# Your favorite five short stories? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 8, 2003, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/159982 "2003-03-08T23:05:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/159982/1 "2003-03-08T23:05:31Z")
I like short stories in many different genre. Some authors do both novels and short stories, some stick mostly with one or the other. So, if you had to pick five favorite stories what are they? With some authors I have trouble choosing only one favorite, but my list here stick to one from each. I could also post a “second five” later I suppose. So, in no special order: 1. The Man Who Traveled in Elephants, by Robert A. Heinlein 2. Tobermory, by H.H.Munro(Saki) 3. True Minds, by Spider Robinson 4. The Caliph, Cupid, and the Clock, by O. Henry 5. The Return, by H. Beam Piper One of the cats that owns me is named Tobermory, in honor of #2 on the list. And I never read #1 without getting a few tears at the description of the war veterans in the parade. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/159982/2 "2003-03-08T23:39:35Z")
1.) A Piece of Steak by Jack London 2.) A Medicine for Melancholy by Ray Bradbury 3.) Journalism in Tennessee by Mark Twain 4.) The Veil of Astellar by Leigh Brackett 5.) Silver Blaze by Arthur Conan Doyle And to expand the category a bit: **NOVELETTES** 1.) Four Ghosts in Hamlet by Fritz Leiber 2.) The Case Against Carroll by Ellery Queen 3.) No Truce With Kings by Poul Anderson 4.) The Street of the First Shell by Robert W. Chambers 5.) Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones by Samuel Delaney, Jr. **NOVELLAS** 1.) The Only Neat Thing to Do by James Triptree, Jr.2.) The Man Who Sold the Moon by Robert A. Heinlein3.) Goldfish by Raymond Chandler 4.) The Girl With the Silver Eyes by Dashiell Hammett 5.) Hunters of the Sky Cave by Poul Anderson ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/159982/3 "2003-03-08T23:46:05Z")
1 : " ‘Repent Harlequin’ said the TickTockMan" by Harlan Ellison 2 : “The Last Hurrah of the Golden Horde” by Norman Spinrad 3 : “A Medicine for Melancholy” by Ray Bradbury (good choice, Coyote!) 4 : “One is a Wanderer” by James Thurber 5 : “The Dunwich Horror” by H. P. Lovecraft ---
**Author:** ![Profane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@Profane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Profane)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/159982/4 "2003-03-08T23:55:59Z")
I’m going to flout your rules and put collections of short stories on mine: 1. Kelly Link _Stranger Things Happen_ 2. Neil Gaiman _Smoke and Mirrors_ 3. Angela Carter _The Bloody Chamber_ 4. Charles de Lint _Dreams Underfoot_ A bunch are tied for fifth, I can’t choose. I can’t praise Kelly Link highly enough, she’s amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Treviathan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/838e76/32.png) [@Treviathan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treviathan)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/159982/5 "2003-03-08T23:57:18Z")
Cool thread. I find short stories are vastly underappreciated. In no particular order, 1. The Swimmer, by John Cheever 2. The Beggar Maid, by Alice Munro 3. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, by Ambrose Bierce 4. Man Descending, by Guy Vanderhaeghe 5. The Slave, by Roddy Doyle ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/159982/6 "2003-03-09T01:23:55Z")
“Harrison Bergenon” by Kurt Vonnegut ---
**Author:** ![Merseybeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Merseybeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merseybeat)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/159982/7 "2003-03-09T01:35:03Z")
“I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream” by Harlan Ellison. ---
**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:** [March 9, 2003, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/159982/8 "2003-03-09T01:42:35Z")
“Dante and the Lobster” by Samuel Beckett. “The Blue Cross” by G.K. Chesterton. “The Judgment” by Franz Kafka. “Mimsey were the Borogoves” by Henry Kuttner. “The Dog that Bit People” by James Thurber. ---
**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:** [March 9, 2003, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/159982/9 "2003-03-09T01:49:20Z")
Damn it, **Eutychus** already picked a Thurber. Change that last one to George Ade’s “The Fable of the Adult Girl Who Got Busy Before They Could Ring the Bell on Her.” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Punkyova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@The\_Punkyova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Punkyova)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/159982/10 "2003-03-09T01:49:43Z")
The Hills Like White Elephants by Earnest Hemingway ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/159982/11 "2003-03-09T02:15:41Z")
**Ukulele Ike** , no reason why you shouldn’t pick a Thurber as well. And I much approve of your “Mimsey Were the Borogoves” by Kuttner, although I liked “The Proud Robot” better. I prefer humor if I can get it, although my five choices don’t all have happy endings. The one by O.Henry is at best bittersweet, and the death of the cat in Saki’s, while thankfully not murder, still cast a pall on the tale. My second five choices would be “Sredni Vashtar”, also by H.H.Munro(Saki) I heard this was once made into an episode of the old Alfred Hitchcock show, although I have not been able to confirm it. “Mammon and the Archer”, another O.Henry story. “The Diary of Adam and Eve” by Mark Twain. I love the last line of that, as Adam stands by the grave of Eve. “Lifeline” by Robert A. Heinlein. Shows exactly why I would never want to know the future in any way, shape, or form. “Custom Fitting” by James White. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything else by this author, but the story is priceless. I loved the indignation of the tailor when he said "And for this you want me to make a – a _horse blanket?_ ---
**Author:** ![noodler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/278dde/32.png) [@noodler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/noodler)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/159982/12 "2003-03-09T02:55:54Z")
1. Shooting an Elephant- George Orwell 2. The Catbird Seat- James Thurber 3. Bartleby the Scrivener- Herman Melville 4. The Penal Colony- Franz Kafka 5. The Ransom of Red Chief- O. Henry ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/159982/13 "2003-03-09T03:02:20Z")
“A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” by Ernest Hemingway “An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge” Ambrose Bierce “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” Washington Irving “The Snows of Killimanjaro” Ernest Hemingway and this might be a novella but “Innocents Abroad” by Mark Twain ---
**Author:** ![harrije](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@harrije](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harrije)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/159982/14 "2003-03-09T03:44:44Z")
“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner “An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce “The School” by Donald Barhtelme “Why I Live at the P.O.” by Eudora Welty “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/159982/15 "2003-03-09T04:04:35Z")
One of my favorite parties was a Short Story Party – we each read a short story to the assembled multitudes (well, okay, there were like a half dozen or so). Lights low, music low, very moody. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/159982/16 "2003-03-09T04:21:53Z")
1. Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge, Ambrose Bierce 2. Gift of the Magi, O. Henry 3. Harrison Burgeron, Kurt Vonnegut 4. Diary of Adam & Eve, Mark Twain 5. Secret Life of Walter Mitty, James Thurber ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/159982/17 "2003-03-09T04:24:20Z")
1. “The Snow Goose” - Paul Gallico 2. “Paul’s Case” - Willa Cather And now I’ll cheat… 1. Anything by Damon Runyan 2. All of Stephan King’s “Night Shift” 3. Most of Somerset Maughm ---
**Author:** ![magog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/fbc32d/32.png) [@magog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magog)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/159982/18 "2003-03-09T04:32:32Z")
Since Ellison, Vonnegut, Robinson, and Thurber have all been chosen, I’m going to add \The Lottery\ and \Daemon Lover\, both by Shirley Jackson. Not sure if I could limit myself to five. ---
**Author:** ![FranticMad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c68b51/32.png) [@FranticMad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FranticMad)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/159982/19 "2003-03-09T04:43:30Z")
One or two from “The Dubliners” by Joyce ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/159982/20 "2003-03-09T04:55:20Z")
1. “Christmas Morning” by Frank O’Connor 2. “The Musgrave Ritual” by Arthur Conan Doyle 3. “The Oracle of the Dog” by G.K. Chesterton 4. “The Great Sermon Handicap” by P.G. Wodehouse 5. “The Jaunt” by Stephen King [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/159982.md?page=2)