I believe I read the original Nancy Drew books because I read them in the early 70s and some of them had been my mother's, others were from the library, but they were all really old. The Bobbsey Twins were pretty traditional too. I knew the Nancy Drew books so well that I could tell the difference when it was no longer the original author doing the writing. I LOVE the Nancy Drew PC games and so do my kids (still, as teenagers!). We play them as a family and have a blast doing it. There are only two we don't have yet. I got two of them as family gifts from Santa for Christmas this year and we did those while they were home on break
I enjoyed The Great Gatsby, On The Road, Huck Finn, The Crucible.. but I have to agree with MysticCat re: Old Man and the Sea. Beowulf was pretty awful to get through as were The Canterbury Tales because of the old language.
My kids read these required books out loud in class too. I think I would have slit my throat if I'd had to listen to my peers read these things out loud. My English teacher did read Beowulf to us and used an accent when doing so, which was weird too. Thankfully, the rest of them we read on our own. I loved To Kill a Mockingbird and Catcher in the Rye too. The whole stream of consciousness thing was a fascinating idea to me.
I love books.