I've read other versions of his books, other stories. I enjoyed again reading about the frog jumpers in California and the "horrible German language". He always makes even the most mundane things very funny. I basically read about 30 to 40 pages a day. It made the stories stand out instead of blending into each other.

I knew that Twain was somewhat cynical in his otherwise light-hearted observations of life, but he's more so than I remembered. Quite a bit is wry and humorous, too. He does a good job of capturing the colloquial nature of life and language among America's non-cultured.

I suppose I never really knew what a yarn was until I was introduced to the writings of Mark Twain. But now that I've been introduced, I don't know if any other type of story will live up to it. All these stories are ridiculous in one way or another, but ridiculous is what makes them so darn entertaining despite the passage of 100+ years. Sure, some hold up better than others, but they all create a picture of America that's both forever in the past and painfully present today. Read these stories by a river, if you can.

Some of my favorites from this collection:

- Journalism in Tennessee
- Cannibalism in the Cars
- The Diary of Adam and Eve
- The Belated Russian Passport
- Is He Living or Is He Dead?
- The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg

the way he writes is unique, so funny at times. Sometimes I can't stop laughing. Razor sharp.
Delivering truths wrapped in a nice gift wrappers. Thank you Mark Twain :)

As I made my way through this book, I found Mark Twain's style to be distinctly American. There is a wry, dry, and cynical flavor of humor that permeates nearly all of these short stores. It seems that Twain wants to expose and ridicule normative forms of morality and decency, because those who espouse and enforce them are hypocrites and are no better than the people they shame and shun. While the stories can come across as over-exaggerated, they do have a feel of authenticity to them. The historical environment became real and familiar, as one steps back into the struggles and temptations that permeated life in America in the second half of the nineteenth century. Overall, however, the compilation of short stories in this book left me uninspired, discouraged, and cynical about the world.

After reading the last story The Mysterious Stranger I immediately asked aloud whether or not Mark Twain was a Freemason. Turns out I was right. The manipulative, cynical role that the angel 'Satan' plays in this final short story is odd and unnerving. One is left with an ambivalent picture of this 'nephew' of the angel of light, and complete revulsion for the human race. Granted, this story was written in 1916 during the heart of World War I, so a picturesque image of humanity is not expected. Yet, I wonder to what extent the mythology of Freemasonry inspired Twain's cosmological outlook at the end. Satan is depicted as this unmasker of the cruelness of the biblical God, and revealing the illusionary dream that reality really is. Finally, in a quasi-gnostic fashion, he concludes that we are nothing but a single useless thought. Needless, to say this is far from a Christian worldview. Personally, I view it as a dull and lame replacement for the Christian theological vision. Any thoughts?

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!

Mark Twain

Well first off when they say complete short stories you might want to look how many pages there are in that book I thought it would be like 200 but it was 2155 to be exact but other than that a really good read :)

n  " . . . 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."n

I've read the required Mark Twain (Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer) 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.

I read this many years ago. I cannot recall the edition, and perhaps what I read was not this specific collection. But Mark Twain's stories are dazzling.

Some short stories were definitely 5 stars, and I found the lightning rods story especially memorable. A fun time, though it takes awhile to get through them all!

"You can find in a text whatever you bring, if you will stand between it and the mirror of your imagination."

I've read this cheap collection so long that the paper has yellowed. And I shall probably pick it up from time to time, still seeking some wheat among the chaff. But It's mostly chaff.

In fact, Twain wasn't that good. He was hailed in his day as insightful and witty, but mostly he was cynical--and we have that in spades today. He did adept at spotting curious or potentially informative situations, but--I assume he was paid by word count--extends the telling so long as to ruin the effect.

I would encourage the Twain reader to seek The Adventures of Tom Sawyer or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Beyond the stories drawn from his youth, Twain was a bitter man.

It was only okay.