Mark Twain
ranks among the top among American authors. No question about it. I remember reading Innocents Abroad way back
when I did my first solo trip to Europe, and I laughed so hard strudel came out of my nose. He has such a knack
for words, and a keen understanding of human nature that I’d place him up there among all great geniuses. Of
course, this is revealed best through his famous novel Huckleberry Finn, which Hemingway called the greatest of
American novels.
Well, with all that Mark Twain adulation aside, you might be interested to read
this article
in the LA Times about Twain’s home town of Hannibal, and riding the riverboats of the Mississippi. I love the idea of
these literary trips. In fact I recently blogged about
some similar trips in Maine, following in the literary footsteps (pen steps?) of folks like Faulkner. But in the end,
I’d probably be more interested in a trip like this one, just because I am such a devoted Twain fan.