I enjoy reading various English short stories.
Can you recommend some?
It doesn't matter whether they are modern contemporary or classics.
Also, any sort is fine as long as they are interesting and worth reading.
Some short comments or a brief summary of your recommendation are very appreciated.
2007-03-09 08:34:24 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
Ursula Le Guin - The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas
Hemingway - Hills Like White Elephants
Hemingway - A Clean Well Lighted Place
F Scott Fitzgerald - Babylon Revisited
Nathaniel Hawthorne - The Birthmark
Nathaniel Hawthorne - Rappuccini's Daughter
Nathaniel Hawthorne - The Artist of the Beautiful
John Cheever - The Swimmer
Raymond Carver - Cathedrals
Flannery O'Connor - A Good Man is Hard to Find
Angela Carter - Lady of the House of Love
Kurt Vonnegut - Welcome to the Monkey House
Kurt Vonnegut - Harrison Bergeron
Charlotte Perkins Gilman - The Yellow Wallpaper
Shirley Jackson- The Lottery
Jorge Luis Borges - The Lottery in Babylon
2017 or Thereabouts ((I dont recall the author''s name)
The Story of the Good Little Boy - Mark Twain
Edgar Allen Poe - Murder on the Rue Morgue
Edgar Allen Poe - The Telltale Heart
Paycheck - Philip K Dick
The Gift of the Magi by O Henry
Herman Melville - Bartleby the Scribner
William Faulkner - A Rose for Emily
Ambrose Bierce - Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Nathaniel Hawthorne - Young Goodman Brown
Araby - James Joyce
The Dead - James Joyce
Leo Tolstoy - The Death of Ivan Ilyich
I could think of tons more = but this is a start for you. Enjoy
2007-03-09 08:54:53 · answer #1 · answered by Persiphone_Hellecat 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Selected Short Fiction - Charles Dickens.
Also Death in Venice and other stories by Thomas Mann. The Road to the Churhyard is paticularly good. It is an allegorical work about life passing you by. It's probably one if the best short stories I've read.
Some of Franz Kafka's short works are very good. Especially 'In the Penal Colony.'
There is also a series of short stories by Albert Camus called 'Exile and the Kingdom.' If you enjoy those try 'The Wall and other stories' by Jean-Paul Sartre.
2007-03-10 06:10:36 · answer #2 · answered by shy_voo 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville is a true classic. Melville wrote it some time after writing Moby-Dick and it's only about 20 pages long in most versions. One of the greatest short stories in English.
The narrator is a lawyer who hires 'scriveners' - basically, reliable clerks who'll copy out legal documents (this is the 19th century and therefore obviously the pre-photocopier era). One day he hires a quiet young fella called Bartleby. Bartleby is a very good scrivener but then, one afternoon, when called upon to do a bit of work, he says in the politest possible way 'I prefer not to.'
As the story goes on, the list of things Bartleby prefers not to do gets longer and longer. It goes from being very funny to really tragic in such a way that you hardly notice the transition. An amazing story; even if Melville hadn't written one of the greatest novels ever, he'd deserve to be immortal just for this story. It'll be in most collections of his shorter works.
If you'd prefer something really silly, try 'Porcupines at the University' by Donald Barthelme, a very strange story about a university and a herd of porcupines.
If you don't want anything that daft but the Melville sounds too old-fashioned, well then shame on you, but in the meantime try Flannery O'Connor's 'A Good Man Is Hard To Find', a quirky and deadpan tale of sin, murder and damnation. It's the title story of one of her two collections of short stories, or you can find it in her 'Collected Stories'. One of the best stories of the 20th century (dates from the 1950s, I think).
2007-03-09 21:23:30 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Machine Stops by E M Forster is an amazing short story- a dark futuristic insight into modern lives predating Orwell's 1984 by about twenty years
2007-03-09 17:14:57 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Every year I enjoy reading the compilation series, The Best America Short Stories of 2006, 2005, 2004--fill in the year. Usually I find at least one or two authors who I like so much I end up buying their books.
2007-03-09 17:06:51 · answer #5 · answered by Ruth E 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ok, this is American but extremely well written group of short stories by James M Cain. Born in 1892 he studied and worked in journalism and later wrote political commentaries for The New York World. Any way his most acclaimed work is probably The Postman Always Rings Twice.
The Baby in The Icebox is a collection of short stories published by penguin and is well worth reading. Some of the stories are chilling, some moving and others downright ludicrous, all reflecting real life beautifully.
Please find it and read.
http://www.penguin.co.uk/
2007-03-09 16:44:55 · answer #6 · answered by ? 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sherman Alexie (author) has several books full of short stories. They are cultural. He is a Native American author.
His books are great. One of his short stories became an all time Native American movie.
Three book suggestions from him with short stories:
Lone Ranger & Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven
Ten Little Indians
The Toughest Indian in the World
2007-03-10 00:07:22 · answer #7 · answered by RedPower Woman 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I recommend picking up a collection of Jack London Shorts
or George Keillor (Prarie HOme Companions) Book of Guys
London, provides an amazing variety of story telling, from Boxing to Gold Mining, even Hawaii. I particularly enjoyed "The Mexican," it is a short story about a mysterious young man who is helping to fight for the mexican revolution, Cleaning Man by day but a street boxer by night, he turns his attention to american boxing and decides to get in the ring and fight for a bigger prize. For Guns for the mexican revolution. An amazing short story, I'd have to say its my fav...but his shjorts are filled with all personalities and lifestlyes.
George Keillors Book of Guys is just great, comedic and if you want to know what happened to the manliness of man, this book is sure to tell you.
2007-03-09 17:05:09 · answer #8 · answered by Ask a Health Nut 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
One of my favorite short stories is by Stacey Richter and I stumbled upon it a few years ago. It's called "Cavemen in the Hedges." It's so original and quirky and just laugh out loud funny. Link below.
2007-03-09 18:02:37 · answer #9 · answered by §Sally§ 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Any short Stories by Edgar Allan Poe and if you want more modern Any short story by Stephen KIing I highly recomend any short story by these two
2007-03-09 16:54:57 · answer #10 · answered by Matthew B 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋