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Mark Twain's Best
Twain's stories satirize notions of goodness, science, editorial expertise, gullibility, and other human failings
250 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1962
18 people are currently reading
192 people want to read
About the author
Mark Twain
8,925 books18.7k followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature." His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), with the latter often called the "Great American Novel." Twain also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), and co-wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature." His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), with the latter often called the "Great American Novel." Twain also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), and co-wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
July 31, 2024
As a kid one of my favorite haunts was a small, ramshackled used bookstore in an old, repurposed garage. It was full of overstuffed dilapidated shelves and precarious stacks of books. All books were fifteen cents. I found both Mark Twain’s Best and The Mysterious Stranger and Other Stories on the same day, and for thirty cents began my lifelong obsession with Mark Twain.
This is a well chosen collection of Twain’s stories. It contains several of his early lampoons and satires, a couple of excellent tales from his mid career, and finishes with two, novella length stories from his later life, darker, and more cynical. Not a bad introduction to the great author’s work.
How I Edited an Agricultural Paper: When totally ignorant of a subject, bluff confidently. ”Concerning the pumpkin: this berry is a favorite with the natives of the interior of New England, who prefer it to the gooseberry for the making of fruitcake, and who likewise give it the preference over the raspberry for feeding cows. The pumpkin is the only esculent of the orange family that will thrive in the north, but the custom of planting it in the front yard with the shrubbery is fast going out of vogue, for it is now generally conceded that the pumpkin, as a shade tree, is a failure.”
3 1/2 ⭐️
The Story of the Good Little Boy: The Sunday School papers of his youth provide much material for Mark Twain, both in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and in this and other short stories. The joke is that the good little boy who studied those Sunday School books is sadly disappointed to find that things don’t work out as promised. The humor suffers from being dated to its time.
2 1/2 ⭐️
Some Learned Fables for Good Old Boys and Girls: ”Once the creatures of the forest held a great convention and appointed a commission consisting of the most illustrious scientists among them to go forth, clear beyond the forest and out into the unknown and unexplored world, to verify the truth of the matters already taught in their schools and colleges and also to make discoveries” Mark Twain made use of the animal fable form to lampoon human pomposity and ignorance.
2 1/2 ⭐️
The McWilliamses and the Burglar Alarm: An amusing tale of being utterly confounded and frustrated by the technology of a burglar alarm, complete with the typical Mark Twain hyperbole.
4 ⭐️
The £1,000,000 Bank-Note: A feel good story of a down on his luck American in London who becomes the object of a bet between two wealthy brothers. Given a huge bank-note that can neither be deposited, cashed, or otherwise disposed of, the otherwise penny-less young man must survive and avoid jail for 30 days. Similar in ways to both Brewster’s Millions and Trading Places, this is a light, quick moving and fun tale.
4 ⭐️
The Diary of Adam and Eve: ”I find that she is a good deal of a companion. I see I should be lonesome and depressed without her, now that I have lost my property.” Twain’s imagined diary entries for humanities legendary parents are gently mocking, occasionally chuckle-worthy, and end with sincere sweetness.
4 ⭐️
Extract From Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven: ”They go and sing and play, just about one day, and that’s the last you’ll ever see them in the choir. They don’t need anybody to tell them that sorta thing wouldn’t make a Heaven, at least not a Heaven that a sane man could stand a week and remain sane.”
A lampoon of the After Life, Mark Twain style.
3 ⭐️
The Mysterious Stranger: This posthumously published novella is the darkest of Twain’s works. Theodor and Seppi, boys living in Eseldorf (German for Donkeytown), a 16th century Austrian village, are visited by Satan, a boy-like angel who amazes and amuses them. He schools them on the ridiculousness of religion, the meanness of human life, the principles of determinism, and above all, the valuelessness of “the moral sense.” Satan is a transparent mouthpiece delivering Twain’s own skeptical and misanthropic world view, savaging the cultural institutions and hypocrisy of his own time and country.
4 ⭐️
This is a well chosen collection of Twain’s stories. It contains several of his early lampoons and satires, a couple of excellent tales from his mid career, and finishes with two, novella length stories from his later life, darker, and more cynical. Not a bad introduction to the great author’s work.
How I Edited an Agricultural Paper: When totally ignorant of a subject, bluff confidently. ”Concerning the pumpkin: this berry is a favorite with the natives of the interior of New England, who prefer it to the gooseberry for the making of fruitcake, and who likewise give it the preference over the raspberry for feeding cows. The pumpkin is the only esculent of the orange family that will thrive in the north, but the custom of planting it in the front yard with the shrubbery is fast going out of vogue, for it is now generally conceded that the pumpkin, as a shade tree, is a failure.”
3 1/2 ⭐️
The Story of the Good Little Boy: The Sunday School papers of his youth provide much material for Mark Twain, both in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and in this and other short stories. The joke is that the good little boy who studied those Sunday School books is sadly disappointed to find that things don’t work out as promised. The humor suffers from being dated to its time.
2 1/2 ⭐️
Some Learned Fables for Good Old Boys and Girls: ”Once the creatures of the forest held a great convention and appointed a commission consisting of the most illustrious scientists among them to go forth, clear beyond the forest and out into the unknown and unexplored world, to verify the truth of the matters already taught in their schools and colleges and also to make discoveries” Mark Twain made use of the animal fable form to lampoon human pomposity and ignorance.
2 1/2 ⭐️
The McWilliamses and the Burglar Alarm: An amusing tale of being utterly confounded and frustrated by the technology of a burglar alarm, complete with the typical Mark Twain hyperbole.
4 ⭐️
The £1,000,000 Bank-Note: A feel good story of a down on his luck American in London who becomes the object of a bet between two wealthy brothers. Given a huge bank-note that can neither be deposited, cashed, or otherwise disposed of, the otherwise penny-less young man must survive and avoid jail for 30 days. Similar in ways to both Brewster’s Millions and Trading Places, this is a light, quick moving and fun tale.
4 ⭐️
The Diary of Adam and Eve: ”I find that she is a good deal of a companion. I see I should be lonesome and depressed without her, now that I have lost my property.” Twain’s imagined diary entries for humanities legendary parents are gently mocking, occasionally chuckle-worthy, and end with sincere sweetness.
4 ⭐️
Extract From Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven: ”They go and sing and play, just about one day, and that’s the last you’ll ever see them in the choir. They don’t need anybody to tell them that sorta thing wouldn’t make a Heaven, at least not a Heaven that a sane man could stand a week and remain sane.”
A lampoon of the After Life, Mark Twain style.
3 ⭐️
The Mysterious Stranger: This posthumously published novella is the darkest of Twain’s works. Theodor and Seppi, boys living in Eseldorf (German for Donkeytown), a 16th century Austrian village, are visited by Satan, a boy-like angel who amazes and amuses them. He schools them on the ridiculousness of religion, the meanness of human life, the principles of determinism, and above all, the valuelessness of “the moral sense.” Satan is a transparent mouthpiece delivering Twain’s own skeptical and misanthropic world view, savaging the cultural institutions and hypocrisy of his own time and country.
4 ⭐️
March 28, 2018
You know in what area my English teachers in middle/high school failed?
When we read Mark Twain, NOBODY told us poor, lowly students that he's funny. The humor completely leapt over our heads, and I think it hindered my enjoyment of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Picking up this collection, didn't really have a clue as to what I was getting myself into. This small collection of eight stories gave me a number of hearty chuckles, and some heart string pulling moments of self reflection.
When we read Mark Twain, NOBODY told us poor, lowly students that he's funny. The humor completely leapt over our heads, and I think it hindered my enjoyment of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Picking up this collection, didn't really have a clue as to what I was getting myself into. This small collection of eight stories gave me a number of hearty chuckles, and some heart string pulling moments of self reflection.
Read
December 30, 2010From "The Diary of Adam and Eve" - one of Adam's early entries:
"Wednesday: Built me a shelter against the rain, but could not have it to myself in peace. The new creature intruded. When I tried to put it out it shed water out of the holes it looks with, and wiped it away with the back of its paws, and made a noise such as some of the other animals make when they are in distress. I wish it would not talk; it is always talking.... And this new sound is so close to me; it is right at my shoulder, right at my ear, first on one side and then on the other ... " pg. 48
From "The Mysterious Stranger" - Satan describes human nature:
"I know your race. It is made up of sheep. It is governed by minorities, seldom or never by majorities. It suppresses its feelings and its beliefs and follows the handful that makes the most noise. Sometimes the noisy handful is right, sometimes wrong; but no matter, the crowd follows it. The vast majority of the race, whether savage or civilized, are secretly kind-hearted and shrink from inflicting pain, but in the presence of the aggressive and pitiless minority they don't dare to assert themselves ....
"There has never been a just [war], never an honorable one .... I can see a million years ahead, and this rule will never change .... The loud little handful - as usual - will shout for the war. The pulpit will - warily and cautiously - object - at first; the great, big dull bulk of the nation will rub its sleepy eyes and try to make out why there should be a war, and will say, earnestly and indignantly, 'It is unjust and dishonorable, and there is no necessity for it.' Then the handful will shout louder. A few fair men on the other side will argue and reason against the war with speech and pen, and at first will have a hearing and be applauded; but it will not last long; those others will outshout them, and presently the anti-war audiences will thin out and lose popularity. Before long you will see this curious thing: the speakers stoned from the platform, and free speech strangled by hordes of furious men who in their secret hearts are still at one with those stoned speakers - as earlier - but do not dare to say so. And now the whole nation - pulpit and all - will take up the war-cry, and shout itself hoarse, and mob any honest man who ventures to open his mouth; and presently such mouths will cease to open. Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception." pp 234-236
"Wednesday: Built me a shelter against the rain, but could not have it to myself in peace. The new creature intruded. When I tried to put it out it shed water out of the holes it looks with, and wiped it away with the back of its paws, and made a noise such as some of the other animals make when they are in distress. I wish it would not talk; it is always talking.... And this new sound is so close to me; it is right at my shoulder, right at my ear, first on one side and then on the other ... " pg. 48
From "The Mysterious Stranger" - Satan describes human nature:
"I know your race. It is made up of sheep. It is governed by minorities, seldom or never by majorities. It suppresses its feelings and its beliefs and follows the handful that makes the most noise. Sometimes the noisy handful is right, sometimes wrong; but no matter, the crowd follows it. The vast majority of the race, whether savage or civilized, are secretly kind-hearted and shrink from inflicting pain, but in the presence of the aggressive and pitiless minority they don't dare to assert themselves ....
"There has never been a just [war], never an honorable one .... I can see a million years ahead, and this rule will never change .... The loud little handful - as usual - will shout for the war. The pulpit will - warily and cautiously - object - at first; the great, big dull bulk of the nation will rub its sleepy eyes and try to make out why there should be a war, and will say, earnestly and indignantly, 'It is unjust and dishonorable, and there is no necessity for it.' Then the handful will shout louder. A few fair men on the other side will argue and reason against the war with speech and pen, and at first will have a hearing and be applauded; but it will not last long; those others will outshout them, and presently the anti-war audiences will thin out and lose popularity. Before long you will see this curious thing: the speakers stoned from the platform, and free speech strangled by hordes of furious men who in their secret hearts are still at one with those stoned speakers - as earlier - but do not dare to say so. And now the whole nation - pulpit and all - will take up the war-cry, and shout itself hoarse, and mob any honest man who ventures to open his mouth; and presently such mouths will cease to open. Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception." pp 234-236
July 10, 2022
My star rating on this collection of short stories kept climbing as I read. The book opens with a series of stories that are really elaborate set-ups for one moderately funny or satirical idea. For example, "How I Edited an Agricultural Paper" is a poke in the eye to journalists and critics who have no expertise themselves but have the temerity to offer comments from the sidelines. "The Story of the Good Little Boy" is equally predictable — coming from the creator of Tom Sawyer.
But the book picks up steam and weight with "The Diary of Adam and Eve" and "The $1,000,000 Bank Note," both of which I had read before. They are wry, touching explorations of human nature, society, and marriage.
I thought that pair was going to be the book's highlight, but it closes with two humdingers. "Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven" and "The Mysterious Stranger" are biting satire, holding humanity up to close examination and finding it faulty on nearly every level. Twain eviscerates the gross hypocrisy of Christianity through the ages and mocks the common infantile view of Heaven as a place where souls go to play the harp and worship god 24/7. "Captain Stormfield" is the more light-hearted of the two; "Mysterious Stranger" is darker and angrier. It is, in a word, damning.
If I'm deciphering the copyright page correctly, the last two stories were written — or at least published — after the author's wife died. I've read that she was a moderating influence, especially when it came to Twain's irreligious bent. If true, this then may be Twain unleashed.
But the book picks up steam and weight with "The Diary of Adam and Eve" and "The $1,000,000 Bank Note," both of which I had read before. They are wry, touching explorations of human nature, society, and marriage.
I thought that pair was going to be the book's highlight, but it closes with two humdingers. "Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven" and "The Mysterious Stranger" are biting satire, holding humanity up to close examination and finding it faulty on nearly every level. Twain eviscerates the gross hypocrisy of Christianity through the ages and mocks the common infantile view of Heaven as a place where souls go to play the harp and worship god 24/7. "Captain Stormfield" is the more light-hearted of the two; "Mysterious Stranger" is darker and angrier. It is, in a word, damning.
If I'm deciphering the copyright page correctly, the last two stories were written — or at least published — after the author's wife died. I've read that she was a moderating influence, especially when it came to Twain's irreligious bent. If true, this then may be Twain unleashed.
October 25, 2024
This book gave me a range of experiences to match the huge range of stories. I really enjoy Twain’s sarcastic sense of humour, and I found the first half of the book really funny. In the second half, he goes too far in having a laugh at bible characters and Christian ideas. He makes some good points when he critiques nominal “Christian” ideas of Heaven and points out the shocking truth that humans use their “moral sense”, as he calls it, for so much evil. But His final conclusions about God and reality are based on a misunderstanding of God’s true character and are pretty disappointing. I’d recommend the book to someone who is willing to think about things but who is also willing to question what they read.
October 29, 2024
Well...that was interesting. Let's see what rating I should give it, a mixture of all the stars averaged. It did have quite a bit of racist crap in it because of the time frame written, but also some anti-racist stuff too, which surprised me a bit. It was boring in parts, yet insightful in parts as well. I'm not sure what I thought of it.
Stories:
How I Edited An Agricultural Paper - set in the past but contemporary for its time, and somewhat humorous. I would give this one a 4/5
The Story of the Good Little Boy - interesting, but strange and again a contemporary story for its time. I would give this one a 3/5
Some Learned Fables for Good Old Boys and Girls - this one was strange and from different animals' perspective. I didn't care for this one much 2.5/5
The McWilliamses and the Burglar Alarm - funny but in a silly kind of way 3.5/5
The Diary of Adam and Eve - I liked Eve's perspective, but Adam seemed a little like a downer and Eve's didn't tell about a certain part (if you read it you would know which part I mean) that Adam's did and I felt the lack 3/5
The 1,000,000 Bank-Note - this was the best of the lot to my way of thinking. Giving someone who is extremely poor a large note that makes him look rich and how poor get treated badly simply because they are poor and rich get lots of free things, simply because they are rich. I would give this one 4.5/5
Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven - this was somewhat good, interesting take on heaven. The beginning was a little weird, but decent all around. 3.5/5
The Mysterious Stranger - another real take on society and humanity that really struck a chord with me. It went on too long but otherwise had some good things to say 3.5/5
The Average is a 3.43 so for Goodreads I will have to round down to a three. That seems about right for this one and I'm guessing I will unhaul this in the future. I certainly won't be re-reading it.
Stories:
How I Edited An Agricultural Paper - set in the past but contemporary for its time, and somewhat humorous. I would give this one a 4/5
The Story of the Good Little Boy - interesting, but strange and again a contemporary story for its time. I would give this one a 3/5
Some Learned Fables for Good Old Boys and Girls - this one was strange and from different animals' perspective. I didn't care for this one much 2.5/5
The McWilliamses and the Burglar Alarm - funny but in a silly kind of way 3.5/5
The Diary of Adam and Eve - I liked Eve's perspective, but Adam seemed a little like a downer and Eve's didn't tell about a certain part (if you read it you would know which part I mean) that Adam's did and I felt the lack 3/5
The 1,000,000 Bank-Note - this was the best of the lot to my way of thinking. Giving someone who is extremely poor a large note that makes him look rich and how poor get treated badly simply because they are poor and rich get lots of free things, simply because they are rich. I would give this one 4.5/5
Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven - this was somewhat good, interesting take on heaven. The beginning was a little weird, but decent all around. 3.5/5
The Mysterious Stranger - another real take on society and humanity that really struck a chord with me. It went on too long but otherwise had some good things to say 3.5/5
The Average is a 3.43 so for Goodreads I will have to round down to a three. That seems about right for this one and I'm guessing I will unhaul this in the future. I certainly won't be re-reading it.
December 17, 2018
I would rate this at a 4 if not for the last story, The Mysterious Stranger. It's a book of (mostly) rather light, entertaining short stories. Aside from the last one... but WOW does this last one - The Mysterious Stranger - shine (and not necessarily in an humorous way). It really lays out Twain's criticism of religious institution, and the ending keeps ramping up to a climax I never expected was coming. I'm not too familiar with his other writing (aside from the Huck Finn / Tom Sawyer stuff) but it is quite different from the other works in this volume.
Shortly after reading this, I found out that the version of The Mysterious Stranger presented in this collection is apparently a patched up manuscript of two earlier versions of the story known as the Paine-Duneka text, which has a bit of controversy around it. It seems that the one who came into possession of Twain's unfinished works after he died took liberties to edit two versions together and embellish a little with the events & characters from the originals. I would love to find the originals too, but I completely support the end result that Albert Paine put together... calls of counterfeit or bootlegging be damned!
Shortly after reading this, I found out that the version of The Mysterious Stranger presented in this collection is apparently a patched up manuscript of two earlier versions of the story known as the Paine-Duneka text, which has a bit of controversy around it. It seems that the one who came into possession of Twain's unfinished works after he died took liberties to edit two versions together and embellish a little with the events & characters from the originals. I would love to find the originals too, but I completely support the end result that Albert Paine put together... calls of counterfeit or bootlegging be damned!
November 2, 2021
Some of these stories are better than others (How I Edited An Agricultural Paper is pure humor), but the best was saved for last - The Mysterious Stranger. When I read it I was unaware it was an unfinished work (the version in this book was one of many, and not authorized by Mark Twain) but it feels like a complete story. It is not a light humorous jaunt like most of the others, and without a doubt the very premise will offend many people, not to mention various events within the story. If you can overlook these issues I consider it to be a story that everyone should read. I'm not saying I agree with the author's outlook on humanity or Christianity, but this is a perfect example of how fiction can really make you think deeply about something you may never have put that much thought into.
December 20, 2016
There were some really good stories in this collection and some that were just so-so. I enjoyed the Diaries of Adam and Eve but at first I thought it was pretty misogynistic until I read on. I especially liked "The Mysterious Stranger". It really made you think about the values of the human race and how arbitrary and often misguided our morals are. The writing is always clear and interesting.
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September 15, 2023This book is about Mark Twain's best short stories. Many people forget about his short stories because of his other great books. This book is tough to learn from because there are so many short stories in the one book.
July 22, 2020
3.5*
the reading rush 2020 - read a book completely outside of your house.
the reading rush 2020 - read a book completely outside of your house.
October 3, 2015
"But it was Father Peter, the other priest, that we all loved best and were sorriest for. Some people charged him with talking around in conversation that God was all goodness and would find a way to save all his poor human children. It was a horrible thing to say, but there was never any absolute proof that Father Peter actually said it; and it was out of character for him to say it, too, for he was always good and gentle and truthful."
How you feel about this quote may indicate how much you enjoy this book as a whole. Perhaps you are offended by Mark Twain's implicit views about God; perhaps you are totally on board with his sarcastic wit and secular humanism. Or maybe, like me, you don't agree with his philosophy, but can still appreciate the quality of his writing and humor.
If you're a reader who's okay with jumping around (this is a collection of short stories, after all, not a novel), I'd recommend "How I Edited an Agricultural Paper," "Some Learned Fables for Good Old Boys and Girls," "The McWilliamses and the Burglar Alarm," and "The £1,000,000 Bank Note." These stories are straight-up clever and funny.
On the other hand, "The Story of the Good Little Boy" might be funny if I was reading it in the time it was written--it seems to be a parody of a certain kind of Sunday School story that's gone out of style by now. "Extract From Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven" seems to suggest that Twain didn't have much hope for the afterlife. Not a particularly humorous story.
And neither is "The Mysterious Stranger" very funny, although I don't think it's meant to be. In fact, it's a very interesting story, and very different from the rest. I looked it upon Wikipedia and found out that the version in this compilation is actually kind of a forgery; the possessor of Twain's manuscripts redacted one of the manuscripts and published it in 1916, after Twain's death. Kind of unfortunate to realize what you're reading is a fraud. I'm curious to read Twain's intended story (although he never finished it).
How you feel about this quote may indicate how much you enjoy this book as a whole. Perhaps you are offended by Mark Twain's implicit views about God; perhaps you are totally on board with his sarcastic wit and secular humanism. Or maybe, like me, you don't agree with his philosophy, but can still appreciate the quality of his writing and humor.
If you're a reader who's okay with jumping around (this is a collection of short stories, after all, not a novel), I'd recommend "How I Edited an Agricultural Paper," "Some Learned Fables for Good Old Boys and Girls," "The McWilliamses and the Burglar Alarm," and "The £1,000,000 Bank Note." These stories are straight-up clever and funny.
On the other hand, "The Story of the Good Little Boy" might be funny if I was reading it in the time it was written--it seems to be a parody of a certain kind of Sunday School story that's gone out of style by now. "Extract From Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven" seems to suggest that Twain didn't have much hope for the afterlife. Not a particularly humorous story.
And neither is "The Mysterious Stranger" very funny, although I don't think it's meant to be. In fact, it's a very interesting story, and very different from the rest. I looked it upon Wikipedia and found out that the version in this compilation is actually kind of a forgery; the possessor of Twain's manuscripts redacted one of the manuscripts and published it in 1916, after Twain's death. Kind of unfortunate to realize what you're reading is a fraud. I'm curious to read Twain's intended story (although he never finished it).
February 2, 2013
I must admit that I wasn't prepared for some of the "America's Favorite Humorist" stories. I had some vague notion of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer rattling around from my childhood. Most of the stories were entertaining and insightful. Twain's take on Adam and Eve was positively eye-opening because in spite of the sexual revolution things haven't changed that much. However, "The Mysterious Stranger" was so unsettling that I resorted to Wikipedia for clarification. I found Twain's rendition of--Satan coming to earth to entertain himself and clarify the erroneous notion that morality, good and bad is only some whacked out notion of lower life forms--disturbing. Then when Twain characterized a woman who was preparing to be burned at the stake as being okay with it because she was tired anyway, I started to get the creeps. Wikipedia claims that Twain re-wrote "The Mysterious Stranger" at least three times and that his wife never did like it. Even though Twain grew up attending church, he clearly questioned the popular religious beliefs of his time. But, being burned at the stake . . . who would choose that? Could Saturday Night Live pull off Joan of Arc tied to post saying,"It's okay. I was having a rough time anyway"?
April 10, 2023
The man had a preposterous imagination. But I kept reading, partly because of my preconceived judgment that the writer was a genius, and partly because of my curiosity for what on earth he would say next. As the “humor” morphed increasingly into “horror,” however, I wondered at Samuel Clements’ capacity for cynicism. Then I reflected that he wrote these depressing stories even before the two great world wars.
Fast forward: A vicious virus unleashed by a Chinese laboratory paralyzes interactions between peoples around the world; a present-day Russian dictatorship sends its armies to destroy whomever they consider “disobedient;” and Peter Schweitzer’s new book Red Handed exposes the appalling deceit and corruption of prominent Americans. And should I mention the several decade long jihadism simultaneously perpetrated upon “non-compliant” innocents? Perhaps Samuel Clements’ cynicism was not so misplaced after all. Alas. His choice of “one really effective weapon: laughter” somehow seems a little feeble.
Fast forward: A vicious virus unleashed by a Chinese laboratory paralyzes interactions between peoples around the world; a present-day Russian dictatorship sends its armies to destroy whomever they consider “disobedient;” and Peter Schweitzer’s new book Red Handed exposes the appalling deceit and corruption of prominent Americans. And should I mention the several decade long jihadism simultaneously perpetrated upon “non-compliant” innocents? Perhaps Samuel Clements’ cynicism was not so misplaced after all. Alas. His choice of “one really effective weapon: laughter” somehow seems a little feeble.
June 14, 2012
Size doesn’t always matter! Mark Twain’s Best (a collection of eight short stories by Mark Twain) shows his versatility and adaptability in both debate and writing. The ability to convince an intelligent reader of the sensibleness of an absurdity is no mean feat. This is demonstrated most persuasively and beautifully credibly in his vast array of articles and short stories. These also show his flexibility in range. He can spin a yarn about a dog as easily as a language and each will produce a smile or laugh with the ease that only a master at his trade can do. Many people have read and enjoyed his novels and the unforgettable characters he’s brought to life in them but to really know the man and relish in his unique humor a reader has to turn to his short stories and articles. Most people read mainly for pleasure….. Mark Twain will always fill the bill!
May 16, 2011
I am only reading this because it is a known fact that Mark Twain is considered one of the best American writers of all time. I just wanted to get a sense Mr. Twain's writing styles. His stories are pretty cool...but I still love my Russian and French literature!
February 3, 2008
Good collection of selected writings. Good introduction for the casual reader.
September 1, 2014
Excellent, wry and funny.
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October 21, 2014Mark Twain's Best 05072006 Eight short stories by America's Master Humorist
March 19, 2015
While expanding my Mark Twain literature, I was surprised at the philosophy and relevance of this collection of short stories.
March 28, 2015
There were some funny parts, but overall the stories in this book were kind of strange.
March 25, 2016
I had expected to enjoy this much more than I did.
April 7, 2022
entertaining but a little boring at times.
March 17, 2011
The stories were entertaining and easy to read.
July 6, 2012
One of my all time favorites
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