The 306 Greatest Books #122 - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain. This book can be found on the Sybervision and and My Book Lists.

The previous Mark Twain book that I read, The Prince and the Pauper, was alright, but it left me wanting for the well known wit of Mark Twain. I got that wit in this book. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court was everything that I had hoped The Prince and the Pauper would be and more. My only regret is that it took me so long to read because I had more important things going on. The story is written in the first person narrative of a man who is transported back in time to the 6th century from the 19th century. No time is spent discussing how he was transported back in time, which I assumed would eventually be resolved but it never was. Upon being transported back in time, he is almost immediately put to death. How he gets around this is pretending to be a sorcerer, even more powerful than Merlin (who is in this book and is completely incompetent). The Yankee proceeds to "improve" life back in the 6th century, trying to bring it up to "modern" 19th century standards. Twain makes almost everyone in the 6th century appear dimwitted, or even outright moronic, including King Arthur himself. This is not a trait I have seen attributed to these people of legend before and Twain was actually quite convincing in his representation of these characters. The biggest surprise was the ending, which I won't spoil, but I had assumed I knew exactly how the book was going to wind up, but as it turns out, I think I was wrong, but it was rather vague. Just like the time travel aspect at the beginning, the ending was never fully explained. One of the things that took me by surprise, though, was the strong anti-Catholic Church feeling that the story kept bringing back. He even went so far as to try and convert all of England to a Protestant nation back in the 6th century. Overall, a very thoughtful, funny, and insightful book that will happily go on my must read list.

The 306 Greatest Books #120 - The Prince and the Pauper

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain. This book can be found on the Sybervision Book List.

Perhaps when the story was written it was original in it's premise but I feel it may have been over used in today's society. The basic plot is that a pauper dreams of seeing the prince one day, they meet, exchange clothes and find out they are identical. So much so, that no one can tell the difference. The majority of the story then follows the prince as he tries to make his way back to the throne. I thought the story was enjoyable and short enough for a rather simple premise. However, I was disappointed by the end. I felt that the prince had built up some really great grudges by the end of the story and I couldn't wait to see what happened to those people but it was just written off with a few lines. I am also not sure what it is about Twain's writing and his "legacy" but I feel that none of his stories (at least the ones I have read) possess the wit that is supposed to be a hallmark of Mark Twain. The book was well written and fun but I was expecting something a little more clever witted/ humorous. Another problem I had with his writing was that in times when he would simulate a "historical observation" the text was rather dense and confusing to the point that I had a tendency to skim over those parts because I couldn't quite follow what was going on. On a whole, this was a nice, quick, enjoyable story but not one I would call one of Twain's best.

The 306 Greatest Books #28 - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

I am going back and posting all of my previous book reviews so that they are listed on my site in chronological order. The reviews are dated for the time when I read the book, hence the reason many of them will be listed for times before this website existed. 

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. This book can be found on the Sybervision Book List. 

Although The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was written first and is really the first book in the pair (with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), I'm sure I am like most people now-a-days having read Huckleberry Finn first. Mainly because it was required for school, but also because it is just considered a better book. The two books are not so reliant on each other that you even have to read Tom Sawyer. So, having finally delved into Tom Sawyer I was really disappointed by it, especially given how much of a hallmark Huckleberry Finn is in modern American culture. The book itself is good on it's own, but in the shadow of it's more successful sequel, it definitely pales in comparison. While Twain seemed to be trying to make a political satire with Huckleberry Finn, much of that is lacking in this story, causing the book to have a much more "for kids" feel about it. The gist of the story is mainly about Tom manipulating everyone to get what he wants done, then having some minor adventures around town. The most interesting parts of the story for me though were when some aspects this story reappear in Huckleberry Finn.

The 306 Greatest Books #3 - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

I am going back and posting all of my previous book reviews so that they are listed on my site in chronological order. The reviews are dated for the time when I read the book, hence the reason many of them will be listed for times before this website existed. 

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. This book can be found on the Sybervision, Norwegian, Observer, and the Zane Top 10 Book Lists.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the primary books known both for being a school age required reading book and also one of the essential "banned books". I had read this while in school and have gone back to the book some thirty-years later. I can see the importance of this work, especially at the time. The book was written shortly after the conclusion of the Civil War, a time while our country was still healing and learning how to move on, however the book itself is set sometime before the war. Slavery is still very prevalent but the feelings on slavery could be felt to start shifting within the novel. And we see this shift most aptly in the character of Huck Finn. He goes from someone who is set out to do the right thing, to realizing that maybe the actual right thing to do isn't what is considered right by society. It is a startling change of theme from the more child fun-loving centric story from the previous novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, who also plays a pivotal role towards the end of Huck Finn. However, the character of Tom Sawyer truly is insufferable, and he ends up drawing out the conclusion of the story far longer than theoretically it should have gone. Huck Finn is also notoriously known for its prolific use of the "N word". And oh my word, I didn't realize until listening to it on audiobook, how truly prolific it was within the story. It is jarring to hear it now-a-days just thrown around so nonchalantly and it is rather disconcerting. Do I understand the contemporary usage of the word? Yes I do. Do I agree that even in this context it is still a degrading word to be used? Most definitely. It is this treatment of Black people within the book that makes this such a hard book to recommend but such an important book to study. While I do think that people should have read it, I can't in good conscious recommend it myself.