I was one of those rare people that had somehow never read an actual Twain book. I remember there was a man dressed as Twain who came to our school and did his one man show, that was about the length of my knowledge. My high school AP english teacher got me addicted to finding quotations and I started a binder for them after years of collecting and noticed quite a few were from Twain. So, finally, when my son was born, I went out and bought Huckberry Finn, and Tom Sawyer, but grabbed this book for myself since I knew I'd have a way to ease into Twain since my son was a few years away from appreciating the stories of Tom and Huck. Each short story was cleverly written and only made me realize all the more how funny, highly intelligent, and honest to the core Mark Twain was. He had that ability to size up a man quickly and tell a story well enough that you fully met their character and it would not leave you what the story was about. In truth, I'm not finished with this book, I have the last few stories at the back that are longer than those in the beginning, but I've put it on the shelve, still bookmarked where I left off so I can read it a later time, kinda like starting a tub of ice cream and saving the rest for later. You know it's good, and you want it, but just saving some for later, you know you'll enjoy it all the more and probably need it.

All of Mark Twain's stories read all at once was a bit too much. He is so sarcastic that after reading one story after another you begin to feel this negative vibe for the world. Some of his short stories standing on their own were excellent. I enjoyed, A Day at Niagara, Journalism in Tennessee, A Medieval Romance and Buck Fanshaw's Funeral to name a few. Most of the ones I enjoyed, were written early on in Mark Twain's career. My least favorites came at the end when he seemed to become so negative that the stories really weren't funny anymore. Anyways, I'd recommend this collection if you take a few stories at a time, but it's definitely not something to be read straight through.

I kept this book by my bed for almost 3 years, reading a couple of stories here and there between other books. For that purpose it was perfect.

Loved it! I only need read 3 more books and I'd have read his complete works! Woot!

Now I leave you with a harmless lyric:
--------------------------------------
Conductor, when you receive a fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
A blue trip slip for an eight-cent fare,
A buff trip slip for a six-cent fare,
A pink trip slip for a three-cent fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
CHORUS
Punch, brothers! punch with care!
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!

This had been purchased so that I can read "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" in preparation of being in Angels Camp, CA in early August 2015, where Twain got the inspiration for this story.

Only got about a third of the way thru before the ebook expired. Will have to come back to this sometime and finish.

One of the shames of literature in our era is that Mark Twain is primarily taught as and known for his novels, especially Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. Now, I'll tell you straight, I found Tom Sawyer boring and Huck Finn almost unreadable. Twain was a decent novelist. His travel nonfiction books are better. He was an amazing short story writer. If you haven't read Twain's short stories you are missing out on his true brilliance, insight, wit, and ability. "Some Learned Fables, For Good Old Boys And Girls" and "Captain Stormfield's visit to Heaven" are a couple of my favorites, though there are a good many others I can read again and again.

Amazing variety of short stories which completely changed my perception of Mark Twain, previously focused on youth classics like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn adventures or the tale of the prince and the pauper. The stories, on the contrary, definitely are designed for adults and range from light humor through sarcasm to bitter dissatisfaction with the humankind or amazing visions of heaven… We read them laughing, but also crying and deeply reflecting on life’s priorities. One of the best reads in my lifetime. In Polish the title is “33 opowieści” and it enjoyed the support some of the best translators of 20th century which definitely helps keep the charm. A must read!

It took months, and I read a few books in between, but I finally finished this one. It amazes me how different today's short stories are compared to those of the past. In some ways, I'm glad for the change, and in others--I'm tending to agree with Bradbury more and more: Many are simply slice-of-life garbage.

Twain knew how to tell a story--I would've loved to HEAR him do so. His voice is so strong, yet he can change it with the drop of a hat. He can make you laugh and cry within the same page, and his food for thought is much deeper and more profound than much of what I've been reading from contemporary authors.

I never really wanted to read Twain, then I finally took a chance on Huckleberry Finn. Since then, he's quickly becoming one of my favorites. If you haven't read Twain, do yourself a favor, get over your bias and read him. It is good.

"Me gusta una buena historia bien contada. Por esa razón, a veces me veo obligado a contarlas yo mismo."

Con esta frase y lejos de considerarse soberbio, Samuel Longhorne Clemens, célebremente conocido como Mark Twain, supo transformarse rápidamente en uno de los mejores escritores norteamericanos de todos los tiempos y uno de los más respetados y admirados de la literatura.
Su capacidad innata para relatar historias y escribir novelas emblemáticas e inolvidables como "Las aventuras de Tom Sawyer", "Las aventuras de Huckleberry Finn" o "Príncipe y mendigo" le fue suficiente para ubicarlo entre los mejores.
Hemingway supo decir que la novela norteamericana empezó con Tom Sawyer.
Este volumen, como indica el título se compone de sus relatos completos y están ordenados en forma cronológica, y van de lo excelente a lo genial.
Desde el primer cuento "La célebre rana saltadora del condado de Calaveras" escrito en 1865 hasta "El forastero misterioso" que cierra el libro y es de 1916, podemos encontrar su estilo tan inteligente, mordaz, irónico, irreverente... "clever" como se dice en inglés.
Lo que más me atrae de sus cuentos es que usualmente distrae la atención del lector dentro de la historia que está contando para rematar el cuento con un final inesperado y que lo deja a uno maravillándose con su gran estilo narrativo.
Entre los sesenta cuentos que posee el libro los que más me gustaron fueron "Canibalismo en los vagones del tren", que casualmente posee ese quiebre increíble al final, "Un sueño extraño", que me remitió directamente al cuento "Bobok" de Fiódor Dostoievski pero con otro mensaje, "Cómo llegué a ser editor de un periódico agrícola", uno de los más hilarantes y divertidos, "Un cuento medieval", demostrando que podía escribir una pequeña historia trágica a lo Shakespeare y también con un final sorpresivo, "El robo del elefante blanco", que para mí es uno de los mejores del libro y en el que nos enseña cómo idear un argumento que sostenga el interés del lector durante todo el cuento como si se tratara de una novela, "Suerte", disparatado y que prueba que en la vida todo puede pasar, "El billete de un millón de libras", una auténtica genialidad acerca de cómo desarrollar la inteligencia en los momentos más difíciles, "El disco de la muerte", que encierra una hermosa alegoría y una profunda enseñanza de vida, "Un cuento de fantasma", tan divertido como "Un sueño extraño", "El cuento del niño bueno" y "El cuento del niño malo" ambos con sendas moralejas y también el esopiano "Una fábula", con moraleja incluida.
Cabe destacar que este libro también el que muchos consideran su mejor cuento, me refiero a "El diario de Adán y Eva".
Tanto en el diario que escribe Adán como cuando lo escribe Eva en ellos Twain utiliza lo mejor de la sagacidad, humor y fineza de manera realmente sobresaliente. Leí todo el cuento riéndome porque cada línea (sobre todo las de Adán) me causaba una hilaridad desbordante.
Otro cuento casi nouvelle de alta factura es "El hombre que corrompió Hadleyburg" con su moraleja sobre la moral, la corrupción, las buenas obras y el mal.
"Las cinco bendiciones de la vida" es simplemente maravilloso y edificante en su mensaje.
El último es un cuento fantástico (póstumo) llamado "El forastero misterioso" es una gran fábula con Satanás como  personaje principal  que me recuerda por un lado a otra historia de encuentro con el diablo, me refiero a "El joven Goodman Brown" de Nathaniel Hawthorne y por supuesto también a Edgar Allan Poe.
En él, Satanás va mostrándole a los demás personajes la debilidad de la naturaleza humana y por qué el hombre es codicioso, vive constantemente en búsqueda del poder y la riqueza sin importarle el prójimo.
El cuento posee una frase demasiado actual hoy que vemos a Rusia invadiendo Ucrania: "En todo momento vimos guerras, más guerras y siempre guerras, por Europa y por todo el mundo. Unas veces por el interés de familias reales, y otras para aplastar a alguna nación débil. Jamás ningún agresor inició una guerra con propósitos limpios. No existe algo así en la historia de la raza humana."
Más clarividente, imposible.
Espero que todo aquel lector que quiera descubrir a este escritor genial, tan particular y admirado tanto por escritores como lectores de todas las épocas lo haga y descubrirá a un autor verdaderamente maravilloso como lo fue el querido Mark Twain.

classic tale but writing has disoriented anyway

The funniest, sweetest, truest book ever written.