Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

Shelley's classic hints in part at the possible dangers inherent in the pursuit of pure science; it also portrays the injustice of a society which persecutes outcasts such as the "Monster." Disturbing and profoundly moving, Frankenstein has become part of our own mythology.

I had the pleasure of reading this inspiring classic in my Brit. Lit. class this year. I enjoyed it, to an extent. I saw profound character development and I even felt sorry for both of the main characters at times, but sadly, I read this book for school and with that comes some form of a headache. I'm not sure if I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would because of the notes and such that I had to take for class, or because some of the insane attention to detail just annoyed the crap out of me. I had that same problem with Kagawa's Iron Fae series, so maybe it was just the detail. Either way, I liked and somewhat enjoyed this book. Shelley was definitely ahead of her time, and Tesla would definitely be proud of her book. (If you understood that reference, thank you.) Overall, I'd give this book a 3/5, and I will say that I believe that everyone has to read this book at least once, because the movies have it wrong. Blasted Hollywood.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain

"All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn." - Ernest Hemingway

Of all the contenders for the title of The Great American Novel, none has a better claim than The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Intended at first as a simple story of a boy's adventures in the Mississippi Valley-a sequel to Tom Sawyer-the book grew and matured under Twain's hand into a work of immeasurable richness and complexity. More than a century after its publication, the critical debate over the symbolic significance of Huck's and Jim's voyage is still fresh, and it remains a major work that can be enjoyed at many levels: as an incomparable adventure story and as a classic of American humor.

John Seelye's introduction discusses the context from which the novel emerged

I started reading this book because it was required for school and I'm happy to say that I really enjoyed reading it. At first, I was wary about it - I had to read Tom Sawyer for school in 8th grade and I didn't like it as much (probably because I had to read it for school). Although the dialect was sometimes difficult to understand, Huck is a very believable and fun character, and to me, his character alone makes up for the sometimes incomprehensible words. However, at times I found myself skipping paragraphs of the book - particularly the details that had to do with the setting. After a while of reading through the very elaborate details, I got bored and had to skip to something that was more interesting. I'm not sure that I skipped these parts because they were extremely boring or because I wanted to get my homework done. Either way, this classic second installment in Twain's "Adventures" series (as I call them) is a must read for anyone who is interested in reading classic American literature.

Overall, I'd rate this book a 4/5.