In high school my English Language & Literature teacher made me read Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; I was none too impressed with her for this as I did not care for his writing style. I struggled with every page and have thus held a grudge against the man since. The perfect storm seemed to come together though when several people I know recommended I read Roughing It all at about the same time.

It had been many years since my Huck Finn encounter, so I figured I'd give ...