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The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Stories Audiobook
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(3.00) - 2,213 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
Jim Smiley was a betting man. He bet on horse races, dog-fights, cat-fights, even how long it took a straddle-bug to cross the border into Mexico. If there was a bet to be made, chances were the "uncommonly lucky" Smiley was behind it. So it seemed life easy money when a gullible stranger came to town and Smiley boasted to him that his pet frog-Dan'l Webster-could "outjump any frog in Calaveras County." But while Smiley was out scouting for the competition, the stranger came up with a plan to stop Dan'l-and Smiley-in their tracks. The publication of "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" in the Saturday Press in 1865, marked the beginnings of Mark Twain's remarkable literary career. This collection of eight stories upholds his title as America's greatest humorist and storyteller. Includes these stories; "A True Story"; "Jim Baker's Blue-jay Yarn"; "The Private History of a Campaign that Failed"; "Extracts from Adam's Diary"; "Eve's Diary"; "The 1,000,000 Bank-Note"; and "How to Tell a Story."
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"Worth reading for the quaint descriptions of California life as it was just beginning, this is a great book for settling down to relax with some tea, and still a classic at that."
— michael (4 out of 5 stars)
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Stories Listener Reviews
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" Entertaining as well as much to think about in these stories. "
— Lorna, 2/14/2014 -
" Mark Twain is the man. I want to be just like him. I think I'd look good with that moustache. "
— Hilariapdx, 2/4/2014 -
" Not my cup of tea. "
— Kevin, 2/4/2014 -
" Love me some Mark Twain. "
— Derek, 2/3/2014 -
" I enjoyed most of the stories, though Twain's dry whit sometimes required perseverance. My favorite shorts were "The $1,000,000 Bank Note" and "Jim Baker's Bluejay Yarn." It was interesting to learn that the story "Was it Heaven or Hell" was based on the author's personal experience. "
— Jones, 1/26/2014 -
" What a painful read! I just cannot get into Mark Twain. "
— MsJohnson, 1/23/2014 -
" Gahhhhh, I hate HATE Mark Twain's writing. Had to read this for school. BLEH. "
— Alex, 1/18/2014 -
" A funny short story that is as pointless and most of the stories I am told throughout the day. I recomend it to everyone as it does not take long to read and was just so very fun. "
— Ali, 12/27/2013 -
" All I really want is to go back in time and become Mark Twain's best friend. "
— Mary, 10/15/2013 -
" So far I only have read Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog but let me just say this, I am s lost on the clean humor. I think I need to read a few more of these to be able to get the overall message because the humor in this story was so completely lost on me. Oh well live and learn. "
— Reeses, 7/10/2013 -
" Can't really go wrong with Mr. Twain. "
— Lafcadio, 6/17/2013 -
" The best part for me is not the frog, but the part about the dog Andrew Jackson. "
— Josh, 3/17/2013 -
" Listening was very enjoyable! A good number of laughs are available in these short stories. "
— Kent, 3/7/2013 -
" I read this short story in 7th or 8th grade. I remember it being very readable and quite funny. Twain is a wonderful storyteller! "
— Eddie, 12/9/2012 -
" Awesome! A good 'ole tale. Very funny; quick read. "
— Leia, 1/23/2012 -
" Much of Mark Twain's writings are not humorous to me. I think I have a problem with the run-on sentences. I lose track of what I'm reading. This is a good tale, though. It seems to me that it accurately portrays what life in this mining camp town must have been like in the late 1800's. "
— Carol, 9/22/2011 -
" A clever collection of short stories sprinkled with bits of deep genuine humor and on the whole filled with good characterization and dialogue. "
— Joshua, 10/27/2010 -
" Fun collection of Twain's short stories, well read by Norman Dietz :) Well worth a listen, keeping in mind that he uses some racial terms considered right rude today. "
— Hope, 12/27/2008 -
" Mildly interesting story; pretty funny re-translation from the French. "
— Patrick, 4/25/2007 -
" A silly run-on sentence. Creative though. "
— Jen, 9/12/2006 -
" I can't imagine what I was thinking in high school when I thought this story was amusing. "
— Jeff, 6/30/2006 -
" Twain is a great writer, but I HATE tall tales and stuff like this. :) That's probably why I was a Brit/Irish Lit. person. "
— Lisa, 3/27/2005 -
" One of my favorite short stories of all time. "
— Michael, 3/5/2005 -
" Meh, most of the stories were dull. I know this is not a good representation of his writing. "
— Julie, 11/4/2003 -
" Although it's still a great story, it's my least favorite Twain. I'm definitely more partial to Huck Finn and A Conn Yankee in King Arthur's Court. "
— Tara, 4/12/2003 -
" Read on audiobook. A better reader my have helped, but it's hard to tell. Not Twains best. "
— Ed, 8/7/2002 -
" Surprisingly funny - very dry whit..love the sotry about George Washington's childhood. "
— Rebecca, 12/11/2000
About Mark Twain
Mark Twain, pseudonym of Samuel L. Clemens (1835–1910), was born in Florida, Missouri, and grew up in Hannibal on the west bank of the Mississippi River. He attended school briefly and then at age thirteen became a full-time apprentice to a local printer. When his older brother Orion established the Hannibal Journal, Samuel became a compositor for that paper and then, for a time, an itinerant printer. With a commission to write comic travel letters, he traveled down the Mississippi. Smitten with the riverboat life, he signed on as an apprentice to a steamboat pilot. After 1859, he became a licensed pilot, but two years later the Civil War put an end to the steam-boat traffic.
In 1861, he and his brother traveled to the Nevada Territory where Samuel became a writer for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, and there, on February 3, 1863, he signed a humorous account with the pseudonym Mark Twain. The name was a river man’s term for water “two fathoms deep” and thus just barely safe for navigation.
In 1870 Twain married and moved with his wife to Hartford, Connecticut. He became a highly successful lecturer in the United States and England, and he continued to write.
About Norman Dietz
Norman Dietz is a writer, voice-over artist, and audiobook narrator. He has won numerous Earphones Awards and was named one of the fifty “Best Voices of the Century” by AudioFile magazine. He and his late wife, Sandra, transformed an abandoned ice-cream parlor into a playhouse, which served “the world’s best hot fudge sundaes” before and after performances. The founder of Theatre in the Works, he lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.