Well, I'm diving into a classic that - I must admit - I have never read.
"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" by Jules Verne.
I hate to make a terrible pun, but the book is a little drier than I expected. a lot of scientific information about oceans, aquatic plants, fish, etc. Not a bad book - but different from what I expected. then again, it's a very old book that was written in French and translated to English. I get the sense that Verne was trying to make it as realistic as possible.
(I was at my mother's house last summer and found a lot of old books from my high school days. That included a book of HG Wells stories and a book of Jules Verne. For some reason, never read the Verne book)