Read my book

I got a phone call today from a former student, someone who graduated two years ago. He was a good student, and I liked him, though I never felt we'd made any special type of bond. I was at the high school during his junior and senior years. He asked me if I'd read something he'd written. I said sure. I get requests like this periodically, from current and former students, wanting me to look over their work to make sure things make sense, grammatically and otherwise -- papers for other classes, applications for college, essays for scholarships, stuff like that.

This student said he'd written a book. He wasn't concerned with me checking the grammar, he just wanted me to read it and see what I thought. He dropped it by this afternoon, 180 single-spaced pages in a loose leaf binder. I'm anxious to look and it and wish I'd had it a few weeks ago, when I feel I could've given it more attention.