I listened to Huck Finn on audiobook several years ago when I had a job that was primarily filing. I remember being terribly confused by the plot because it simultaneously didn’t seem to go anywhere and everywhere at the same time. I figured it was just my inattention to audiobooks and decided I’d try again later to actually read it.

Flash forward to present day, when my handsome leatherbound copy has been sitting unread on my shelf for 3 years now. I have been dreading the reread of this famous novel, but I knew it must be done eventually. Since this week is Banned Book Week, I decided now is as good a time as ever. Grumble Grumble.

Unfortunately, I am apparently still one of the very few people in the world of literature who dislike The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The plot still simultaneously goes nowhere and everywhere at the same time, and the dialects are near impossible to read in visual format (that WAS easier to listen to via audiobook). I mean, even Twain himself says by way of dedication:

Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.

I still haven’t read Tom Sawyer. I know some day I must, but I will drag my feet even harder now. Can you see the ruts?