Inspiration: supposed to have read

I don't know about you, but even as a bookish teenager there was a certain point where my interest in "social behaviors" took precedence over whatever was being assigned for homework.

I'm admitting it - I may have missed a few assigned texts. Also, I think it's safe to say I may have missed the boat on some that I did actually read. So with this prompt, let's revisit those lists of books that SOMEBODY says EVERYBODY should have read.

If you look up a modern list of books high school grads should read, it's going to be very different from whenever it was you graduated. Today's lists are much more diverse, with better representation from countries besides the US, authors who aren't white men, and storytellers who may actually be teens themselves. These books haven't bumped other so-called classics off the list - they've merely made the lists longer and more interesting.

So go ahead and read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain if you want. But also, consider things like All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brandon Kiely and The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton.

• Here's a list of 10 that are still valuable from PBS.
• A pretty typical old-school list of 10 from Reader's Digest.
• Everybody loves a clickable checklist, right? (I got a pathetic 12 of 40)
• And from Arrowhead Library System in Wisconsin, here's a solid list of 100 recommended for those bound for college.

What are you most embarassed to have never read? 

I'll confess - I intentionally skipped all the "girlie" books: Rebecca, Little Women, the Austens, the Brontes.