Daniel Defoe - Robinson Crusoe

Rating Robinson Crusoe properly isn't easy. Often credited as the first English novel, it does tell a compelling story. However, Defoe goes on long tangents on obsolete religious topics from a very British-centric viewpoint that at best are boring and near unreadable, and at worst downright offensive. You know you're in for some old fashioned Catholicism bashing as soon as you see the word "papist" put into print. Part of it could be contributed to the fact that fictional novels were a rather new concept and that Defoe was inventing things on the fly, but Robinson Crusoe could have been a much tighter and better story of deserted island survival if Defoe had exercised a little self editing and left most of his thoughts on religion out of it. Still, an enjoyable book with significant historical relevance, and worth a read if you've never given it a try.