I’m not surprised at the universal appeal of Three Men in a Boat. It’s probably the funniest thing ever written, and the description of trying to open the can of pineapple without a can opener is, in context, one of the most hysterical bits of silliness in English literature.

The breadth of his taste is probably disappointing to those who wish he had torn up his library card and proclaimed “These books are irrelevant to me as a black student.” It must also disappoint those who assume that the appeal of great books is always universal.

As a 19 and 20-year-old student, some of the great books appealed to me, others did not. I thought the goal of a liberal arts education (to whatever extent such a thing even exists these days) was to teach me to appreciate the canon and correct its lack of appeal where the appeal in me was lacking so that I could properly contemplate this canon.