The Autobiography of Mark Twain volume 1
I'm reading Twain's newly published autobiography. I often read non fiction books (for research) by beginning with the last chapter. Among other things, it gives me more clues to the authors approach. Then I jump around. Twain's autobiography makes this way of working unnecessary. He does the jumping for you. From the Autobiography of Mark Twain. "Finally, in Florence in 1904, I hit upon the right way to do and Autobiography: start it at no particular time of your life; wander at your free will all over your life; talk only about the thing which interests you for the moment; drop it the moment its interest threatens to pale, and turn your talk upon the new and more interesting thing that has intruded itself into your mind meantime."
One more thing. I didn't happen at first, but the more I read, the more I began to understand. Not the details of his life, they were plane enough, but his thinking. We can't get inside Twain's head. But this piece of work gets as close to the stream as you're likely to get without wetting your socks. James