Not everyone has had the privilege of being raised by the landed gentry.

Not me either, just asocial, ha-ha.

I think you’re vastly overestimating how much the average person reads, and what sorts of books they read. In my experience, very few people have experience reading anything more challenging/obscure than something like 1984 or To Kill a Mockingbird, which we were forced to read in high school and hated.

School program and literature similar to it are what I’ve read the least. My approach was to look through it 30 minutes at home and 5 minutes before the lesson, listen what others say, and try to improvise when asked questions.

Even as a big fantasy/sci-fi reader Jules Verne hardly seems to be a “must read” these days. Certainly a name that is known and mentioned but not at the top of people’s recommendations. But I generally hate all the fantasy/sci-fi I see recommended so maybe it’s time to read some Verne.

Yes, recommendations and “must read” are not what I’m thinking. Rather nature, power of human mind and human courage, scientific progress of course. These books are very captivating for boys. Seeing them mentioned in some matching context may be sufficient.

I’ve read The Count of Monte Cristo because I quite like fiction and because I became aware of the story in high school through the movie, but reading a 1200 page revenge novel written almost 200 years ago is so far outside the interest of basically anyone I know.

Yes, it scares me to think that most good things I’ve read, especially in my childhood, I haven’t found and chosen consciously. Some were given to me by my mother, some by my father, some accidentally stumbled upon on the Web or elsewhere, some I’ve read, yes, after seeing movies.