Showing results by author "Mark Twain" in All Categories

One of Mark Twain’s most famous books for young people. As children, his daughters loved to act out the story in their library. It’s a carefully researched and written story, which incorporates all of Mark Twain’s signature humor, evil villains, and compelling plotlines. Yes, it was written with young people in mind, but it is surely enjoyable to listeners of all ages.

Thirty years after his death, Capt. Stormfield is still speeding across the universe, on his way to the next life, though he doesn't know yet where or when his journey will end. It's not a spoiler to tell you that he does get into heaven (it's in the title after all), but you may be surprised at some of the customs, characters, and spectacles he finds there.

Mark Twain, incensed by increasing religious and political imperialism around the globe, characterizes a large nation's invasion and occupation of a smaller country as the "strange and over-showy onslaught of an elephant upon a nest of field mice, on the pretext that the mice had squeaked an insolence at him conduct which 'no self-respecting government could allow to pass unavenged' as Mr. Chamberlain said. Was that a good pretext in a small case when it had not been a good pretext in a large one?- for only recently Russia had affronted the elephant three times and survived...."

Adam cannot understand Eve - her penchant for naming everything in the garden irks him, as does her boundless curiosity, but he learns, in time, that he cannot live happily without her. And Eve finds that she loves Adam above all things.

Twain reflects on the defining moment of his childhood. The incident occurred when a measles epidemic was raging in his hometown; fear was everywhere, and Twain was confined to the house for months. The turning point was when he left the house as he concluded that taking brave action was better than being smothered by fear.

"The Californian's Tale" is the story of a man, Henry, waiting for his wife to come home. The narrator, a stranger to the town, knows nothing of the circumstances. He discovers the tragic truth at a party thrown by Henry’s friends at his house.

Mark Twain relates how he broke the news when he was still unknown. He was in Honolulu when the survivors from the harrowing open sea voyage of the clipper-ship Hornet arrive. He stayed up late to get the accounts of the sailors’ trials, writes through the night and relays a detailed account when the other reporters only had an outline report.

"The Invalid’s Story", an example of Mark Twain’s frontier-style humor, describes the misadventures of two men - Thompson and the narrator - on a train who mistake a gunbox and a rotting cheese for a corpse in a coffin. Thompson does not know much but his wild imagination has a strong influence on the naïve narrator. In the end, this situation leads to disaster.

This is a story within a story by Mark Twain. The one within is the tale of the gambler Jim Smiley and his jumping frog Dan’l. After many winning bets on Dan’l’s jumping ability, a cunning stranger comes along and that day Jim loses.

Mark Twain compiled some of his experiences and experiments with telepathy in a fascinating article titled ‘Mental Telegraphy.’ In the opening paragraph he states that what many consider to be mere accident or ‘curious coincidence’ is no more accidental than is the sending and receiving of a telegram. He believed that minds resonate with one another by transferring ideas and messages to and fro.

"Luck" was published in 1891 in Harper's Magazine and received little attention at the time. The English military hero, Lord Arthur Scoresby, is an idiot who blunders through life on pure good luck. In the Crimean War, he gets confused between his right and left hand to lead a charge in the wrong direction, which surprises a Russian force and ensures an Allied victory.

How to Tell a Story is a classic essay by American humorist and writer Mark Twain.

Nelle "Avventure di Tom Sawyer" (apparso nel 1876) l'autore dà voce ai sentimenti, alle storie e alle superstizioni che la sua generazione ancora condivideva nel periodo appena antecedente la Guerra di secessione, dove l'insicurezza e i problemi razziali dipingevano lo scenario emotivo della società americana del Sud.

La storia di Huck e della sua fuga in zattera lungo il Mississippi con il negro Jim, fino al ricongiungimento col compagno di scorrerie Tom Sawyer nel romanzo che nacque come proseguimento del precedente "Le avventure di Tom Sawyer" era tra le preferite di Ernest Hemingway, che citava sempre Mark Twain tra i suoi autori fondamentali: e non a caso, naturalmente, visto che fin dai suoi esordi anche l'autore di "Fiesta" lavorò molto duramente per riuscire a ricreare sulla pagina la lingua della strada, cosa per cui venne assai criticato.

Esta novela constituye no solo la culminación de la narrativa de Mark Twain, sino también una de las obras maestras, junto a Moby Dick, de la novela norteamericana. Clásico entre los clásicos, Mark Twain, con su sentido del humor y su prosa ágil, precisa y soleada, nos lleva al río Mississippi abajo de la mano del inolvidable Huck Finn, que va en busca de la libertad junto a Jim, un muchacho negro que quiere escapar de la esclavitud. Una novela sobre la amistad, la adolescencia, y la felicidad, Las aventuras de Huckleberry Finn es una obra imprescindible.

In der LILYLA Hörbuch-Edition "Meistererzählungen" widmen wir uns einem Autoren, dessen Werke in Ausdruck, Authentizität und Sprachgewalt Einzug in den erlauchten Kreis der Welt-Literatur erhalten haben, weil sie den jeweiligen Zeitgeist widerspiegeln und ihre Erzählungen von dem handeln, was von zeitloser Ästhetik und Würde ist: Menschlichkeit und ungeschönte Beschreibung der Realität mit all dem pulsierenden Leben voll von Widersprüchen, Hoffnungen,Ängsten, Romanzen, Schicksalsschlägen, Lebensfreude, Brutalität, Liebe und dem Sinn unserer Existenz mit all ihrer Sanftheit und all ihrer Härte.

In der LILYLA Hörbuch-Edition "Meistererzählungen" widmen wir uns einem Autoren, dessen Werke in Ausdruck, Authentizität und Sprachgewalt Einzug in den erlauchten Kreis der Welt-Literatur erhalten haben, weil sie den jeweiligen Zeitgeist widerspiegeln und ihre Erzählungen von dem handeln, was von zeitloser Ästhetik und Würde ist: Menschlichkeit und ungeschönte Beschreibung der Realität mit all dem pulsierenden Leben voll von Widersprüchen, Hoffnungen,Ängsten, Romanzen, Schicksalsschlägen, Lebensfreude, Brutalität, Liebe und dem Sinn unserer Existenz mit all ihrer Sanftheit und all ihrer Härte.

Aufgrund politischer Unstimmigkeit, die eine Entschuldigung Siams an das britische Empire nach sich zieht, wird der weiße Elefant Hassan Ben Ali Ben Selim Abdallah Mohammed Moise Alhammal Jamsetjejeebhoy Dhuleep Sultan Ebu Bhudpoor nach New York verfrachtet - und dort gestohlen! Inspector Blunt leitet ein Team von etwa 80 Detektiven, welche ausströmen, um das wilde Tier dingfest zu machen. Sie folgen einer blutigen Spur der Zerstörung, bei welcher ein Leichenzug geschändet, Mitglieder einer christlichen Sekte zertrampelt und ganze Ortschaften verwüstet werden.

In June 1867, Mark Twain set sail for Europe and the Holy Land. Twain recorded this adventurous trip and later turned it into The Innocents Abroad. This book became so popular overseas that it would propel him into an international star. The Innocents Abroad is Twain’s account of his thoughts of the Old World, including Paris, Venice, Pompeii, Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem, as well as many other noteworthy cities. His disbelief and wonder are told with humor that endeared Twain to American audiences.

This is a new edition of Mark Twain's masterpiece, Huckleberry Finn, published by American Renaissance Books. The audiobook is narrated by Theo Holland, who brings to life the humor and drama of this timeless tale.