And it actually relates to class? Weird.

Modern Library has a list of the 100 best novels compiled into two sections: The Board's List and The Reader's List.

From The Board's List, I've read 7 novels:
Ulysses
The Great Gatsby
Brave New World
1984
Lord of the Flies
The Catcher in the Rye
Heart of Darkness 

From The Reader's List, I've read 14 novels:
To Kill a Mockingbird
1984
Anthem
Ulysses
The Great Gatsby
Brave New World
Catcher in the Rye
Lord of the Flies
Beloved
Heart of Darkness
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Ender's Game
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Fahrenheit 451

Twice as many novels from The Reader's List as from The Board's List. In terms of Mediated Cultures and anthropology, this leads me to a few thoughts.

There is a slight gap between the "experts" and the readers. Overlap is obvious, not that I was expecting there to be none, but the rankings of the books are completely different when they do overlap. What are the "experts" basing their opinions on to rank these books? Have experts lost touch with what's important in a book in favor of technicalities? "Hey, John Steinbeck is a boring hack, but he's a master at foreshadowing. That turtle? Brilliant. We'll put Grapes of Wrath at number 10."

Are the readers simply reading for enjoyment ("the story"), or are they reading to deepen their understanding about social norms? Are readers understanding and garnering the proposed "deeper meaning"? I'm a fan of the deeper meaning in books. Distopian societies, conspiracy, and satire are what it's about.

I know since this I'm fairly new to this, that there's no one following me, but I'll ask the question anyway:
Why do YOU read?

Like John Green, I don't care how you read, I just care that you do.

In the beginning the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

I'm not exactly sure how to use this. I'm sure this is common for most bloggers, at least at the beginning.

It's a bit righteous to think other people care enough about your life or the things you're interested in to share them with the world. I'll be the first to admit, if my life was a book, no one would want to read it. At least not yet. So far, it starts out slow.

Gag Halfrunt would be referring to me, in all seriousness, as "just zis girl, ya know?"

I'm not sure I have anything particularly unique to contribute to the internet world. I'm one person out of roughly 7 billion people - on one planet out of eight - in one starsystem out of 100 billion starsystems - in one galaxy out of 100 billion galaxies. I am enormously insignificant.

Essentially, Dr. Manhattan and I share a similar struggle. Humans are insignificant in relation to the rest of space and how much there is, but it's a "miracle" any of us exist in the first place. The mathematics involved in conception are astounding and evolution blows my mind. This ability to adapt almost seamlessly to one's environment is pretty much the single greatest thing since sliced bread.

Others disagree. Many are increasingly of the opinion that we've all made a big mistake in coming down from the trees in the first place. And some say even the trees had been a bad move, and that no one should ever have left the oceans.

But to them, I have one question: What was the greatest thing before sliced bread, anyhow?