Lots of wonderful choices that I would agree with in this thread and several that I haven’t read but have noted for the future. I think Heart of Darkness deserves a place here too.
A couple that come to mind -
Leo Tolstoy : The Death of Ivan Ilych
Karen Bender : Eternal Love
For short story fans, I’ve found the annual Best American Short Stories series (houghton mifflin co.)to be very worthwhile reading.
It’s hard to come up with a specific favorite, but I’ll mention a few of my personal favorites:
The Cask of Amontillado, by Edgar Allan Poe
My Kinsman, Major Molineaux, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike *
**
Ah, well. It’s amazing what’s true, as someone might have said once. I’m told TS Eliot was pretty right-wing himself. Anyhoo, the guy’s old… I don’t know who Ed Meese is, but y’know. People are assholes. That includes you and me.
[Work with me here, people. I cannot allow myself not to like Bradbury]
Now let’s write Usher III, and never speak of this episode again.
O. Henry is the master of the twist. Try “The Last Leaf”.
Sorry, my friend, but Chubby Checker is the master of the twist.
Is also my favorite. Conrad Aiken is really a forgotten marvel.
Second from me.
The first one I thought of, automatically.
I’ll go with ** The Star** by Arthur C. Clarke.
At least, I think that’s the name…
and The Mangler by Stephen King is pretty damn good, too…
“dream of a … man”
I forgot the adjective, it is a short story about the transformation of human nature.
Dream of a Ridiculous Man
A great short story that changed my life.
I’m not a big King fan (the uncut The Stand nearly killed me), but I have a thing for interesting narrative points of view, so I got hold of this and read it. The narrator is dying, actually, but the effect on the story is essentially the same. It was an good story with lots of fun moments. Thanks to both Dopers who recommended it!
Nothing to add but my hearty agreement.
“Postin’ ‘me too!’
Like some brain-dead AOLer”
I can’t believe no one has mentioned Heinlein’s short stories. A few of his best:
“The Green Hills of Earth”
“The Long Watch”
“Life-Line”
“The Man who Sold the Moon”
“Requiem”
In mainstream fiction, I like a lot of Hemingway’s short stories. Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge” is great stuff. Or Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game”.
My favorite short story (actually a novella) would be “Flowers for Algernon”. It was later padded out into a novel, but the shorter work is better, IMO.
"The Rocking Horse Winner" by D.H. Lawrence is far and away my favorite short story.
But I’ll second pepperlandgirl’s vote for “Young Goodman Brown”.