Here is the plan: I will be reading (which means rereading in many cases) everything written by Mark Twain. That, my friends, is a big challenge. At the same time I will be reading the book shown below, which may or may not be the best Twain biography but seems to be the longest. In the course of my reading I will use this blog to post tidbits that interest me. Perhaps those tidbits will interest you too. I look forward to hearing from you. Onward!
I described this book to a friend as "Johnny Cash sings Mozart." Chernow is thorough, Chernow told me things about Twain I did not know and otherwise would not have learned. But Twain was a great writer, and Chernow, though an excellent researcher, is at best a pedestrian writer.
ReplyDeleteSo what is the best biography?
ReplyDeleteChernow's might be the best, I don't know. I inherited a copy of Paine's, but have hardly looked into it.
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