I salute Son #1. I read Crime and Punishment on my own while in high school, but didn't get to Karamazov or W&P until some years later. Great, great books. Gatsby isn't in their league; I'm not sure it's in the same professional organization. (I haven't read Les Mis yet; I've had a three-volume French edition sitting on my shelves for almost twenty years, begging to be read. One of these days...)