Bargain for the Weekend
I love being downtown when it’s hopping, and it sure was this weekend, with an influx of visitors in town for Carleton College’s commencement. I slipped through the crowds and into my favorite haunt where I saw something almost as exciting as a graduation: bargains, bargains, bargains. The one I picked out looks like a doozey — Mark Twain: A Life by Ron Powers.
Says the New York Times of this book, written by a winner of the Pulitzer Prize: “A sweeping account of the personality and career of the man who, Powers writes, ‘found a voice for his country’ … Mr. Powers skillfully places his subject in historical context [and] quite rightly focuses on Twain’s pitch-perfect ear and keen eye … A convincing portrait of Twain as a volatile, moody, guilt-ridden, desperately insecure man who was often a puzzle to himself.”
It gets better when you look at the price tag. Just $7.99!
Explore posts in the same categories: Bargains, Recommendations
RCBlog 
June 16, 2008 at 2:53 am
I highly recommend this biography. I paid full price for a copy, and I’m not sorry I did. Here’s my quick review:
It’s written in an easy-going, often humorous style that wears its learning lightly, often going for puns that might have made even Mark Twain groan: about Lew Wallace, the Civil War general and one-hit literary wonder who wrote Ben Hur, Powers says that his “entire literary career could be summed up as ‘Ben Hur, done that’…” Powers has a deep appreciation of Twain’s work, but doesn’t shy away from presenting an honest portrait of a man who could be selfish, mean, insecure, grumpy and vengeful. Twain was all of those things, but he was also brilliant, humane, and howlingly funny. Powers’ biography is a great read.