#34 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain (Penguin Books)

The fact that I'm currently reading another novel by Cormac McCarthy, hot on the heels of books by Bret Easton Ellis and Mark Twain, might indicate the destination for my current holiday - I've got a bit of an American theme going on.

Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is often overlooked in favour of its sequel, the celebrated classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and that's exactly why I've returned to the former. I read Huckleberry Finn many years ago, but omitted its forerunner, the tale of Tom Sawyer.

Tom Sawyer is often referred to as more of a children's book than Huckleberry Finn, and the 'adventures', a series of mischievous scrapes and escapades involving the protagonist and his chums, which invariably end in trouble - and Sawyer receiving some form of discipline - certainly appealed to this reader's boyish side.

I can't help feeling that the above is damning Tom Sawyer with faint praise, however, because it's a far weightier book than some give Twain credit for. For all the pranks and episodes, including the famous whitewashed fence story, you're never far away from a feeling of lost childhood innocence, and the awareness that inequities in your youth will be repeated tenfold as an adult.

Twain even refers to this in his preface: "Although my book is intended mainly for the entertainment of boys and girls, I hope it will not be shunned by men and women on that account."

With murder, slavery, starvation and the dangers of alcohol never too far away, there is a much more serious side to the book, and even taking into account the fact that Twain was writing in 1876, I find it difficult to believe that Stephenie Meyer or JK Rowling would use as many long 'adult' words in their own books primarily targeted at younger readers, but which have garnered a large adult readership.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is one of the most enjoyable books I've read so far this year, and was much needed after a run of novels in the past month or so which, while perfectly fine, have never really scaled the heights.

So, rating time:

#34 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain (Penguin Books) - 8/10

Next up: All The Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy (Pan Books)

Click here for the full list of books so far, and their rating