Research commitments are going to require me to scale back this summer’s casual readings, but I have a short list of childhood favorites that I want to revisit:
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress
Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn
Johann David Wyss, The Swiss Family Robinson
On the surface, it looks like a strange list, but I have fond memories of each of these books. When I was a child, my parents bought me a set of books that included all of the above except Pilgrim’s Progress, and I read them multiple times. Bunyan’s book was a required school reading, but I also read it for fun. (Please withhold your groans.)
I’m interested to see how well my memories of them hold up with rereading. If you’re interested in last summer’s reading list, it’s posted here.
Jacksonian America: Society, Personality, and Politics 