I do like Kafka and Flaubert. When I first read a lot of the classics, I did it more because I felt it was mandatory, which isn't always fun. Now I do whatever the hell I want with my free time, though I'm glad I got a bigger picture of the literary scene.
EDIT: When I think about it, a better juxtaposition might have been Kafka and a writer like Henry James, the latter whom I can hardly stand save a few short stories, but read simply because he is along with Kafka a member of the untouchable canon. I would have saved myself a lot of boring reading had I just stuck with what impressed me most. Still, I don't think it was wasted time as I learned a lot even from the writers who utterly bored me.