Using views to generate a summary view of nodes
There are a million different ways to do things in Drupal, but:


Create a View
Filter on node published and type
Sort by whatever criteria you desire and select how many items you want displayed
In Fields, select:

a. Node Title - link to node

b. Body or Field that contains the description you want displayed (select Trimmed if you want it shorter than all of it) and remove the label

c. Node Link - enter Read More as the text to display and remove the label


and you should be on your way...