# Your 5 favorite short stories **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 27, 2008, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-5-favorite-short-stories/454401 "2008-06-27T04:47:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-5-favorite-short-stories/454401/41 "2008-06-29T03:06:29Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] I love “Sophistication,” but I do not see how it can be called a short story. [/QUOTE] [Winesburg, Ohio](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winesburg,_Ohio_(novel)) is essentially a loosely connected collection of short stories, of which “Sophistication” is one. It can stand alone just fine. Whence the confusion? (Weren’t many of the “chapters” in _Winesburg, Ohio_ originally published as stand-alone short stories? Seems like I read that somewhere.) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-5-favorite-short-stories/454401/42 "2008-06-29T03:19:24Z")
“Christmas Morning” by Frank O’Connor “The Jaunt” by Stephen King “The Great Sermon Handicap” by P.G. Wodehouse “The Musgrave Ritual” by Arthur Conan Doyle “Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven” by Mark Twain ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-5-favorite-short-stories/454401/43 "2008-06-29T03:33:23Z")
[“Paper Pills”](http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Sherwood_Anderson/Winesburg_Ohio/PAPER_PILLS_concerning_Doctor_Reefy_p1.html) - Sherwood Anderson [“Indian Camp”](http://hjem.get2net.dk/PukDegnegaard/IC.html) - Ernest Hemingway [“The Man Who Would Be King”](http://www.classicreader.com/read.php/bookid.2975/sec.1/) - Rudyard Kipling [“Chickamauga”](http://www.classicreader.com/read.php/bookid.1167/sec./) - Ambrose Bierce **“The Displaced Person”** - Flannery O’Connor ---
**Author:** ![Timchik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@Timchik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timchik)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-5-favorite-short-stories/454401/44 "2008-06-29T05:49:24Z")
“The Last Question” - Isaac Asimov “The Dead” - James Joyce “The Year of the Jackpot” - Robert A. Heinlein [Give It Up](http://www.herzogbr.net/kafka/giveitup.htm) by Franz Kafka “The Machine Stops” - E.M. Forster ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-5-favorite-short-stories/454401/45 "2008-06-29T08:13:37Z")
In no particular order… _There are some days…_ by Frederick Forsyth (Actually, all the short stories in _No Comebacks_ are excellent, IMHO) _The Nine Billion Names Of God_- Arthur C. Clarke _I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream_- Harlan Ellison _The Man Who Would Be King_- Rudyard Kipling _A Scandal in Bohemia_- Arthur Conan Doyle ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Buttons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@Mr\_Buttons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Buttons)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-5-favorite-short-stories/454401/46 "2008-06-29T08:18:05Z")
“The Pit and the Pendulum” - Poe “The Lottery” Shirley Jackson Those are the only 2 truly memorably ones for me, it’s been like 10 years since I read a “Short Story”. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-5-favorite-short-stories/454401/47 "2008-06-29T17:51:16Z")
“The Green Hills of Earth” by Robert Heinlein. “How the Heroes Die” by Larry Niven. “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” by Katherine Anne Porter. “The Street” by H.P. Lovecraft. “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_and_a_Half_Inches_of_Fun)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-5-favorite-short-stories/454401/48 "2008-06-29T18:01:31Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] [Winesburg, Ohio](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winesburg,_Ohio_(novel)) is essentially a loosely connected collection of short stories, of which “Sophistication” is one. It can stand alone just fine. Whence the confusion? (Weren’t many of the “chapters” in _Winesburg, Ohio_ originally published as stand-alone short stories? Seems like I read that somewhere.) [/QUOTE] I am pretty sure none of the _Winesburg, Ohio_ was published prior to the publication of the novel of in 1919. And it is a novel. It may be experimental in form, but it is still a novel. Just because you can take a section of novel out and have it stand alone, that does not make what you take out a short story. ---
**Author:** ![Paladud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Paladud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paladud)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-5-favorite-short-stories/454401/49 "2008-06-29T19:29:37Z")
Mr. Botibol by Roald Dahl The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut I can’t conclusively name another two; there would be lots of Dahl and Stephen King stories among the candidates, though. If we’re including novellas, I’d pick Gene Wolfe’s “The Fifth Head of Cerberus” (and stick it at the top of the list) and King’s “The Long Walk.” ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-5-favorite-short-stories/454401/50 "2008-07-10T21:00:37Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] I am pretty sure none of the _Winesburg, Ohio_ was published prior to the publication of the novel of in 1919. And it is a novel. It may be experimental in form, but it is still a novel. Just because you can take a section of novel out and have it stand alone, that does not make what you take out a short story. [/QUOTE] Some pieces were published before 1919. [Cite](http://www.answers.com/topic/winesburg-ohio-novel-7). From the same source: By their author’s own admission, then, the individual chapters appeared to stand on their own, and early readers generally followed this lead, seeing in Winesburg a short story collection. Only later…did Anderson’s readers seriously consider the possible unity of Winesburg as a novel. Its “possible unity” (which I agree with, by the way) doesn’t change the fact that the stories can stand on their own – and, historically, some of them did so. ---
**Author:** ![Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/48db29/32.png) [@Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Key_Lime_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-5-favorite-short-stories/454401/51 "2008-07-10T21:05:43Z")
…without reading the thread: 1. “The Kiss” by Tobias Wolff 2. “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver 3. “A&P” by John Updike 4. “The Moor” by Russell Banks 5. “A Small, Good Thing” by Raymond Carver ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-5-favorite-short-stories/454401/52 "2008-07-10T21:32:23Z")
[QUOTE=Key Lime Guy] …without reading the thread: “A&P” by John Updike [/quote] I almost included this as a second selection on my list of one… ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-5-favorite-short-stories/454401/53 "2008-07-10T22:09:44Z")
Aiken’s “Silent Snow, Secret Snow” Faulkner’s “Spotted Horses” Lawrence’s “The Rocking-Horse Winner” Salinger’s “For Esmé with Love and Squalor” Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-5-favorite-short-stories/454401/54 "2008-07-10T22:51:57Z")
Asimov’s **Nightfall** , **The Last Question** and \*\*The Dead Past \*\* and Clark’s **The Nine Billion Names of God** are the ones that come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-5-favorite-short-stories/454401/55 "2008-07-11T02:29:34Z")
Toni Morrison’s Recitatif is my favorite short story to teach, because 95% of the sudents don’t get the point of it until the class discussion. The story is about two girls, one white and one black – but never tells you which is which. Nearly all readers make an assumption about which of the girls is white/black; but which you think is which has more to do with you and your assumptions than anything the story says. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-5-favorite-short-stories/454401/56 "2008-07-11T02:37:59Z")
This seems like a good thread to ask this question in; I read an excellent short story a while back on the 'net but I can’t remember what it was called. It was about a woman trying to convince an paranoid A.I. chip inside a car to tell her where it was, but without acting suspicious enough for it to set off the alarm, or unsuspicious enough for it to set off the alarm. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Aquila\_Be](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Aquila\_Be](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquila_Be)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-5-favorite-short-stories/454401/57 "2008-07-11T04:45:08Z")
Out of several dozen (including a few from the early twentieth Century) and in no particular order: “Robots Don’t Cry” Mike Resnick “The Ruum” Arthur Porges “Last Enemy” H. Beam Piper “A Martian Odyssey” Stanley G. Weinbaum “Fondly Fahrenheit” Alfred Bester ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-5-favorite-short-stories/454401/58 "2008-07-11T07:04:30Z")
1. The Man to Lazy to Fail - Robert A. Heinlein Yes, I know it is technically a chapter in _Time Enough For Love_, but it is a great short story in its own right. 2. An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge - Ambrose Bierce I love his writing and since I can’t include _The Devil’s Dictionary_ as a short story . . . 3. The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet - Stephen King Surprisingly not a supernatural or horror story, but with a few elements that make you say, “Wait a minute.” 4. Caught in the Organ Draft - Robert Silverberg I’ve just discovered his writing and it is so brutal. This is my favorite of his so far. 5. The Empire of Ice Cream - Jeffrey Ford The ending is simultaneously tragic and WTF?! Of course, tomorrow I may pick a completely different 5. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-5-favorite-short-stories/454401/59 "2008-07-11T12:10:42Z")
In no particular order, **Strawberry Spring** - Stephen King **The Wendigo** - Algernon Blackwood **Person to Person** - Richard Matheson **The Last Question** - Isaac Asimov **Metzengetstein** - E.A. Poe ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-5-favorite-short-stories/454401/60 "2008-07-11T14:05:21Z")
[QUOTE=ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies] I have one favorite… “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” by Katherine Anne Porter [/QUOTE] I see many of my favorites in this thread, but here’s my list: “Noon Wine,” Katherine Anne Porter “Cass Mastern’s Wedding Ring,” Robert Penn Warren “The Ballad of the Sad Cafe,” Carson McCullers “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” Flannery O’Connor And … I can’t choose just one story, so the last place goes to the entire short fiction output of Eudora Welty and Stephen King. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-5-favorite-short-stories/454401.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-5-favorite-short-stories/454401.md?page=4)