Academic novels came up in Literary Criticism today. I brought up the fact that I have tried to read Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis... tried very hard... based on two very heartfelt recommendations. One of them was from a professor in the book that I got in high school that basically consisted of a bunch of lists of all these books that professors from a variety of colleges recommended. The other was from Hugh Grant.

I wanted to know what my professor's thoughts on Lucky Jim were; if he could persuade me to read it. I sort of wanted to like Kingsley Amis, even though I've only ever liked him in moments. (But when I like him, I really like him! Gah! So conflicted!)

My professor's response? "That does not speak well of Hugh Grant."

Then...
"Kingsley Amis, pssh... Lucky Jim is not that great of a book."

I FEEL SO VALIDATED. I LOVE THIS CLASS. And then we talked about Nietzsche!

But I have to say--I love all of my classes this semester. It's a good year.