Mr. Arrington gave me this book.....

Really?

Only msolga and I have been lucky enough to receive a book that was meaningful for years after the gift was given?

We must be the two luckiest girls on Earth. We should start a club or something.

Well me, as a teacher (and as a person ), I doubt he would have given you that book without a very good reason, boomer.

I think he was responding to something he perceived in you at that time which you were ready & very eager to know more about.

Whether this book hit "the spot", or not, of what you were wondering about at the time, this book has had some lasting resilience with you.

But mostly, I respect your teacher's caring of what you made of things as a person asking questions.
There are a lot of teachers who would steer clear of such territory for pretty obvious political/personal concerns.

He wanted to tell you more.

But back to your original question, boomerang:

Mostly I've found that book for myself, sometimes by sheer accident.
But when I've found that book, let me say I've devoured it!

Because I read pretty widely, I have usually suggested books to friends, when I think it applies to their particular circumstances.
"Wow, read this!" ... when I think it applies.

Most friends say "thank you".

I can't remember anyone giving me a book for a gift except for my father - and his gifts to me, from the time I was tiny, were ALWAYS books.

The first I can remember him giving to and reading with me was an illustrated version of Just So stories- you know- how the elephant got his trunk, etc. He also gave me a copy of The Jungle Book. I must have loved animals when I was a kid.
He brought it home from one of his business trips - he always got each of us a present when he went on a trip- my sisters might get a blouse or a necklace or something, my brothers a truck or something, but for some reason I always got a book from him. At first I used to think, 'Hey - I want a pretty necklace too,' but later, him always giving me a book made me feel that we were connected in a way that was important to him..
I think he enjoyed being able to pick out a book for someone moreso than always having to pick out necklaces.

He was a devout Christian and gave me a copy of The Bible the Christmas I was twelve - it's inscribed to me by him.
He gave me the entire set of Little House on the Prairie books when I was about seven.
He gave me an entire set of Pearl S. Buck's works - including a first edition of 'The Good Earth' inscribed to Will Rogers and signed by Pearl Buck that he found. I still have the box that he put them in with his handwriting saying, 'For Rebecca'.
That box means more to me than just about any other possession I own.

When my parents downsized into a smaller place, he didn't have room for all his books and put them up for grabs. My nephew and I were the only ones who were interested. I felt guilty taking them, but nobody else expressed interest in them, so he gave me his complete collection of the 'classics' he'd collected over the years - everything from Jane Austen's complete works (which I really don't dig that much) to Steinbeck's and Norman Mail(l)?er's(which I do).

My Dad loved to read - and he more than anyone else - more than any teacher I ever had - instilled the love or reading and books in me, pretty much from the moment I could listen and understand language.