The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (1867)
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County was first published in the November 18, 1865, edition of The New York Saturday Press under the title "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog." The story, which has also been published as "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," is set in a gold-mining camp in Calaveras County, California, and has its origins in the folklore of the Gold Rush era. It was one of Twain's earliest writings, and helped establish his reputation as a humorist. He eventually included it as the title story in his first collection of tales.

The Innocents Abroad (1869)
The Innocents Abroad is Mark Twain's account, adapted from his own newspaper reports, of his adventures traveling through Europe and the Middle East with other Americans. Voyaging on the steamship Quaker City, the sightseers first make stops in Europe, including Paris, Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome and Athens. Their journey culminates in an extended trip through the Holy Land and Egypt. Throughout the book, Twain lampoons the meeting of these pilgrims from the New World, filled with a pretentious reverence and awe, with the hallowed culture of the Old World, often represented by Twain as not equaling its reputation.

Roughing It (1872)
In 1861, a 25 year–old Sam Clemens, having left his job as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River because of the outbreak of the Civil War, set out by stagecoach with his older brother, Orion, for the Nevada Territory. Roughing It, part autobiography, part travelogue, part tall tale, is Twain's account of the people and places he experienced when he and the American West still were young.

The Gilded Age, with Charles Dudley Warner (1873)
The Gilded Age, which Twain wrote in collaboration with his Hartford neighbor Charles Dudley Warner, gave its name to the mood of materialistic excess and cynical political corruption that started with the Grant administration in 1869 and prevailed into the 1870s and beyond. To be gilded is to be coated in gold, so the phrase "The Gilded Age" refers directly to the opulent tastes and jaded sensibilities of America's wealthy during this period.

Mark Twain's Sketches, New and Old (1875)
A collection of sketches and short and Stories originally issued as a Subscription Book by the American Publishing Company. Most of the 63 selections are brief, averaging less than 1,500 words. Of 56 works that had been published previously, about 10 come from Twain's early western journalism and about a third from the Galaxy. True Williams, Mark Twain's most prolific book illustrator, drew 130 illustrations for Sketches.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876)
(From the Preface) Most of the adventures recorded in this book really occurred; one or two were experiences of my own, the rest those of boys who were schoolmates of mine. Huck Finn is drawn from life; Tom Sawyer also, but not from an individual -- he is a combination of the characteristics of three boys whom I knew, and therefore belongs to the composite order of architecture.
The odd superstitions touched upon were all prevalent among children and slaves in the West at the period of this story -- that is to say, thirty or forty years ago. Although my book is intended mainly for the entertainment of boys and girls, I hope it will not be shunned by men and women on that account, for part of my plan has been to try to pleasantly remind adults of what they once were themselves, and of how they felt and thought and talked, and what queer enterprises they sometimes engaged in.
-THE AUTHOR. HARTFORD, 1876

A Tramp Abroad (1880)
The third of the five travel Suggested Reading List authored by Mark Twain. A Tramp Abroad contains the experiences of Twain's "walking" tour of Germany, Switzerland and France. Typical of Twain's style in drafting travel novels, A Tramp Abroad places Twain as the narrator of an often times uninformed American tourist visiting and discovering the mysteries of the European continent, a wonderful satire for those who have visited Europe or are planning a trip to "the continent."

The Prince and the Pauper (1881)
Edward Tudor and Tom Canty are the same age and share the same features only one of them is a pauper's child and the other is the heir to the throne of England. When chance brings the boys together, they decide for fun to switch clothes, but fate suddenly casts them into each other's worlds. Tom learns what is to be caught in the pomp and folly of the royal court and the young prince learns what it is to survive in the lower depths of 16^th century English society. Through the switched identities Mark Twain has fashioned both a scathing attack on social hypocrisy and injustice, and an irresistible comedy imbued with the sense of spirited play that belongs to this creative period. The delightful fable of The Prince and the Pauper has delighted readers young and old for over 100 years.

Life on the Mississippi (1883)
This was Mark Twain's seminal work on the river that gave birth to much of his writing. Entertaining, yet enlightening, Life on the Mississippi is a textbook on the history, life and lore of the Great River during the 19^th century, but also a primer on the "science" of the piloting the Mississippi during the heyday of the great steamboats that once plied the greatest inland waterway of America.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)
Mark Twain's classic novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, tells the story of a teenage misfit who finds himself floating on a raft down the Mississippi River with an escaping slave, Jim. In the course of their perilous journey, Huck and Jim meet with adventure, danger, and a cast of characters who are sometimes menacing and often hilarious. Although the story was mostly written in the 1880's it is set in the time of slavery prior to the Civil War. Twain uses Huck's predicaments to illustrate the failure of reconstruction in the post–Civil War South.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889)
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is held to be one of the word's first stories about time travel. The main character, Hank Morgan, superintendent at the Colt Firearms Factory in Hartford, Connecticut, is hit on the head in a fight, knocking him unconscious. He wakes up in the time of King Arthur and uses his 19th century sensibilities and know-how to gain power over the people. Hank introduces conveniences and structures familiar to 1880's Hartford such as schools, factories, bicycles, and gunpowder. At first, Hank is convinced that his ideas will do the citizens of Arthur's court good, but as he takes command he turns more and more to violence and loses control of his circumstances. Connecticut Yankee was one of the last large-scale novels Mark Twain produced and its dark, cynical themes foreshadow ideas he would delve into more deeply in much of his later work.

The Diary of Adam & Eve (1893/1905)
Extracts from Adam's Diary (1893) is an oftentimes witty and whimsical look at the creation of the world and the escapades Adam encounters as he explores his new world. Twain uses this work as a forum to express his irreverent thoughts on conventional religion. By contrast, Eve's Diary (1905) is Twain's tribute to his own wife, Livy. The story, from Eve's viewpoint, is poignant and speaks eloquently of kindness, the good found in all people and is overall, a commentary on the gentle nature of Twain's beloved wife. Adam's last words at Eve's grave are "wheresoever she was, there was Eden."

The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894)
A murder mystery set in a town on the Mississippi featuring strong and weak black and white characters. The book has many twists and turns that keep you wondering "who-done-it?" This book has a strong female character, which is unusual in Mark Twain's writing. While trying to solve the mystery you will enjoy reading great quotes at the beginning of each Chapter from Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar i.e. "Why is it that we rejoice at a birth and grieve at a funeral?’

Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (1896)
Twain said he regarded this work as the best among all his Suggested Reading List. It is his version of the story of Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans, who, in 1429, at the age of 17, led France to overthrow domination by the English, and restore the crown to France. She was then tried for witchcraft and heresy by French priests, supporters of the English, and burned at the stake. Twain viewed Joan of Arc as his bid to be considered a "serious" writer. Joan is considered to be Twain's ideal woman: gentle, selfless and pure, but also courageous and eloquent. Twain's Joan is said to be modeled after his oldest daughter, Susy, who died tragically three months after Joan of Arc was published.

Following the Equator (1897)
Twain's fifth and last travel book is a relatively straightforward narrative of his round–the–world lecture tour of 1895–96. It includes discussions of Australian history and economic development; East Indian culture; British rule in India; and South African Politics. It contains many humorous passages, but is generally more serious in tone than the author's earlier travel Suggested Reading List.

The Mysterious Stranger (1916)
An adult tale set in a medieval European village, The Mysterious Stranger tells of some boys' encounter with a young stranger who performs wonderful feats of magic and shows the boys different times and places in mankind's history. The stranger turns out to be a nephew of Satan.
This was not a piece Mark Twain wrote as entertainment. Rather, it was a way he explored and explained, late in his life (and not published until after his death), his feelings about religion and faith, good and evil.