Beloved is an amazing book, but it’s very slow going for me because a lot of it is really heavy material. Discussion of slavery, religion, race, spirituality, motherhood, it’s all a lot to take in at once. Sometimes I’d like to read, but just can’t bring myself to take on Beloved again, so to fill in the gaps I’ve been reading Mark Twain. His stories are perfect for light reading because most of them are pretty short, and I haven’t found one yet that wasn’t entertaining at the very least. I’ve talked about this before, but he’s one of the only authors I’ve read that can make me laugh out loud over and over again. Something about his humor hits my brain just right. Somehow, these stories that are over a century old are still just as relatable today as they were when they were written. His social commentary feels like a modern author getting upset at all the problems of today, but putting a 19th century twist on all the jokes. I swear the man must have been a time traveler.

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley