today, I receive a paper titled "MITC" on my desk at the beginning of his class. I thought, "What is MITC?" I figured he wouldn't read the book, so I forgot about it. Then I realized it was "Murder in the Cathedral?"

I asked him what he thought of it. He said it was amazing. He spoke for a moment or two about how great he thought the book was. I just stood there and smiled at my victory.

This experience has served as another reminder that people sometimes have good advice. Let me emphasize sometimes.