A book in hand

I’m rarely seen around the school without a book in my hand. Whether I am on my way to hall supervision, or simply to check my mailbox, I always first grab my Stratford Festival coffee cup and whichever book is my current START-read. The students notice almost as much as my colleagues. And they comment.

• Last autumn, when I was reading Brian Mulroney‘s Memoirs, students often asked what big book I was carrying. The follow-up question (inevitably in a crowd of 14-18 year olds) was always, “Is he any relation to Ben Mulroney?”
• Just after the New Year, with Conrad Black‘s biography of FDR in my hands, students frequently commented on the cover photo: “He looks like some American president or something.”
• For the last two weeks, I’ve been carrying around Richard Gwyn‘s new biography of Sir John A. Macdonald. Yesterday, a Grade 11 student approached with her own copy of the same. An excellent conversation ensued on John A.’s political & personal life, and big-tent politics and the use of patronage.

Am I egotistical enough to think that she picked up the book simply because I was reading it? Of course not. (This particular student has read at least as many political biographies as I have.) But I certainly don’t think my book-as-constant-companion has done any harm. (I like to take some credit for the new interest in Ayn Rand in the hallways of our school.)

I want to demonstrate the importance of reading for pleasure. Reading anything that one finds interesting.

The written word remains. And it follows me wherever I go.