Cuz I did. When I was young, I was smart. I taught myself to read by age 3. By Kindergarten, when everyone else was learning the alphabet, I was reading The Bobbsey Twins (shout out to my friend Nan!). But then, reading only series caught up with me. I graduated to Trixie Belden (old school) and Little House and Babysitters’ Club and Sweet Valley Twins. I never read anything good. Nothing enriching.
Then in high school I read Emma by Jane Austen. And I realized I hadn’t missed out on much. Now, I’m not trying to offend all you JA lovers out there, but really, her books could be summarized as done here. I encourage you to go and read all these classics. It will take you about half an hour, and you should be able to carry on in-depth conversations about them (no) or at least answer elementary-level questions (maybe). It’s funny, at any rate. And fairly accurate!
Ha! Ha! I loved the, ahem, abridged version of Jane Eyre. 🙂