Mark Twain

Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1

Though this is not a great book, it is a good contribution to the picture of the man who was perhaps our greatest idealist. He lived through and witnessed so much important history. He knew presidents, kings, scoundrels, and very simple people. He speaks with a great deal of warmth and humanity about many different people. And he pokes as much fun, and scorn, at himself as he does anyone else (particularly editors) in this rambling reminiscence.

The book is too long. It is best digested as an audio book. The editors produce a long and perhaps too detailed introduction. Fortunately, they had enough sense to quote extensively from long passages of Twain's works, and thus periodically make the introduction interesting. As an example, they include Twain's narrative about the survivors of the US clipper ship Hornet, which sank in 1866. That narrative appears online, for anyone to read:

http://www.twainquotes.com/18660719u.html

Pick it up when you have a couple of weeks of long, boring driving ahead of you.