Due to the whole English teacher thing, people react with astonishment when I tell them that I haven't read certain books. There's an undercurrent of malice laced in with said astonishment which I attribute to the fact that whatever book in question is near and dear to the person's heart. "You haven't read WHATEVERSOMESUCHBOOK?! And you call yourself a teacher?" Most of the time I chuckle at their indignation and respond with some cliche about nobody being perfect because I'm not. Books exist to be read, whether that's prior to a stupid conversation or not doesn't matter. The Bell Jar has always been one of those books.
And having read it now, it's pretty great.