Book Review: Roughing It, by Mark Twain (1870-1872) - More Stuff

This book deserves more than one post.  I bought the audio book and listened to a few sections of it again last night.  Absolutely wonderful.  Parts of it are so interesting, and parts are so comical, I have to share them.  By the way, if you get the audiobook, it should be narrated by Norman Dietz.  No one does Mark Twain like him.  Anyway, here's a few snippets from the book.

Book Review: Roughing It, by Mark Twain (1870-1872)

One of the best, funniest Mark Twain books.  It's a history of his early years.  I have read this book more times than I can count.  It is the story of his time out west.

Many people would be surprised at the idea of Mark Twain as a cowboy.  I don't mean he herded cattle, but I mean he lived out west in Nevada and California in the 1860s.  He wrote extensively of western life, from the Mormons to the American Indians to the gold and silver miners to the outlaws.  This is a jewel for anyone interested in frontier life, or life in the old west.  Roughing It is a wonderful period piece.

But it's far more than that.

Book Review: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain (1884-5) - The Conflict

Here is the conflict, in a nutshell.  Huck is helping Jim escape from slavery, and he feels guilty about it.

Jim talked out loud all the time while I was talking to myself.  He was saying how the first thing he would do when he got to a free State he would go to saving up money and never spend a single cent, and when he got enough he would buy his wife, which was owned on a farm close to where Miss Watson lived; and then they would both work to buy the two children, and if their master wouldn't sell them, they'd get an Ab'litionist to go and steal them. 

Book Review: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain (1884-5)

This may be one of the most reviewed books in the history of people like me reviewing books.  In fact, entire books have been written to review this book.  Then you have to review those books, and it just never ends.

So I'm not going to fester on this.  I'm mainly interested in how well it stands up to modern readers, which I have mixed feelings on.  I'll go over a few things that struck me about this book.

Book Review: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain (1874) - A Modern Second Look

I just read a few scenes of this to my daughter, and immediately something became apparent.  This thing can be hard to understand.

That's actually one of the first things I noticed when I first read it back in high school.  Combine Mark Twain's flowery descriptions with the 19th century vernacular, along with the various slang terms thrown in with characters' speech, and that's a bad combination.

Book Review: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain (1874)

This is easily one of the best stories for young people I have ever read.  Wait, I take that back.  It's one of the best books period.  You've got romance, adventure, mystery, and best of all - treasure!

I read this as a teenager and enjoyed it.  I read it again in college.  And again.  And again.  In fact, I don't think I ever plan to stop reading it.  I have it on audiobook and whenever I have trouble sleeping, this is on my list of things to listen to.

Book Review: A Tramp Abroad, by Mark Twain (1880)

Interesting sequel to The Innocents Abroad, but not one of Mark Twain's best.  Wait, was this supposed to be a sequel?  It sort of felt like one to me.  There are parts of this book that I love to read, parts that make me laugh.  But also several parts that are tedious.

The premise is Mark Twain, about a decade or so after The Innocents Abroad, decides to return to Europe.  He's going to hike this time.  And he makes a noble effort at it, but in the end we don't really care how he gets about.

Book Review: The Innocents Abroad, by Mark Twain (1869)

Mark Twain's first book, The Innocents Abroad or the New Pilgrims' Progress, was a huge success.  Even today people love reading an American's take on the "old world".

This is one of my all-time favorite books.  There's no plot, no mystery, no surprise ending.  It's not a novel, it's one of Mark Twain's five books of travel.  The others are Life on the Mississippi, A Tramp Abroad, Following the Equator, and Roughing It.  They are all memoirs, or travel logs.

Book Review: Life on the Mississippi, by Mark Twain (1883) - Final Thoughts

This book falls into both categories - it holds up well for today's readers AND it's only good as a period piece.  Well, parts of it fall into both categories.  As with other Mark Twain travel books, I could edit them down to something more readable for today.

Book Review: Life on the Mississippi, by Mark Twain (1883)

A fun romp down the Mississippi takes you back to yester-century.  This book stands up well today because it was meant as a travelogue of a far-away place.  Even today, we can think of it that same way, a far-away place and time.

This book has come to define Mark Twain.  His years spent as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River are what comes to mind when people think of his life.  He stated, "I loved the profession far better than any I have followed since, and I took measureless pride in it."