Lady Business

I absolutely promise that's not the case! I don't have that kind of history either (the only area where I'd say I'm relatively knowledgeable is children's fantasy) and most of the books referenced in the novel are not ones I'm familiar with. However, that didn't stop me from loving it. I think all you really need is to know what it's like to love stories passionately and to long for intellectual companionship as you're growing up, because those are perhaps the two main feelings the novel draws on. I think you're very much the right reader for it.