Ivanhoe

 Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott is a rollicking, fast-paced adventure novel set in the late Twelfth Century. The title character is a Saxon knight having returned from the Crusades back to his native England, a country still reeling from the Norman invasion in 1066. But Ivanhoe isn't really the focus of the novel. It's more about a kaleidoscope of characters that evoke one of my favorite Disney movies: Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, King Richard, and Prince John. They, along with other notable villains and damsels, converge in a variety of conflicts and rescue missions, battles and sporting events. It's an exciting read. Written in 1820, the prose is cumbersome at first: Scott wants to scaffold in a lot of historical context. But once the characters begin making decisions, it flies by. I'm only familiar with a few writers from this century, most notably Dickens and Hardy. Ivanhoe is much more exciting than those two, much more plot-driven. I don't know if it's better--many critics consider it genre fiction compare to Scott's earlier, more serious histories--but it was a joyous, engaging read.