Old Books, New Readers discussion

Another classic author, I mean who hasn't read or at least heard of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?

I still haven't decided how I feel about Mark Twain. We had to read Tom Sawyer, the Prince and the Pauper, and Huck Finn all for school at some point during my education, and I never LOVED any of his books. Yeah they were good, I guess I'm glad I read them, but I didn't finish them and think: "Wow, that was amazing. Now I understand why he's such a famous author." I do have A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court to read, and I'm excited about that one. But I'm pretty in the middle on Mark Twain.

I read The Prince and the Pauper because I got it fro my birthday, but other than that I haven't read much of his works. I should read some more of his stuff before I pass judgment.

I liked Prince and the Pauper the best out of those three. I don't think I even finished Huck Finn (clearly I'm an excellent student, all the time). Tom Sawyer was so-so.

Huck Finn is my favorite of all of his books...and I've read only the mentioned above.
Haley, I do want to read A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court...just to say that I did. And I agree...Tom Sawyer is just too full of himself.

Have y'all read Twain's Frog story? The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

Never heard of it. Sounds funny though...:)

It was cute. Very typical of Twain's humor :)

I have dedicated this year to reading the entire works of two 19th Century authors; Mark Twain and Charles Dickens. So far I have done reasonably well as I only have a few Twain newspaper articles and a handful of Dickens before my goal will be reached. Both writers are head and shoulders above their contemporaries in my opinion, yet they can’t easily be compared with each other. Mark Twain has a homespun humor as only a few of his time (and even less after) possessed. I often think his look on life, his surroundings and his fellow man have many similarities with that of Abraham Lincoln. Charles Dickens biggest talent, on the other hand, was his ability to create complete characters. Many of his literary characters would (and maybe are) be recognized with a glance. In my opinion both authors are the best the century has to offer.

There are a few Mark Twain books that I haven't read and want to! I really liked The Prince and the Pauper, and I've read Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. But I've been meaning to read Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court; I'm excited about getting to it. I tend to like Twain much better than Dickens, but I have also read more by him.

Dicken humor to me seems a little dryer and you have to search harder to find it, Twain is easer to read and thus I think more people enjoy his works.

For me, Twain and Dickens is somewhat different in creating their best works.
They write in a world of their own. :D
Dickens made ​​the story a bit demanding readers to think harder to understand, and Twain make it lighter and simpler, exhilarate. I bet, both of them is unforgettable authors.

Thom wrote: "I have dedicated this year to reading the entire works of two 19th Century authors; Mark Twain and Charles Dickens. So far I have done reasonably well as I only have a few Twain newspaper articles ..."

Hail Thom, and I second your endorsement of Dickens and Twain. Twain was a great humanitarian. And like LIncoln, another towering humanitarian (and my all-time favorite historical figure), he used humor as a way of making his social and political points. Humor disarms audiences, of course, and allows the writer to say things he couldn't otherwise get away with (just like the Fool in King Lear). Twain was a passionate crusader against racism and imperialism, and took on the mighty Teddy Roosevelt over American imperialism in the Philipinnes following the Spanish-American War. Dickens also was a great humorist, and like Twain, drew great satirical sketches of his contemporaries--and I heard that he created 913 named characters! He also was a crusader against the injustices of his time and place -- though George Orwell claims in a long essay that he should have fought for legal reforms instead of seeking to reform individual hearts only. ... Btw, congrats on your amazing reading feat!

Twain is a towering figure in my view, a great humanitarian, a great humorist, and a noble social crusader. I do have a criticism to offer, however: his novels can be uneven. I consider Huck Finn a masterpiece (as so many do), but I do feel that there are disposable passages, especially the super-long farce towards the end when Tom forces Jim to be imprisoned in a shack; I've never heard an explanation for why Twain added such a long, insipid episode to a book that had reached its climax already. But the good parts of the book, i.e., most of it, are magnificent. The humor in the scene with the con men pretending to be The Dauphin and the Duke Of Bridgewater is uproarious, and much of the humor is in nuance: Twain had perfect pitch for dialogue and a perfect eye for characters. And the Emily Grangerford scene! "Shall I hear thy sweet chirrup no more alas!" And so on. Tom Sawyer is awesome as an kids book for grown-ups who remember what it's like to be a kid, and in that book and Huck Finn he got in some good satirical jabs at organized religion, which he abhorred; that took guts. Anyway, he's my guy.

Jon, Mark Twain wasn’t only a great and talented writer, he was also a businessman. As such he could expound in his unique style and with his exceptional humor but he wrote for a wide public. The wider the public, the more books he sold; simple. Samuel Clements was against slavery but after the war it was a delicate subject for Americans on both sides. As well can be imagined, the South not only lost the war, was almost completely decimated and also lost a way of life they knew and loved. The North won; but at what cost? He never directly opposes the system but accepts it as a mere fact. The relationship Tom and Huck had with Joe may have been normal for their class but wasn’t flaunted publically.

I read Mark Twain in Hawaii: Roughing It in the Sandwich Islands: Hawaii in the 1860s last year. I thought I'd like it as I really enjoy his humor in all sorts of quotes but it actually made me mad.

Some parts were humorous but he did some things that were really disrespectful to the myself as someone of that culture, which just soured me on the whole to that work. I was reading it for a challenge or it would have been DNF for me, and it isn't even that long.

I could be objective about Huck Finn as that is not my culture but I can't be about Hawaii. I don't remember much about Huck Finn I didn't finish it. I think that on these works Mark Twain might belong in that controversial category with works such as Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. I liked a lot of Heart of Darkness because of the point I think he is trying to make but now a days it gets lost in the language of the time, I think the same happens to Huck Finn.

Again in Mark Twain's excerpt about Hawaii I had a hard time seeing the point.

Also in the intro to that Letters from Hawaii it is mentioned that Mark Twain intended on writing a book about the culture. Which I am really happy he didn't it probably would have made me angry. But anyway, they said that it is possible that the script that would have been about Hawaii was possibly re-worked into what A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. That part I did find interesting. I didn't read it though and probably won't.