One of my beloved high school English/Literature teachers recommended this book to me very strongly. Multiple times. She didn't tell me what it was about, just that she thought I would enjoy it and it was a very good book and had I considered reading it yet? Unbeknownst to her I got it confused with Middlemarch, which I was not interested in reading, so I never did.

I realized an embarrassing number of years later that not only was Middlesex not the same as Middlemarch, but that my teacher had (correctly) suspected that I was transgender before I did. And I still haven't read Middlesex. I'm sorry Mrs. O'Brien, you tried so hard, but I did figure it out in the end.