Robinson Crusoe

The novel is written as Crusoe's own account. Before the shipwreck, he is captured by pirates and enslaved, escapes in a small boat and becomes a planter in Brazil. Then a trading voyage ends in disaster, and he finds himself alone on the island. Defoe describes in great detail how Crusoe makes repeated trips to the wrecked ship on a raft, bringing back tools, guns, food and canvas, and then builds a fortified home, tames goats, grows barley and rice, bakes bread and teaches himself to make pottery and baskets.

Crusoe keeps a journal, counts the days and reflects on his past choices, gradually finding peace with his solitude. His most famous setbacks include building a huge canoe that turns out to be too heavy to launch. After many years he discovers a single human footprint in the sand, and learns that visitors from the mainland sometimes come to the island. He rescues one of their captives and names him Friday, and the two become companions. Modern readers will notice attitudes of the period, especially in Crusoe's view of himself as Friday's master.

A slow, detailed classic. About 288 pages in Penguin Classics, with notes.