A Reading Challenge

I will be the first to admit that I haven't read a lot of classical/canonical literature. I much prefer genre fiction to the kind of literature on reading lists or taught in college classes1, and in college I became a pro at reading just enough to B.S. my way through discussions or quizzes (don't be like me). When someone told me "you should read this", I often had the reaction of "well now I don't want to", even if it was a book I had been thinking about or already had on my shelf. But two things have sort of coincided to create the perfect storm of me wanting to read more of what I've missed. First, I found a woman online who writes and talks about literature in such a positive and enthusiastic way that she convinced me of the worth of a lot of books that I had previously dismissed as pretentious or unworthy of my attention (which sounds pretentious itself). And second, my Youtube algorithm brought up a reading challenge video that really activated my competitive side. The challenge…