Best Books of Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens was known by his pen name Mark Twain. Born on 30th November 1835, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was lauded as the “greatest humorist the United States has produced, Williams Faulkner called him “the father of American literature.” His famous novel includes The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), the latter that has been called the “Great American Novel.”

Mark was raised in Missouri, Florida, which later provided the setting for Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He served an apprenticeship with a printer and then worked as a typesetter, contributing articles to the newspaper of his older brother, later became a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River before heading west to join Orion in Nevada. He referred humorously to his lack of success at mining, turning to journalism for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. Before heading west to join Orion in Nevada. He referred humorously to his lack of success at mining, turning to journalism for the Paige Compositor, a mechanical typesetter that failed because of its complexity and imprecision, and filed bankruptcy and the wake of these financial setbacks but overcame his financial troubles with the help of Henry Rogers. He eventually paid all his creditors in full, even though his bankruptcy relieved him of having to do so. Twain was born shortly after the appearance of Hailey’s Comet, and he predicted that he would “go out with it” as well; he died the day after the comet made its closest approach to the Earth.

Below are the few Best Books of Mark Twain:-

1. The Adventure of Tom Sawyer (1876) and Huckleberry Finn (1884)

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer(1876) and Huckleberry Finn (1884) represent Twain’s rise to literary prominence and maturation as an artist, displaying his genius for dialogue and dialect, and unforgettable characters. Prescient social commentary cloaked in the incredible spiritual presence of the Mississippi River (to appreciate Twain’s devotion to the river entirely, go on to read Life on the Mississippi (1883)). Twain’s love for the river started as a boy, growing up within sight of the Mississippi, and his affair deepened with his stint, cut short by the Civil War, as a riverboat pilot. He saw and recalled all humanity from those formative years and poured all of it into these three volumes.

2. The Gilded Age (1873)

The Gilded Age (1873), the novel co-authored by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner that named the era, is a wonderfully sharp satire on American manners and morals. An early guide to political corruption at the highest levels, with loving word portraits and humorous illustrations depicting the scoundrels and speculators that drive the plot and American politics. It is, among other things, a preview of money’s pervasive influence in 21st-century Washington. There is no small irony in Twain’s depiction of gullible characters involved in get-rich-quick schemes, as his finances were nearly undone several times by poor investments.

3. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889)

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889) is an entertaining and engaging celebration of American ingenuity and republicanism, sending salvos across the pond toward the calcified conventions of European nobility and The Established Church. Feudal traditions and institutions and the arrogance of power are blown to smithereens. Twain understood that the Fish Out of Water story (a 19th-century man somehow transported to medieval England) was the perfect vehicle for social commentary. Twain loved England, and the people of that nation held him in the highest esteem, despite his trenchant criticisms of their history and customs.

4. Following the Equator (1897)

Following the Equator (1897), a global travelogue in the Twain style declares his war on imperialism at home and abroad. On a lecture tour between 1895 and 1896, Twain travels the world to cut into his debt-ridden finances and generate material for his next book. In Australia, New Zealand, India, and South Africa, he finds oppression, superstition, racial hatred, and sheer ignorance. For all his critiques of foreign cultures and customs, he was just as suspicious of our presumption in exporting our values to “lesser” peoples at the dawn of the American century.

5. Eve’s Diary (1906)

Eve’s Diary (1906), among his last works, don’t miss the illustrated edition of this one, Twain’s heartfelt and emotional tribute to the first woman and his late, lamented wife, Livy. Lester Ralph’s controversial nude drawings of Adam and Eve (which got the book banned in at least one New England public library) beautifully complement the lost innocence encountered in the garden, and we are left with a bittersweet, ineffable sense of loss.

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