Elizabeth Kolbert on Being Embarrssed Not To Have Read Something

The New York Times has a regular section called By the Book. In today's column New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert answered one question as follows:

What books are you embarrassed not to have read yet?

In David Lodge’s academic novel “Changing Places,” the members of the English department play a game called “Humiliation.” Participants are supposed to name a book they haven’t read, but that they imagine most other members of the department have. One player names “Hamlet.” He wins the game but loses his job.