The Sketch Book contains a wide assortment of various kinds of short stories and prose works, most famous for Rip van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Those last two stories have been repackaged and sold in many different formats, but it was in The Sketch Book that the public first gained exposure to them, so I decided to buy the Sketch Book and read through it accordingly.The Sketch Book's best works are actually not the two famous ones in my opinion; rather, I am much more moved by Washington Irving's many musings concerning things like history and books. The man is the quintessential book lover, and waxes philosophically every once in a while in a way that makes me feel I am connecting with a familiar soul from long ago. The most emotionally-gripping story is about a wife who stands by her husband even in the greatest times of hardship.However, many of the stories overstay their welcome and are hard to trudge through, specifically Irving's travels through various English locales which read as an aimless travel log with little value as literature.Is it worth it to buy the Sketch Book and read through it cover to cover? I think so. Perhaps you'll love those travel logs I condemn.