# Favorite short stories **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [May 31, 2026, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512 "2026-05-31T18:27:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/21 "2026-06-01T01:28:41Z")
“Dog Eared Paperback of my Life” Lucius Shepard “Sleepover” Alastair Reynolds “Beyond the Aquila Rift” Alastair Reynolds “The Custodians” Richard Cowper “Light of Other Days” Bob Shaw “The Two Old Women” Vivian Meik ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/22 "2026-06-01T01:30:29Z")
Story of Your Life - Ted Chiang ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/23 "2026-06-01T02:27:58Z")
I have an absolute favorite: “The Waltz,” by Dorothy Parker is by far my favorite story, and has been since I fist read it. Here are some others I like: “You Were Perfectly Fine” also by Parker “Arrangement in Black and White” also by Parker “Rape Fantasies” by Margaret Atwood “Witness for the Prosecution” by Agatha Christie “The Great Sermon Handicap” by PG Wodehouse “The Crime Wave at Blandings” also by Wodehouse “Portrait of a Disciplinarian” also by Wodehouse “Clay” by James Joyce “You Can Prove Too Much” by Dorothy Sayers “The Bella Lingua” by John Cheever “Franny” (The short story that is the first part of “Franny & Zooey”-- not crazy about “Zooey”) by JD Salinger That’s all I got, and I gotta go, but I’m sure I’ll think of more. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/24 "2026-06-01T03:22:48Z")
My absolute favorite is “The Dead” by James Joyce. Interesting to see so many other Joyce short stories in this thread but not that one. I also really like “Araby”. Quite a few mentioned are favorites as well - “A Rose For Emily”, “The Ones Who Walked Away from Omegas”, “I Have No Mouth…”. I also actually prefer Hemingways short stories to his novels - so something like “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” would probably be on my list. Updike wrote some really nice short stories too - maybe “A&P”. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/25 "2026-06-01T03:33:47Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > James White—Custom Fitting—A British tailor has a client preparing to be presented to the Queen. Great tale, and available online. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/26 "2026-06-01T03:36:54Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > Updike wrote some really nice short stories too - maybe “A&P”. I read a good _New Yorker_ one of his about a golfing caddy giving extramarital advice. Yeah Emily and Macomber are good’uns. Is Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” too novella-y? Hills Like White Elephants - Ernest Hemingway Clean, Well-Lighted Place - Ernie The Duchess and the Jeweller - Virginia Wolfe Odor of Chrysanthemums - DH Lawrence ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/27 "2026-06-01T04:00:29Z")
_The Lottery_ by Shirley Jackson. The day is coming up in a few short weeks: June 27. Gather your rocks and stones, people! ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/28 "2026-06-01T04:02:39Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > I read a good _New Yorker_ one of his about a golfing caddy giving extramarital advice. Just found it online and quite enjoyed that! Thank you for the recommendation. Actually a bit in the same vein of Araby and A&P, except at the other end of life. A sort of self-awakening regarding the falseness of your own desires and self-image. The Updike story (Farrell’s Caddie) is here for anybody that might want to read it: [Farrell’s Caddie | The New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1991/02/25/farrells-caddie) ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/29 "2026-06-01T04:34:05Z")
My two favourite genres of short story are science fiction and horror. Two great masters of the craft are, respectively, Arthur C Clarke and Stephen King. I can’t really name any standout favourites because just about all the short stories they wrote are great. > [@ricepad](#): > > _The Lottery_ by Shirley Jackson. The day is coming up in a few short weeks: June 27. Gather your rocks and stones, people! Shirley Jackson’s short stories are brooding and atmospheric but often leave the reader wondering what they were really about. Jackson once said that after its publication she received a lot of questions about “the real meaning” of _The Lottery_. OTOH, her skill at building mood and atmosphere served her well in the novel _The Haunting of Hill House_. The novel begins and ends with the same evocative paragraph that reads like poetry. It was later adapted into an excellent movie, _The Haunting_ – the 1963 movie with Claire Bloom and Julie Harris, not to be confused with the terrible 1999 remake. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/30 "2026-06-01T04:41:41Z")
“The Master of No Man’s Land” by Lord Dunsany (a very short story from WW1) “The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes” by Kipling ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/31 "2026-06-01T04:52:13Z")
Almost all of mine are science fiction. Ray Bradbury - “There Will Come Soft Rains” HP Lovecraft - “The Street” & “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” Stephen King - “Home Delivery”, “The Jaunt” Ray Nelson - “Eight O’Clock in the Morning” Richard Matheson - “Born of Man and Woman” Cordwainer Smith - “Scanners Live in Vain” Isaac Asimov - “Liar!”, “The Bicentennial Man” Jack Williamson - “With Folded Hands” E.M. Forster - “The Machine Stops” ---
**Author:** ![cieskokid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cieskokid/32/5374_2.png) [@cieskokid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cieskokid)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/32 "2026-06-01T04:58:28Z")
Excellent to see someone mention “Pierre Menard, Author of Don Quixote” by, IMHO, the short story master Jorge Luis Borges. For me he’s also the most varied of the magical realist school of authors. Buy OR go to your local library for his “Collected Ficciones” and read ANY of his stories and his literary style and eloquence will astound you. Of special note are “The Circular Ruins” and “Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius”. > **[Jorge Luis Borges](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Luis_Borges#Fact,_fantasy_and_non-linearity%5C)** > > Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges (/ˈbɔːrhɛs/ BOR-hess; .mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}Spanish: \[ˈxoɾxe ˈlwis ˈboɾxes\] ⓘ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known works, Ficciones (t ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/33 "2026-06-01T05:12:21Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Shirley Jackson’s short stories are brooding and atmospheric but often leave the reader wondering what they were really about. Jackson once said that after its publication she received a lot of questions about “the real meaning” of _The Lottery_. ISTR we read _The Lottery_ in 10th grade, and had a class discussion about it. We argued for the better part of an hour over what it meant. Toward the end of class, I looked our teacher. Miss Anderson was practically beaming over the discussion, and refused to play referee. She left us with a very unsatisfying (to a bunch of 15-year olds, at least) “you’ll have to figure out what it means for yourselves.” ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/34 "2026-06-01T05:44:00Z")
Well, it certainly looks at the ominous dynamics of tradition. Anyhoos… Baptizing - Alice Munro Best Good Girl Ever - Leon Rooke House of Moaning Drunkards - LR Animal Crackers - Charles Bukowski Twelve Flying Moneys Who Won’t Copulate Properly - CB The Great Zen Wedding - CB Great Poets Die in Steaming Pots of Shit - CB The Stupid Christs - CB and, like, a whole bunch more of his stuff ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/35 "2026-06-01T07:12:09Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Hills Like White Elephants - Ernest Hemingway I am quite a fan of a short story from an Ernest Hemingway parody competition, “Hills Like White Heffalumps”, if you can locate it. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/36 "2026-06-01T09:20:19Z")
“The Rocking Horse Winner” - D.H. Lawrence. Even in high school, when I was too young to bet on horse racing legally, I was interested in the sport. My Mom would bet my $2 on my selection when she went to the track. When we studied this story in high school English, it struck a chord. “After Twenty Years” - O. Henry. He’s known for his twist endings, but none of his work has such a twist as this, IMHO. I recorded this one as part of a “Reading for the Blind” service that I occasionally recorded for. “The Cask of Amontillado” - Edgar Allen Poe. I first read this when I was about 12, and it sent chills up my spine. I’ve since read it many times, and I know how Poe did it when I was twelve: he drags out the suspense. Fine work, and a great story. _Wild Animals I Have Known_ -Ernest Thompson Seton. This is a collection of stories about animals that Seton had encountered in his travels through nature. All are worth reading. I’ve only read the library’s copy, but if you have a first and are willing to sell it, we should talk. There are no doubt others, but they’re not coming to mind right now. If they do, I will certainly post them. Don’t forget that we used to have Flash Fiction short story contests here on the Straight Dope. They were hosted by @Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela , and should still be available. Use our search for @Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela and “flash fiction,” and see if any of the offerings over a number of such contests are worthy of posting in this thread. (I hope you do; our Doper writers are very talented.) ---
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/37 "2026-06-01T12:27:06Z")
Off the top of my head. **Borges** - _The Library of Babel_ **Virginia Woolf** - _The Mark on the Wall_ **Katherine Mansfield** - _Feuille d’Album_ **Poe** - _The Fall of the House of Usher_ **Lovecraft** - _The Colour Out of Space_ **Zweig** - _Amok_ **Gogol** - _The Nose_ ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/38 "2026-06-01T13:02:31Z")
I’ve read countless short stories in my long life and I can’t remember all my favorites, but: Just about anything by Ray Bradbury. “Zero Hour” is still chilling. (‘peekaboo’) Just about anything by William Somerset Maugham. ‘Rain’ and ‘The Letter’ are but two. ‘Force of Circumstance’ is burned in my memory, as are the stories of a spy, ‘Ashenden’. All are pre-WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/39 "2026-06-01T15:16:19Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > Updike wrote some really nice short stories too - maybe “A&P”. “Alligators” is one of my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/40 "2026-06-01T15:44:06Z")
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