Progymnasmata

Just a note:

A friend and former student of mine told me this story today. . . .

In high school, he and three other friends were concurrently reading this Robert Jordan fantasy novel over their study hall hours. They had study hall at different hours of the day, so they would leave the book for the next person of their group to read. And because everyone read at a different pace, there were four different book marks in the book as it went from reader to reader throughout the day.

I loved this anecdote: the vision of the same pages being read by different people in the same day, of a book as a shared territory with all those bookmarks sticking out (I'm always rather possessive and selfish about books, I'm ashamed to say). . . .I couldn't help but think about this trick of a some high school boys is about as close to the ultimate reading/book group as there ever was.

I wanted to ask if they were competitive, possessive, or anxious about the book or their places in the book, but I didn't. The story was just fine as it was.