Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

When I was putting together the list, I marked this book as one that I'd read before. As soon as I opened it, I realized that wasn't the case. Plenty of other Twain, but not this one. Or these ones, since my copy had both Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.
A quick word about 'Tom Sawyer', plenty of fun and a great read. Creates a window into 1830's Missouri and more importantly a window into the world of a boy. Adventure and hi jinks galore. The original American bad boy and a direct descendant of Bart Simpson.
'Huck Finn' is a little different. The title character doesn't come from a loving family. In fact the book opens with a dispute as his drunken no-good father tries to take money from him and ends up kidnapping him. Huck escapes and meets up with a runaway slave named Jim. They run away from their lives by rafting down the Mississippi.
Huck wrestles with his conscience as everything he's ever been taught about slaves tells him that the man he's traveling with is an animal. There's a moving passage in the book that takes place after Huck has played a trick on Jim. Afterwards, Huck is ashamed and asks forgivness even though he's been taught that Jim isn't worth respect. His growing awareness of Jim's humanity is profound. Especially when you consider that the novel was published in 1884.
This novel is written in first person dialect and I usually find that annoying but it grew on me this time. The story is well told and engrossing. The message is important but subtle. This is a great novel and I wished this was my third or fourth time reading it instead of my first.