Read this: Roughing It

Another Mark Twain classic*, this semi-autobiographical tale covers his travels west (to Nevada, San Francisco and Hawaii) as well as his attempts to make a living by prospecting, writing and dealing real estate.

While not nearly as well known as Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer, the story is just as good -- perhaps more so if you've spent any time in the places of which he writes.
This book is written in two segments, so the overall length is more than six hundred pages. There are a few slow spots but, like Twain's journey's, the good times more than make up for it.


* Twain's definition of classic: a book which people praise but don't read.