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faroresdragn's review against another edition
4.0
Alot of these stories were really top notch. The longer ones who's titles I had heard actually didn't live up to the hype. Sad there are no more to read, but really reminded me why I love his writing so much.
readingoverbreathing's review against another edition
3.0
" . . . I will impress those sparkling fields on my memory, so that by and by when theya re taken away I can by my fancy restore those lovely myriads to the black sky and make them sparkle again, and double them by the blue of my tears."
I've read the required Mark Twain ([b:Huck Finn|2956|The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn|Mark Twain|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546096879l/2956._SX50_.jpg|1835605], [b:Tom Sawyer|24583|The Adventures of Tom Sawyer|Mark Twain|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1404811979l/24583._SY75_.jpg|41326609]) but not much of his other work, so when I found this lovely little edition in a local used bookshop, I felt I just had to pick it up.
And boy, was this book a wild one — Twain covers all kinds of genres, plays all kinds of farces, and takes the reader on all kinds of journeys in ways I was not expecting. His creativity and his sense of humor, as well as his career as a journalist, are really evidenced here, far more than in his most famous works.
I'll be honest — some of the stories did begin to get repetitive and not all of them were of particular interest to me. But there were several gems in here that really stuck out to me and will perhaps continue to stay with me. I also understand that this is a collection spanning Twain's whole career and that certain idiosyncrasies will inevitably arise. Reading through this has certainly given me a much more thorough sense of him as a writer and perhaps also as a human being.
Since this is a compilation of stories, this is a collective review. Each story is individually rated. Overall rating is based on the average of the individual ratings.
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County — ★★★★
The Story of the Bad Little Boy — ★★★
Cannibalism in the Cars — ★★★★
A Day at Niagara — ★★★
Legend of the Capitoline Venus — ★★★★
Journalism in Tennessee — ★★★
A Curious Dream — ★★★
The Facts in the Great Beef Contract — ★★★★
How I Edited an Agricultural Paper — ★★
A Medieval Romance — ★★★★
My Watch — ★★★
Political Economy — ★★★
Science vs Luck — ★★★★
The Story of the Good Little Boy — ★★★★
Buck Farnshaw's Funeral — ★★★★
The Story of the Old Ram — ★★★★
Tom Quartz — ★★★
A Trial — ★★★
The Trials of Simon Erickson — ★★★
A True Story — ★★
Experience of the McWilliamses with Membraneous Croup — ★★★
Some Learned Fables for Good Old Boys and Girls — ★★★★★
The Canvasser's Tale — ★★★
The Loves of Alonzo Fitz Clarence and Rosannah Ethelton — ★★★★
Edward Mills and George Benton: A Tale — ★★★
The Man Who Put Up at Gadsby's — ★★★
Mrs McWilliams and the Lightening — ★★★
What Stumped the Bluejays — ★★
A Curious Experience — ★★★
The Invalid's Story — ★★★
The McWilliamses and the Burglar Alarm — ★★★★
The Stolen White Elephant — ★★★
A Burning Brand — ★★★★
A Dying Man's Confession — ★★★★
The Professor's Yarn — ★★★
A Ghost Story — ★★★★
Luck — ★★★
Playing Courier — ★★★★
The Californian's Tale — ★★★★
The Diary of Adam and Eve — ★★★★
The Esquimai Maiden's Romance — ★★★★
Is He Living or is He Dead? — ★★★
The £1,000,000 Bank Note — ★★★★
Cecil Rhodes and the Shark — ★★★
The Joke That Made Ed's Fortune — ★★★
A Story Without an End — ★★★
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg — ★★★★
The Death Disk — ★★★★
Two Little Tales — ★★★
The Belated Russian Passport — ★★★
A Double-Barreled Detective Story — ★★★★
The Five Boons of Life — ★★★
Was It Heaven? Or Hell? — ★★★
A Dog's Tale — ★★★★★
The $30,000 Bequest — ★★★
A Horse's Tale — ★★★★
Hunting the Deceitful Turkey — ★★★
Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven — ★★★
A Fable — ★★★
The Mysterious Stranger — ★★★
Average rating comes out at 3.4, which rounds down to three stars.
davidjme's review against another edition
3.0
Love Twain but there's a reason he isn't much known for his short fiction
a_little_shelf_absorbed's review against another edition
4.0
Hilarious tall tales that range from satirizing bureaucratic process to marriage between men and women. Twain pulls apart the stereotypical with his excellent use of many devices of humor.
judyward's review against another edition
5.0
All sixty of Mark Twain's short stories are included in this volume and they trace his development as a writer from his youth to his old age. Such a great read!
jocelynw's review
5.0
How much Mark Twain is too much? Eight hundred and fourteen pages is not too much. I have decided that of Satan-meddling-with-the-world-stories, I prefer "The Mysterious Stranger" to _The Master and Margarita_.
bb9159's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
bobbo49's review
5.0
So, I read this big volume of Twain's short stories one at a time (except the really short ones), over the last three months. Like all collections, of course some of the stories were great and some were just ok - but overall, the collection is simply superb. A few of the tales were part of my childhood (like The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County), some I've read as an adult (like The Diary of Adam and Eve), but many of them were new to me - and had the same magic as Twain's other writings. Yes, there is some cultural anachronism (they were written in the latter part of the 19th and earliest 20th centuries), but the social and political commentary on the developing American society, as well as the tongue-in-cheek descriptions of the character (and characters) of the evolving West, are brilliant and filled with humor. A delightful read. Thanks, Mom!
writesdave's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Be warned — this is not the lighthearted Twain of "Huckleberry Finn," "Tom Sawyer," or "Connecticut Yankee." This is a darker, more cynical and angry Twain. Fed up with the human condition and enriched enough by the aforementioned works to go his own way, he really let fly his discontents. My rating sort of averages all of them out; some are brilliant, other less so. And it took me six years to read them, all of them, one at a time. Makes for good reading on public transit.
This volume combines all 159 of Twain's short stories, including a couple of novellas that stretch the definition of "short;" "The Mysterious Stranger," which closes the collection, is 70 pages long. It opens with a classic, "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County."
This volume combines all 159 of Twain's short stories, including a couple of novellas that stretch the definition of "short;" "The Mysterious Stranger," which closes the collection, is 70 pages long. It opens with a classic, "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County."