# favorite short stories **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 19, 2020, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/852098 "2020-04-19T03:20:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/852098/1 "2020-04-19T03:20:53Z")
I was watching an old episode of Jeopary last night and the answer was the river Ebro in Spain. I didn’t know it, but Ebro rang a bell in my mind and I remembered Hemingway’s Old Man at the Bridge. _There was nothing to do about him. It was Easter Sunday and the Fascists were advancing toward the Ebro. It was a gray overcast day with a low ceiling so their planes were not up. That and the fact that cats know how to look after themselves was all the good luck that old man would ever have._ Then there is A Clean, Well Lighted Place. \*Turning off the electric light he continued the conversation with himself. It was the light of course but it is necessary that the place be clean and pleasant. You do not want music. Certainly you do not want music. [Well, I would like music] Nor can you stand before a bar with dignity although that is all that is provided for these hours. What did he fear? It was not a fear or dread. It was a nothing that he knew too well. \* And Hills Like White Elephants. _Can you please please please please please please please stop talking._ I especially like that, no commas After starting to write this, I read them all again. I started out to write just the first paragraph and ask for recommendations about short stories. Not my preferred genre. I think the only other collection of short stories I have ever read was a Stephen King collection. And I not usually into horror. Would like recommendations of short stories that are, sorry, Hemingwayesque. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/852098/2 "2020-04-19T03:32:00Z")
Dolan’s Cadillac by Stephen King. A perfectly rendered story of revenge. I think Stephen King’s short stories are his best stories. Protaganist has a reason to seek revenge, protaganist plans out the revenge, protaganist acts upon his plan, protaganist scores his victory, the end. I could have also nominated H.P. Lovecraft’s “At The Mountains Of Madness”, but for a short story, it’s actually kind of long. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/852098/3 "2020-04-19T06:45:22Z")
If you like Hemingway, you’ll probably like the short stories of W. Somerset Maugham. Short, brilliantly written, and usually with a twist in the tail. They range through all emotions and situations, and are always thought-provoking. Written and set in the 1920s and 1930s, with both British and American characters. His novels are good too. [Here’s](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I2G730O/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1) one you can read in the Amazon preview, set in colonial Samoa (_‘Mackintosh’_). Personally, I like the humorous ones like _Mr Know-All, The Facts of Life, The Three Fat Women of Antibes._ ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/852098/4 "2020-04-19T07:35:55Z")
Henry Lawson, Australian poet and writer around the turn of the 20th century. The best selection of his work can be found in the anthology “While the Billy Boils” 1896. Lawson wrote humour, pathos and socialpolitical with equal dexterity and a paucity of sentimentality. ‘[The Loaded Dog](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Loaded_Dog)’, ‘[The Drover’s Wife](http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/DrovWife.shtml)’ and ‘[The Union Buries Its Dead](http://www.telelib.com/authors/L/LawsonHenry/prose/billyboils_1/unionburies.html)’. His poetry is alternatively brilliant and fragile. Though set a couple of decades earlier in the 1890s drought a US reader could set the context for “[Past Carin](http://www.ironbarkresources.com/henrylawson/PastCarin.html)” as if the speaker could have been one of Steinbeck’s Joad women at the time of the Okie Clearances. ---
**Author:** ![wombattver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b77776/32.png) [@wombattver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wombattver)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/852098/5 "2020-04-19T14:24:36Z")
There are some great ones by Dorothy Parker. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/852098/6 "2020-04-19T14:43:22Z")
Alice Munro is a stellar Canadian writer of short stories. Raymond Carver? My favourite King short story is “Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut”. I just read “Olive Kitteridge” and it’s a novel, but it’s really a series of connecting short stories. It was very, very, very, very good. ---
**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:** [April 19, 2020, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/852098/7 "2020-04-19T15:21:49Z")
A couple of great stories by James Thurber: [The Catbird Seat](http://www.columbia.edu/~jjl2217/The_Catbird_Seat_Annotated.pdf) [The Secret Life of Walter Mitty](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1939/03/18/the-secret-life-of-walter-james-thurber) ---
**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:** [April 19, 2020, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/852098/8 "2020-04-19T17:00:59Z")
I was a big fan of Raymond Carver back in the 80s, but re-reading again, a fair number of stories have a grubby feel and/or misogyny that doesn’t hold up well. That said, “Cathedral” still holds up really well. There is a terrific compilation series that comes out every year called Best American Short Stories. you can buy them used really cheaply on Amazon, you don’t have to have the most recent ones, and you get a wide diversity of styles that you can follow up on. I have them going all the way back to the 70s, and I’ve discovered a lot of writers through them. The Dope kept crashing while I typed that, excuse any grammar errors. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/852098/9 "2020-04-19T17:06:54Z")
We’ve done short story recommendation threads before, but it’s been awhile. [Short stories high school students should read](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=568239) [Your favorite five short stories?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=601030) [Your 5 favorite short stories](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=473351) ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/852098/10 "2020-04-19T19:03:11Z")
The Irish writer Frank O’Connor was a master of the form. Two of my favorites are _First Confession_, which is an incredibly funny story about a boy making his first confession, and _Guests of the Nation_ (not funny at all). ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/852098/11 "2020-04-19T20:28:46Z")
If we’re talking about Irish writers, don’t forget James Joyce, especially his collection of short stories _The Dubliners_. _The Dead_ is perhaps the most powerful short story I’ve ever read. It’s gentle, slow, and subtle, and builds up gradually, but you won’t ever forget it. From the [wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dead_(short_story)#Reception): > [@](#): > > Dan Barry of The New York Times called “The Dead” “just about the finest short story in the English language” on the centennial of Dubliners.[4] T. S. Eliot called it one of the greatest short stories ever written.[5] ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/852098/12 "2020-04-19T21:57:48Z")
Flannery O’Connor Paul Bowles ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/852098/13 "2020-04-19T22:34:18Z")
John O’Hara was a total dick of a human being and most of his novels blew goats, but damn…could he write short stories! “Over the River and Through the Woods” is his most revered, and it certainly is a barn-burner, but I’ve always been extremely fond of “Graven Image.” After his death in 1970, American readers completely forgot about him (he didn’t want his stories to appear in academic anthologies, where literature student might encounter them) and I’ve only met one other human being who read **Appointment in Samarra** , his first novel, and the one that didn’t blow goats. > **[John O'Hara](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_O'Hara)** > > John Henry O'Hara (January 31, 1905 – April 11, 1970) was one of America's most prolific writers of short stories, credited with helping to invent The New Yorker magazine short story style. He became a best-selling novelist before the age of 30 with Appointment in Samarra and BUtterfield 8. While O'Hara's legacy as a writer is debated, his champions rank him highly among the under-appreciated and unjustly neglected major American writers of the 20th century. Few college students educated af "O’Ha... ---
**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:** [April 20, 2020, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/852098/14 "2020-04-20T01:40:30Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > John O’Hara was a total dick of a human being and most of his novels blew goats, but damn…could he write short stories! > > “Over the River and Through the Woods” is his most revered, and it certainly is a barn-burner, but I’ve always been extremely fond of “Graven Image.” > > After his death in 1970, American readers completely forgot about him (he didn’t want his stories to appear in academic anthologies, where literature student might encounter them) and I’ve only met one other human being who read **Appointment in Samarra** , his first novel, and the one that didn’t blow goats. > > [John O'Hara - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_O'Hara) When I was a teenager I bought for some reason a combo Appointment in Samarra/BUtterfield 8. The former was decent, the latter was awful, though maybe it would read better now that I’m older. ---
**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:** [April 20, 2020, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/852098/15 "2020-04-20T01:55:14Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > When I was a teenager I bought for some reason a combo Appointment in Samarra/BUtterfield 8. The former was decent, the latter was awful, though maybe it would read better now that I’m older. I just retrieved it, it has a third section as well! “Hope of Heaven”… I have no recollection of this at all. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/852098/16 "2020-04-20T16:13:19Z")
Philadelphia-based writer [Larry Loebell](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30688231-the-abundance-league) has a strong collection of short stories called “The Abundance League”. There’s a story in there called " 49 Seconds In A Box ". It’s one of the most perfect short stories I’ve ever read. Highly recommend his stuff. His first novel is pretty nifty as well. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/852098/17 "2020-04-20T17:14:30Z")
Mark Twain’s **The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County** – This is the story that put Twain on the map, and you can see why. Twain’s **The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut** Fredric Brown’s **Arena** – Brown was a master of the short story. This is one of his best. The Star Trek episode of the same name was NOT adapted from it – they just bought the rights when they realized how similar the two were. Brown’s is much better. Arthur Conan Doyle’s **Silver Blaze** – he takes liberties with the way horse raxes were run, but it’s a great little mystery. And it gave us the phrase “The Curious Icident of the Dog in the Night Time.” H.P. Lovecraft’s \*\* Pickman’s Model\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/852098/18 "2020-04-20T17:16:28Z")
“Tobermory” by H.H. MUnro, aka Saki It’s a typical British house party until one of the guests, a professor from Germany, tells everyone he’s perfected a method of teaching animals to talk, and he’s had his first success with their housecat Tobermory. [Short Stories: Tobermory by Saki](http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/Tob.shtml) It’s my favorite short story, but some other’s of that author come close. One less well known is “The Toys of Peace” As meaningful now as it was a hundred years ago when it was written. [Short Stories: The Toys Of Peace by Saki](http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/ToysPeac.shtml) ---
**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:** [April 20, 2020, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/852098/19 "2020-04-20T17:21:53Z")
> [@wombattver](#): > > There are some great ones by Dorothy Parker. She loved Hemingway as well, and knew him personally. Here is her story [“Soldiers of the Republic”](http://americanlit215.weebly.com/uploads/8/4/0/1/8401456/soldiers_of_the_republic.pdf) [link to PDF], set during the Spanish civil war. It’s just brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2020, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/852098/20 "2020-04-20T17:28:18Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Twain’s **The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut** Is that the one with the missing elephant? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/852098.md?page=2)