Memorable Monday #30

Welcome to Memorable Monday! The purpose of Memorable Monday is to showcase an influential book read in the past that still sticks with you today. This fun Monday morning post is hosted by the lovely Becca at The Becca Files.

This week, I am featuring:

Pudd’nhead Wilson

by: Mark Twain

AMAZON

I love Mark Twain. He is one of my favorite writers ever. I love his wit and intelligence and satire. Pudd’nhead Wilson is one of my favorite Twain novels, and I’m excited to begin teaching it to my AP Lit students today! This book packs a lot in a small amount of pages. If you have never read a Twain novel, I highly recommend reading this one.

About the Book

At the beginning of Pudd’nhead Wilson a young slave woman, fearing for her infant’s son’s life, exchanges her light-skinned child with her master’s.  From this rather simple premise Mark Twain fashioned one of his most entertaining, funny, yet biting novels.  On its surface, Pudd’nhead Wilson possesses all the elements of an engrossing nineteenth-century mystery: reversed identities, a horrible crime, an eccentric detective, a suspenseful courtroom drama, and a surprising, unusual solution.  Yet it is not a mystery novel. Seething with the undercurrents of antebellum southern culture, the book is a savage indictment in which the real criminal is society, and racial prejudice and slavery are the crimes. Written in 1894, Pudd’nhead Wilson glistens with characteristic Twain humor, with suspense, and with pointed irony: a gem among the author’s later works.

NOW IT’S YOUR TURN!

Share a book you’ve read in the past and explain briefly why it’s so memorable to you in the comments below.

If you would like to join Memorable Mondays, check out Becca’s blog site by clicking here. Scroll to a Memorable Monday post for info.