Le Comte de Monte-Cristo

Phileas Fogg bets half his fortune that he can circle the globe in eighty days, and sets off with a French valet and a detective on his heels. Short chapters and constant movement.

Jules Verne

Huck fakes his own death and floats down the Mississippi on a raft with Jim, a man escaping slavery. Funnier and darker than the Tom Sawyer book that precedes it.

Mark Twain

A scout and his two Mohican companions escort a pair of sisters through hostile country during the French and Indian War. The frontier adventure that set the template for the genre.

James Fenimore Cooper

D'Artagnan arrives in Paris with a horse nobody wants and manages to pick three duels before lunch. Dumas at his most entertaining, complete and in French.

Alexandre Dumas

Professor Aronnax goes hunting a sea monster and ends up a guest aboard Captain Nemo's Nautilus. This edition carries the original illustrations by Neuville and Riou.

Jules Verne