The seemingly endless succession of Facebook memes had produced one intended to measure how well-read you are in terms of a list of 100 classic works. The list was supposedly compiled by the BBC, and it was claimed that the average person would have read only six of the 100 books on the list. Geek that I am, I dutifully went down the list and checked off the 25 of them that I had read, and posted it in a Facebook note. I put a few of my own comments at the end of the note, including the observation that the list was “a bit Brit-centric… I count no fewer than four Jane Austen books on here and six by Dickens, whereas I see but two Steinbecks, one Fitzgerald, and zero Hemingway. Plus, as Hemingway would point out, only chicks read Jane Austen. .” I characterized my final tally of only 1/4 of the total list as “kind of pathetic for someone who claims to be educated.” On the other hand, I also gave myself some credit: “I’m still four times more well-read than the BBC gives me credit for being – so suck on that, crumpet monkeys!”

That’s where the controversy began. Continue reading →