I have finally, finally got around to reading this. I know it's a classic, and somehow I've never picked it up before. All I knew about it was that it had Huckleberry floating down the Mississippi on a raft, and with the best will in that world that did not seem terribly compelling when I could be reading scifi. Nonetheless, most classics are classics for a reason (although not you, War and Peace), and this was well worth reading. 

The language was especially interesting, and by that I don't mean the very frequent use of a particular slur, which presumably was common use at the time. (I lie, I did know something else about the book, having heard, vaguely, of a controversy about the editing of such in some editions. The copy I got came from Project Gutenberg, so no editing there.) No, when I say the language was interesting I meant that it's told in vernacular. I'm not American, so I'm just trusting that Twain's got it right - and he was raised in the same region, I think, so he'd know. There were a few places I had to puzzle it out, but it does give the book a very strong sense of voice. I did think the story dragged on a bit towards the end, with Jim's rescue descending into utter farce, but I can hardly fault child characters for behaving childishly, and it all turned out well. I do think, however, that my favourite bits of it were the simple passages where Huck and Jim were floating down the river - these had a real sense of place. I was less interested in the people they met along the way, but it was worth reading for the geography.