COURSES – FALL 2025 / Literature / WONDERFUL BOOKS OUT LOUD: TWAIN'S SHORT STORIES
Coordinators: Harriet Finkelstein Larry Shapiro, Ruth Ward
Mark Twain has been called the father of American literature. A humorist, lecturer and novelist, Twain combined narrative wit and a strong sense of irony to create distinctive masterpieces based on American culture and language.
Using The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain, we will read the best of the best. Sure, Tom Sawyer is probably the most famous kid in all of literature, and yes, Huckleberry Finn gets more votes than any other book for being the greatest American novel. But if you want a won- derful one-sitting jolt of Twain, come to Wonderful Books Out Loud to read his short stories and enjoy the wonderful wit of one of America’s greatest writers.
The book we will use is: The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain – BANTAM CLASSIC edition
B WEEK / MONDAY / 10:30 AM – NOON / IN-PERSON / ROOM 27
| Wonderful Books Out Loud | ||
| Date | Facilitator | Title |
| Sep 08 | Harriet Finkelstein | The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (page 1), A Dog’s Tale (page 588), A True Story (page 114) |
| Sep 22 | Ruth Ward | Cannibalism in the Cars (page 11), The Stolen White Elephant (page 237) |
| Oct 06 | Larry Shapiro | The $30,000 Bequest (page 598), The Five Boons of Life (page 565) |
| Oct 20 | Harriet Finkelstein | Some Learned Fables for Good Old Boys and Girls (page 126), The Story of the Little Bad Boy (page 7) |
| Nov 03 | Ruth Ward | The Diary of Adam and Eve (page 325), Luck (page 298) |
| Nov 17 | Larry Shapiro | Journalism in Tennessee (page 33), The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg (first half – page 419) |
| Dec 08 | Harriet Finkelstein | The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg (second half – page 447), How I Edited an Agricultural Paper (page 55) |
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