Product Description
A typical story told my America's favorite storyteller, Mark Twain.Before radio and television, Twain entertained Americans in newspaper, magazines and books. He was the Will Rogers and Bob Hope pf pur parents' generation and the Jeff Foxworthy of today. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

cool
Mark Twain did really good on this story. It gives you a look into the life of a horse, not just the rider. Good read! ... Read more

Product Description
Susy Clemens thought the world was wrong about her papa. They saw Mark Twain as "a humorist joking at everything." But he was so much more, and Susy was determined to set the record straight. In a journal she kept under her pillow, Susy documented her world-famous father-from his habits (good and bad!) to his writing routine to their family's colorful home life. Her frank, funny, tender biography (which came to be one of Twain's most prized possessions) gives rare insight and an unforgettable perspective on an American icon. Inserts with excerpts from Susy's actual journal give added appeal.

PRAISE AND HONORS FOR WHAT TO DO ABOUT ALICE?:

* "Kerley's text gallops along with a vitality to match her subject's antics..." --School Library Journal, starred review

* "Irrespressible Alice Roosevelt gets a treatment every bit as attractive and exuberant as she was." -- Booklist, starred review

- Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book

- Parents' Choice 2008 Approved Award Winner

- Kirkus Reviews "Best of Children's Books 2009"

-Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year

... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

delightful new picture book bio of one of our literary icons
Award-winning writer Barbara Kerley, author of the acclaimed picture booksDinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins and What To Do About Alice, among others, has provided a unique perspective on Mark Twain for young readers by sharing the story of how Twain's 13 year old daughter Susy researched and wrote a biography of her famous father.

She decided to write his biography because people who thought they knew the world-famous writer were "just plain wrong about her papa."Yes, he was a humorist, but Susy knew he was much more than that, and she "was determined to set the record straight." She observed his "fine qualities...and not so fine qualities.Into the biography--and under the pillow--it all went."

Although Susy began her project in secret, her mother found it and shared it with her husband.He said it was the finest compliment he had ever received.

Kerley explores how Susy included the key elements of any biography, the subject's youth, private and public life, from how he liked to relax on family vacations to a relative's nearby farm, to how he was sometimes serious and sometimes silly. Twain enjoyed Susy's 130 page biography so much that he included passages from it in his own autobiography.

Inserted in this oversized volume are mini-journals, stapled to the book spine, which include excerpts from Susy's actual text in script, misspellings and all.

In an author's note, Kerley provides additional biographical information on Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens, as well as on daughter Susy, who sadly died at the age of twenty-four.Kerley also provides instructions on "writing an extraordinary biography," which can also be downloaded at [...]. This book would be a terrific choice to read aloud to an elementary or even middle-school class, and then have them write a biography of someone they know or are interested in.

The stylized, cartoon-like illustrations by Edwin Fotheringham, who also collaborated with Kerley on What To Do About Alice, can almost tell the story without the text.On the cover, we see Susy wielding an enormous pen, scribbles from which appear in all the illustrations, tying the book together with a common design theme. One of my favorite illustrations shows the Twain household's home open like a Victorian dollhouse, and we can see Twain and his family in each room, complete with him flinging oversized shirts with enormous buttons out the windows.On illustrator Edwin Fotheringham's website, you can see many of the two-page spreads from this stunning book.

This book is particularly timely, since 2010 is the 100th anniversary of Twain's death.Before he died, the author stipulated that his complete autobiography was not to be released until he had been dead for a century.In November, the University of California Berkeley, which has had the manuscript in a vault, will be releasing the first volume of what will be a trilogy of his memoirs (excerpts have been published before, but not the entire manuscript).

Extraordinary!!!!
An outstanding book -beautifully illustrated, cleverly laid out, with precious stories from Twain's own daughter.My husband and I enjoyed it, our 6-year old granddaughter wanted to read it again, and my daughter who teaches 5th grade plans to buy it for her class.I will buy more copies for my other grandchildren and recommend it to friends as a very special book.

A fine selection of diary entries, mini-book inserts, and fine drawings
Collections strong in graphic novel style illustrations will welcome Barbara Kerley's THE EXTRAORDINARY MARK TWAIN ACCORDING TO SUSY, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham. It tells of a teen who writes her own biography of Mark Twain, determined to set the record straight about his life, and offers a fine selection of diary entries, mini-book inserts, and fine drawings.

A Fun Book for Young People About One of America's Treasured Authors.
Written from the point of view of Mark Twain's daughter, Susie, this book offers a fresh, and fun, perspective on the man. Along with the book, entries from Susie's diary are interspersed within the pages.

This excerpt had me laugh out loud when discussing the downside of fame that existed even in those days:

"He was a famous author, living in the most impressive house in Hartford, Connecticut. Friends, neighbors, and total strangers were eager to spend time with him. Papa tried to let George, the butler, know when he wasn't interested in visitors. But sometimes Papa had to suffer when, as he put it, some 'mentally dead people brought their corpses with them for long visit.' And then there were the stacks of 'irksome' letters to answer. Far too much of Papa's time was used up by being famous."

There's also Susie's observations when her Father was writing Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Mamma's job to "clean up any questionable passages".

I enjoyed it and it would be a fun resource for any child/student to read if they were learning about Mark Twain or were reading one of his many books.

This is a fascinating, charming, "new" look at Mark Twain from the eyes of his young daughter, Susy!
Everybody talked about her Papa and thought they knew everything there was to know about him, but they really didn't.Yes, he was a "world-famous author, quoted here, there, and everywhere," but no one knew Mark Twain like Susy did.It just plain old "annoyed" her and she was going to set the record straight and would just have to write a biography of her Papa.After all, she knew more about him than anyone.And so, thirteen-year-old Susy began to secretly write about him.She described his handsome features saying, "All his features are perfect exept that he hasn't extrodinary teeth."Susy would have to capture his personality on the page and did so perfectly (even though her spelling left a bit to be desired).

He had some very good qualities and some "not-so-fine qualities" like his absentmindedness and his temper.Why even once Mama found him in a library reading one of his own books.Heck, he loved it, but didn't realize it was one of his own.Of course among the "bad" things Susy claimed was that "He smokes a great deal almost incessantly. . .Papa uses very strong language."Susy wrote all about her Papa, the person she knew better than anyone else.At night her words would be tucked under her pillow, but Papa and Mama discovered them.She really did know a lot about him because he really was a real man, a special one and HER Papa!

This is a fascinating, charming, "new" look at Mark Twain from the eyes of his young daughter, Susy.The pages of her biography about Susy's Papa are inset in between the pages so the reader can open up and read them, misspellings and all.I loved the little "you've got it all wrong" insinuation this young girl leaves with the world.She captures a side of this author that many would believe, but not know about it.Twain claimed that "This is a frank biographer and an honest one; she uses no sandpaper on me."In the back of the book can be found interesting vignettes about this father/daughter team, hints on how to write a biography, a selected time line, and a lovely photographic portrait of the family.This is a fresh and charming look at a beloved author that you just might want to take a look at yourself! ... Read more

Product Description
The most complete edition of Twain's two stories, it uses Mark Twain's preferred text and includes passages not previously included--and not available in any other version. The editor's afterword tells how Twain came to write the "Diaries," which are recognized today as his most personal works of fiction. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (34)

Hilarious
Only buy if you want to own it, which I did because it is a fun read. If you are just looking to read it, I recommend getting it from your local library because it doesn't take that long to read. Twain is brilliant in his protrayal of women as ignorant to men's feelings but disturbed when they don't get any attention. Definitely a laugh out loud kind of book.

Wonderful transaction
This transaction was easy and perfect . . . product in good shape was here in no time at all.Price was good.These are good folks.

used CDs
Arrived on time, discs were clean. Only the broken corners of the covers show they have been used.

Adam and Eve at last the Truth
If you are not familiar with Mark Twain then some of his humour may be lost on you. This is the quintessence of Twain's humour, strong and gentle, reflective and musing on the human condition and those commonest of misunderstandings that occur between the genders.
When I first heard of this work it was read, one diary at a time, as they had been released for print. Here the two diaries are woven together.
I am not sure I enjoy that so much but I do recommend this to you for a nostalgic and wistful relfection on human relationships in this time when only cynicism seems to reign between the sexes.

A Love Story
This month our book club discussed Mark Twain's The Diaries of Adam and Eve, and even though Twain's account was amusing and speculative, it did give me a lot to think about. I can't imagine how it must have felt to awaken as a fully formed adult with no one around to socialize her or to impart even the tiniest bit of information or advice...except for Adam, that is.

How did Adam really feel about her and vice versa? Was he disturbed to have this creature with the long hair intrude on his personal space? How did they react to being banished from the Garden of Eden? What did Eve do all day? What did she think about? Did Adam scare her, or did she love him in the way that Twain said she did?All of those questions and more are answered in this delightful little book. It was funny, sad, and sort of bittersweet all at the same time.

I thoroughly enjoyed the way the love story developed and love the last passage in Adam's diary: "Wheresoever she was, there was Eden."

... Read more

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A Tramp Abroad - Volume 06 is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Mark Twain is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Mark Twain then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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The Gilded Age, Part 2. is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Mark Twain is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Mark Twain then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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The Innocents Abroad - Volume 03 is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Mark Twain is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Mark Twain then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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A collection of Mark Twain's early writings begins with his first published work at age sixteen and includes a dazzlingly varied array of tall tales, short stories, essays, anecdotes, hoaxes, speeches, philosophies, fables, satires, and maxims. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Wow! Thanks Mark!
This, the first of two of this type, shows Twain dazzling us with moods and styles, tall tales and short stories, satire, essays, speeches,fables and many other things that make this a must read for the American Literature enthusiast.

Mark Twain means "Deep Enough"
This book is a joy to read. Though not all the short works contained within are "classics", you will find satire, history, editorials, mischief, slices-of-life, without knowing by the title of any given work what you'll really be getting in the pages that follow (all part of Twain's desire to "stir the pot" and "zing" his readers)... As you will see from this book, Twain is not just a writer of the Mississippi River, but of Washington D.C., the Western U.S., Saloons, Trains, Parades, and much more.You won't be sorry with this high quality book.

Mark Twain at his best
Mark Twain is well known for his Mississippi Novels and Historical Romances but it's on his Tales and Sketches where you can find the commical genious in him. It's in my opinion that it's an age span wich makes youlike the most Tom Sawyer (8-12), The Prince and the Pauper (13-16) or TheDiary of Adam and Eve (18-) and yet, in his complete tales you may findcontents of interest for all kinds of readers. And you will never find abetter edition than the one that Library of America has to offer.Hardcover, cloth wrapping and alk. paper makes the reading an extrapleasure over the one Mark Teain already gives you. Love Twain and love theedition. ... Read more

Product Description
Classic Book for the Kindle: On the Decay of the Art of Lying by Mark Twain

On the Decay of the Art of Lying is a short essay written by Mark Twain in 1885 for a meeting of the Historical and Antiquarian Club of Hartford, Connecticut. In the essay, Twain laments the four ways in which men of America's Gilded Age employ man's 'most faithful friend'. He concludes by insisting that: the wise thing is for us diligently to train ourselves to lie thoughtfully, judiciously; to lie with a good object, and not an evil one; to lie for others' advantage, and not our own; to lie healingly, charitably, humanely, not cruelly, hurtfully, maliciously; to lie gracefully and graciously, not awkwardly and clumsily; to lie firmly, frankly, squarely, with head erect, not haltingly, tortuously, with pusillanimous mien, as being ashamed of our high calling. The essay, Twain notes, was "offered for the thirty-dollar prize," but it "did not take the prize."

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Customer Reviews (3)

A great essay about Lying
Once again, Mark Twin is the master of essays, this time about lying. It's done in an over the top fashion, making you realize that we're all liars on a daily basis, and we do it reflexively but that it's a dying art.

Twain argues that we don't lie for the right reasons, and we need to address that. The essay is a bit short but still poignant even today. Twain's at his best in this essay, and it's well worth the download - even better because it's free.

Short but Funny
A very short but quite funny examination of the sad state ot that most noble and necessary art: lying.This short essay is in the same vein as Eramus's In Praise of Folly, and just as satisfying.

Not Twain's best work.


Twain says this is an essay written in 1885 for a $30 prize for the "Historical and Antiquarian Club of Hartford". Twain notes that he did not win a prize for this essay.

The essay focuses on the lost art of lying. Twain discusses different kinds of lies, situations in which people lie and why all lies are not bad.

The essay is sometimes funny but mostly sounds like an old stand up routine about good lies and bad lies.

The Kindle version is very short - only 86 locations. ... Read more

Product Description
The Innocents Abroad - Volume 02 is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Mark Twain is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Mark Twain then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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Ernest Hemingway called Huckleberry Finn “the best book we’ve ever had. There was nothing before.There’s been nothing as good since.” Critical opinion of this book hasn’t dimmed since Hemingway uttered these words; as author Russell Banks says in these pages, Twain “makes possible an American literature which would otherwise not have been possible.” He was the most famous American of his day, and remains in ours the most universally revered American writer. Here the master storytellers Geoffrey Ward, Ken Burns, and Dayton Duncan give us the first fully illustrated biography of Mark Twain, American literature’s touchstone, its funniest and most inventive figure.

This book pulls together material from a variety of published and unpublished sources. It examines not merely his justly famous novels, stories, travelogues, and lectures, but also his diaries, letters, and 275 illustrations and photographs from throughout his life. The authors take us from Samuel Langhorne Clemens’s boyhood in Hannibal, Missouri, to his time as a riverboat worker—when he adopted the sobriquet “Mark Twain”—to his varied careers as a newspaperman, printer, and author. They follow him from the home he built in Hartford, Connecticut, to his peripatetic travels across Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. We see Twain grieve over his favorite daughter’s death, and we see him writing and noticing everything.

Twain believed that “The secret source of humor itself is not joy but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven.” This paradox fueled his hilarity and lay at the core of this irreverent yet profoundly serious author.With essays by Russell Banks, Jocelyn Chadwick, Ron Powers, and John Boyer, as well as an interview with actor and
frequent Twain portrayer Hal Holbrook, this book provides a full and rich portrayal of the first figure of American letters.Amazon.com Review
This is more than a lavishly illustrated companion book to the Mark Twain PBS series. National Book Critics Circle Award winner Geoffrey C. Ward, Dayton Duncan, and Ken Burns have produced a cogent, colorful portrait of the man who forged our national identity in the sentences he spun. Excellent though the brisk narrative may be, the book's greatest pleasures are the extensive Twain quotations; no one has topped his description of the Mississippi River, and he had a salty remark for every occasion (charged an outrageous fee for a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee, he cracked, "Do you wonder now that Christ walked?"). Passages from his correspondence reveal a man of deep feeling; letters to his wife Livy movingly express enduring marital love, and the grief-stricken note following his beloved daughter Susy's sudden death is almost unbearable to read. Excerpts from less well known works like "The War Prayer" highlight Twain's scathing contempt for imperialism and hypocrisy alike. Several freestanding pieces by various admirers (including novelist Russell Banks and actor Hal Holbrook) supplement the authors' text; most notable among them is critic Jocelyn Chadwick's persuasive defense of Twain's frequent use of "The Six-Letter Word" (n----r) in Huckleberry Finn as a necessary and still-shocking device to confront Americans with the moral horror of racism. Gracefully synthesizing current scholarship, this warmhearted biography provides the perfect introduction to Mark Twain. --Wendy Smith ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Top Review
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Lavish and engrossing...
This book is an intimate journey into the the persona of Samuel L. Clemens and the times in which he lived.It's a great read for anyone new to American history. A brilliant retrospective, it is lavishly photographed on smooth, glossy pages and embellished with anecdotes by Twain and modern students of the great author (such as Hal Holbrook, who offers his insights to this character study).This book will inspire you to learn more about America during "The Gilded Age", and to want to read more of Twain's books.

I did see pieces of the Ken Burns film and have it on order at the library - I decided to purchase this book shortly after that airing.Always having been a fan of Mark Twain, it is painful to go into it and read very personal things about his life, his habits, and the tone in which he went about creating his relationships, especially with his family... He was more than just an intense personality - he was a dominant figure who enjoyed it with relish.He was a revolutionary of modern technology, always open to trying new things and investing in inventions which made him rich.He was excited by his life and the changing times; he loved all the potentials available to him, being American.He was also sensitive to the nature of human beings and their mis-use of power due to ignorance; however upon reading this book I do credit such sensitivity to his relationship with his mother and other women.It is clear that he loved women and women were in awe of him.He was probably more honest about his observances of other people than he was about himself.He was the kind of person who was able to raise hell and get away with it.Eventually the impact of his bombastic ways would take a toll on everyone around him.

Twain took great risks throughout his life, financially, making himself one of the richest men in the new world.At the same time, he blew his fortune extravagantly and had to eventually file for bankruptcy.He understood the work ethic of what it meant to be successful, continuing to work up until the time of his death to pay off his debts.He was world traveled; a chain-smoker, and a braggart with horrendous mood-swings.All of this, of course, took its toll on those closest to him!This is the untold story documenting what happened.

"I am not 'an 'American," he once said." I am 'the' American."

This is an excellent biography for many reasons.It is written in very simple language and makes a fast paced read.There are a multitude of excellent and relevant photos of Twain,all the members of his family and at many stages of their lives.There are numerous pictures of where Twain lived and homes he had.Also, many pictures of family life.He lived such an interesting life ,it takes a lot of pictures to make one see what it was all like.The pictures are so good that it would be impossible to convey the same thing in words alone.Along with the personal photos, there are all kinds of illustrations from every aspect of his life.The book contains 275 illustrations,and every last one is a real gem.The book is based on a film that was aired a couple of years ago and undoubtedly will be shown many more times;keep an eye out for it.
The book does an excellent job of showing Twain as a person and all the things that were important in his life;and there were so many.
The one thing that is really explained is why "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is possibly the first,greatest and most important novel in American Literature. If you hadn't thought about it,this book might convince you.
I read a lot of biographies,but I have a hard job in trying to think of one that was as well done as this.As good as the text is,I believe it is the wonderful photos and illustrations that puts this book over the top.
If you are a lover of Twain's work and life,you should make every effort to get hold of this super effort.

Not recommended: confusing.
The book is confusing. What is the reader supposed to believe? Clemens was a genius, or, Clemens was an imbecile? "Mark Twain an Illustrated Biography" starts with a preface that says: Sam Clemens was a "genius." Next comes the prologue, which states "his own overreaching drove him and his family into exile oversaes."---That statement could not be farther from the truth. A book that starts by rejoicing in Twain's genius and, then proceeds completely to ignore Twain's genius and portray an imbecile is confusing.To understand the confusion and, put the narrative on page 177 in context, review this sentence: "When she died, she was only twenty-four years old." What is the purpose of the word "only" in that sentence? Putting "only" in the sentence confuses facts and, by that confusion makes a biased sentence. Susy was twenty-four years old: An age by anybody's standards where she is old enough to be responsible for her own health. By combining that sentence with "only" and the pictures of a young Susy on pages 87, 94, 99, 103, 105, 119, 132, 146, 150, the book alleges that Susy was very young when she died, which is not true.It was the family publishing business alone that went bankrupt, not Clemens, a fact previously canvassed on page 157 but by page 177 forgotten; The financial recession of 1893, which was responsible for making the tour necessary and separating the family, was not Clemens fault and he would have to be an absolute fool rather than a genius to think otherwise, a fact previously canvassed on pages 155 & 156 but by page 177 forgotten; Clemens knew that he was in no way whatsoever responsible for the death of Susy; When Susy died, she was not the first child that Sam and Livy had buried; What Sam includes in his letter on page 177 are emotions experienced after losing their first child a son, not emotions consistent with losing their second child Susy. Canvassed initially, the book describes how Sam becomes inured to death by experiencing so many deaths in his life. Then on page 177 it is as if death is a brand-new idea, which Sam, has no familiarity with at all? It cannot be both ways, either he was inured or he was not.Sam's writing was so powerful that he easily conveyed feelings that he did not feel; Sam's writing conveys feelings that he does not feel to relieve Livy's feelings of responsibility and grief: Clemens is magnanimously taking responsibility for things that he knows he is not responsible for to soothe his ailing wife (Sam wrote a similar letter after the death of his brother Henry, see page 20, only an idiot would believe himself responsible for too much steam when he was not even on the boat with Henry.); Livy had been diagnosed with heart problems, which forced the family move to Europe in 1891, a fact previously canvassed on page 145 where it incorrectly states "They [doctors] recommended rest and treatment for Livy in Europe," the facts being rather that Livy was "ordered" to Europe by her doctors, but by page 177 the facts after being distorted are forgotten and without thorough study or instruction, the facts are presented with a vagueness that makes' them impossible to understand.Unequivocally, Clemens in 1906 stated for his autobiography, [Edited by Charles Neider, page 428], Livy was "ordered" to Europe by her doctors. If Clemens knew, Livy was ordered to Europe in 1906, it's only fair to assume he knew Livy was "ordered" to Europe when he wrote that magnanimous letter on page 177 taking responsibility for things that he knew he was not responsible for in 1896. And just as fairly, without any assumption, we may know that Clemens knew he did not cause the financial recession of 1893. Sam's stay in Europe, which he loathed and called exile, was never exile at all, but concession to his love for his wife, Livy, and the requirements mandated by her heart trouble.In all honesty, Clemens was being magnanimous when he wrote "Reproaching myself for laying the foundation of all our troubles. . . . Reproaching myself for a million things whereby I have brought misfortune and sorrow to this family."---found on page 177. Clemens was being far from honest, unless he was responsible for the financial recession of 1893, responsible for Livy's heart problems that forced the families move to Europe in 1891, and responsible for Susy's health when Susy was of an age to be responsible for her own health and had been living on her own separated by half-a-world from Sam and Livy for most of a year.For an entertaining book that does not confuse these important issues I recommend: MEET MARK TWAIN, published by Xlibris.

The Bitter And The Sweet
I wonder how many people could have led the life that Samuel Clemens did and kept their sanity. He went from riches to rags (even though it was his own fault...he spent money like it was going out of style and made some horrendous investments), which forced him, at the age of 60, into making a 10 month long physically and mentally draining around-the-world lecture tour. The tour enabled him to pay off his debts and regain his financial footing. Unfortunately, money was the least of his problems. The authors do not specifically state it, but it is clear (to me anyway) that Clemens suffered from manic-depression. At various times, and not coinciding with anything bad going on his life, he considered suicide. He had lifelong moodswings, as well as a volatile temper. (His daughters were afraid to be alone with him, as his behavior was so unpredictable. They made sure to visit him as a group.) The authors recount one incident where Clemens, angry over a missing button, opened an upstairs window and tossed all of his shirts out into the street. Saddest of all, Clemens outlived almost all of his loved ones. His beloved wife, Livy, who was almost 10 years younger than him, predeceased him, as did 3 of his 4 children. His one surviving child, his daughter Clara, suffered a nervous breakdown when Clemens was almost 70. A heavy load to bear, indeed, but somehow Clemens bore it and carried on. One thing that helped was his worldwide fame. Clemens was hungry for fame, even as a young man. He became well-known early in life, and remained famous and popular right up until he died. (He was a bit of a "ham." He would purposely time his walks for when people were emerging from church, and would then saunter past in his trademark- pun intended- white suits.) This book is an absolutely perfect blend of narrative by the authors, liberal excerpts from Clemens's many writings, "guest essays," and page after page of terrific period photographs. (The research done for the photographs, alone, must have been backbreaking.) The narrative and essays made this a good book. The addition of the excerpts and the photos turned it into a great book. The excerpts are not just from Clemens's well-known works, either. He was once asked to address an organization which consisted of descendants of the Puritans. The written text is reproduced in the book. Twain skewered the original Puritans for killing Native Americans and for kicking everyone who wasn't a Puritan out of Massachusetts, even though, as Clemens makes sure to emphasize, they left England under the banner of religious freedom. (You have to think that when the organization invited Clemens to speak, this wasn't quite what they had in mind.) One of the many interesting items included in the book is a list of the famous sayings "Mark Twain" supposedly uttered....but didn't. (He was so famous that it was assumed that anything clever originated with him.) Unfortunately, one of my all-time favorites was included in this list: "When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years." On the bright side, he DID say "The rumor of my death has been greatly exaggerated." One caution: the excerpts will make you want to read or re-read all of Twain. I've already ordered a copy of "The Innocents Abroad" as somehow, in my youth, I missed that one. Hats off to Geoffrey Ward, Dayton Duncan, and Ken Burns for this wonderful book! ... Read more

Product Description
A Tramp Abroad - Volume 01 is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Mark Twain is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Mark Twain then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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Mark Twain is best known for his novels and short stories.Twain uses his incredible whit to depict life in America.His books Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn have been read by school children for generations.His life on the Mississippi River has peeked the imagination of boys to go and build a raft and sail off into unknown adventures.Double Barrelled Detective Story is a story in which Sherlock Holmes finds himself in the Old West.From Wikipedia, ôAt a mining camp in California, Fetlock Jones, a nephew of Sherlock Holmes, kills his master, a silver-miner, by blowing up his cabin. Since this occurs when Holmes happens to be visiting, he brings his skills to bear upon the case and arrives at logically worked conclusions that are proved to be abysmally wrong by an amateur detective with an extremely keen sense of smell, which he employs in solving the case. This could be seen as yet another piece where Twain tries to prove that life does not quite follow logic.ö ... Read more

Product Description
This unique collection of Twain’s essential short stories and semiautobiographical narratives is a testament to the author’s vast imagination. Featuring popular tales such as “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog” and “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg,” as well as some delightful excerpts from The Diaries of Adam and Eve, this compilation also includes darker works written in the author’s twilight years. These selections illuminate the depth of Twain’s artistry, humor, irony, and narrative genius. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Effective Collection
This collection of short stories will is just what it says it is.While it does not give you any additional information on Mark Twain, it does provide you with some of his best short stories and allows you to envision this brilliant writer with some of his finest works.This volume is very humorous, so buy it if you enjoy Mark Twain or just want a good laugh or two.

Unavoidable!
I have no doubt that Mark Twain was one of the greatest writers ever and if you've read his more popular work then I suggest that you sit down with these rarely printed short stories to prove to yourself just what a genius he was. The stories here are so good they're unavoidable for Twain devotees. They amount of imagination crammed into these pages could provoke years of inspiration and pondering.

While they are mostly all unrelated tales, Twain does have one main subtext for pretty much all of them-the futility of religion. Like myself, Twain believes that the romantic, fantastic notion of a judging, ever-watching and vengeful God to be absurd and works in so many ironies and injustices that give them a cruel, but somewhat realistic edge. The story of the Good Little Boy Who Did Not Prosper is but one shining example.

A lot of the stories are told from Twain's point of view, whether they are true are not I cannot possibly tell, but it's amusing to think of him at the centre of all these adventures.

Of the 23 stories on offer some only last a few pages while epic yarns such as Captain Stormfield's Visit To Heaven can fill-out 51 jam-packed pages. My favorites stories would have to A Private History of a Campaign That Failed (in which Twain and his Rebel pals spend the Civil War hanging around, swimming in ponds and hiding from the Yankees, until they accidently kill an unarmed enemy) and Political Economy (where Twain finds it appropriate to attach a thousand lightning conductors to the top of his house only for it to attract the mother of all lightning storms).

It's a perfect book for any Mark Twain fan, anyone who loves good literature or anyone studying English. ... Read more

Product Description
Sketches New and Old, Part 1. is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Mark Twain is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Mark Twain then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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Mark Twain, a Biography - Volume I, Part 1: 1835-1866 is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Albert Bigelow Paine is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Albert Bigelow Paine then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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Satirist, novelist, and keen observer of the American scene, Mark Twain remains one of the world's best-loved writers. This delightful collection of Twain’s favorite and most memorable writings includes selected tales and sketches such as The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, How I Edited an Agricultural Journal Once, Jim Baker's Blue-Jay Yarn, and A True Story. It also features excerpts from his novels and travel books (including Roughing It, The Innocents Abroad, and Life on the Mississippi, among others; autobiographical and polemical writings; as well as selected letters and speeches. The collection also reprints the complete text of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, including the often omitted raftsmen passage. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A good anthology to teach about Mark Twain
I am an instructor in a Senior College and was seeking an anthology that contained Huckleberry Finn in its entirety but also some early and late work of S. Clemens - Mark Twain. That is a hard to find combination. While I might quibble with some of the sketches included, it will meet my needs better than any other compendium I have found. ... Read more

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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Part 4. is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Mark Twain is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Mark Twain then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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This is a beautifully-designed new edition of Mark Twain's classic THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINNAmazon.com Review
Mark Twain's classic novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, tells the story of a teenaged misfit who finds himself floating on a raft down the Mississippi River with an escaping slave, Jim. In the course of their perilous journey, Huck and Jim meet adventure, danger, and a cast of characters who are sometimes menacing and often hilarious.

Though some of the situations in Huckleberry Finn are funny in themselves (the cockeyed Shakespeare production in Chapter 21 leaps instantly to mind), this book's humor is found mostly in Huck's unique worldview and his way of expressing himself. Describing his brief sojourn with the Widow Douglas after she adopts him, Huck says: "After supper she got out her book and learned me about Moses and the Bulrushers, and I was in a sweat to find out all about him; but by and by she let it out that Moses had been dead a considerable long time; so then I didn't care no more about him, because I don't take no stock in dead people."Underlying Twain's good humor is a dark subcurrent of Antebellum cruelty and injustice that makes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a frequently funny book with a serious message. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (603)

Collector's Library Huck Finn
Look Inside for Collector's Library Adventures of Huckleberry Finn promised an illustrated book. We have a case of a misleading Look Inside: in reality no illustrations; very small format; awful choice of typeface. My impression that Look Inside was made from a different edition.
Another thing: it's a little strange when Amazon customers review Mark Twain. Mark Twain does not need it. What is needed are reviews of different editions (quality, illustrations, scholarly or nor, paper, cover and typeface. So one star is, of course not for Huck Finn (100 stars for that boy), but for the awful edition. and misleading Look Inside.
Finally, let me repeat it again: the more I read reviews on Huck Finn, the more I am convinced, they have to be separated by editions. If I am looking for a scholarly edition with illustration and a decent cover and typeface, how, in a world, can it be helpful, if someone writes: "Mark Twain is not for me." Serious readers will seek opinions on classics from other sources, for example, from Hemingway who said, that the whole American literature had come out of Huck Finn. OK, if Amazon thinks that "Mark Twain is not for me" phrase is protected by First Amendment, and any football and beer lover has a right to put it here as an opinion, I agree. In this case, still, I think these ones have to be separated from opinions of serious book readers and collectors who are interested in differences of certain editions of classics.

What a strange time.
I have not read all of it yet, because the man I am tutoring in reading has the book...

BADLY published edition of a GREAT NOVEL
We all know "Huckleberry Finn" is a 5-star novel. My complaint is about this particular edition of the book. The type is horizontally compressed to the extreme and the layout on the some of the pages was canted. Mark Twain and his readers deserve better treatment!

Disappointed
I really wanted to love this book but it was just o.k.Mark Twain is such a talented writer but this book just wasn't for me.

Printing Problems
Beware this edition - at least until the printing problems are resolved. I bought two copies and each copy duplicated pages 85-116 and did not include pages 117-148. Amazon has not yet provided replacements so I wonder if all its print run of this edition is affected in the same way. ... Read more

Product Description
It was as a humorous travel writer, in The Innocents Abroad and Roughing It, that Mark Twain first became widely known, and at the height of his career he returned to the genre in the works collected here. Like those earlier books, the frequently hilarious A Tramp Abroad (1880)-based on his family's 16-month sojourn in Europe from April 1878 to August 1879-blends autobiography and fiction, facts and tall tales. Twain's send-up of Old World customs as well as his critical dissections of Wagnerian opera and the German language are often interlaced with American reminiscences, whether in the form of an extended discourse on the language of blue jays or the recollection of an elaborate practical joke in Hannibal, Missouri, involving a printer's devil and a skeleton. A Tramp Abroad is presented here with the author's original sketches.

Written at a time of financial trouble and personal loss (the death of the author's beloved daughter Susy), Following the Equator (1897) is a darker and more politicized account of a lecture tour around the world, with Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, Ceylon, India, Mauritius, and South Africa among the stop­overs. Using humorous but often biting anecdotes as well as keen journalist reporting, the book details bush life in Australia and the culture of the Maoris in New Zealand, while lashing out at social inequities such as the Indian caste system, and racist imperialism connected with European settlement and gold mining in southern Africa. Twain rounds out the volume with extensive historical accounts ranging from the Black Hole of Calcutta to the events in South Africa that would lead shortly to the Boer War.

This volume also includes 13 shorter pieces, most of them uncollected by the author, including a lengthy firsthand narrative of the shah of Persia's 1873 visit to London, an 1891 description of Richard Wagner's operas performed at Bayreuth, an 1897 account of Queen Victoria's jubilee in London, and an 1898 analysis of vitriolic Austrian parliamentary proceedings. The texts of several of these "other travels" are presented in newly corrected and fully restored versions.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A tramp through Twain's travel writing
Mark Twain was, above all, a travel writer. He first grew to fame with his travel writing, wrote the original "road trip" novel, and then solidified his stature as one of the greatest American writers with //A Tramp Abroad//. This last work, along with //Following the Equator// and thirteen shorter travel pieces, is included in the latest title from The Library of America, its eighth Twain collection, edited by Roy Blount, Jr.

The stories and longer works collected here are diverse. They span the latter half of Twain's writing life and range from light and hilarious to dark and mysterious. //A Tramp Abroad// is a pure delight, a mix of comic tales from Twain's time in the old country and fictional American stories that recall the classic Twain everyone knows and loves. //Following the Equator//, while certainly filled with light moments, is darker than most classic Twain pieces. The stories that round out the edition range in date from 1873 to 1898 and are collected here for the first time. All in all, this is another classic collection from the Library of America showcasing a literary master at his best.

Reviewed by Margo Orlando Littell ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Humorous Story
I liked the Diaries of Adam and Eve. It is a humorous short story that gave the first man and woman a personality that differs from the well known bible version of them. Adam is annoyed by Eve, at first, and Eve trys to figure out why. This version is slightly different than other versions in the fact that it doesn't have some excerpts that other versions do, but I used it for school work so this version was just fine. I'd definitely reccomend this book to someone who'd like a laugh.

One of the best
This is one of the funniest studies on the differences in the ways that men and women see and think of the world.

Mark Twain is truly the greatest American writer and this is another one of his stories that shows why he is considered so.

It is set up like two diaries, one of Adam, and one of Eve.The brilliance comes in the different writing styles between the two: Adam is more logical and attempts to understand the world, and for the life of him cannot seem to get Eve and her actions, while Eve is running around naming things and does not understand why Adam seems so confused about everything that she does.

It just gets sillier and sillier as the stories go on, only to finally come ot a sweet and soft ending.

If you like this, also check out the Will Vinton claymation film "The Adventures of Mark Twain".They act out this story creatively. ... Read more