Favorite Short Stories?

[LazyLearner]

I love to read short stories. It's fast to read and easy to comprehend the story. Based on that, which short stories do you recommend?

My favorites are Isaac Asimov's "The Last Question"; Allan Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" and, "A Scandal in Bohemia" written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, all of them are great short stories, and I recommend to you!

I would appreciate new suggestions, something good to read when I'm bored. 

[AExAVF]

In my English literature class during my college years, some of the short stories I recall are In A Grove by Ryunosuke Akutagawa and Feast of the Dead by Cevdet Kudret.  In A Grove tells the happening of the event from multiple perspectives, and this was adapted by AKira Kurosawa for his film Rashomon.  The Feast of the Dead narrates the effects of poverty on a family, and how the family is eventually ruined because of the death of its only breadwinner.  It likewise shows the helplessness of the widow in failing to support her family, and the ulterior motives of the younger brother for his elder brother to die.

[LauraM]

I also enjoy short stories.  Over the years, there have been several short story collections that I have read numerous times.  I think it's really exciting to find a short story author who does put out entire collections.  While the stories stand alone, they are sometimes connected thematically.

Here are a few of my favorite short story collections, that I highly recommend. 

Lorrie Moore: "Self-Help" and "Like Life"

Raymond Carver: "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love"  Also, the "Collected Stories" which was published posthumously

Richard Ford: "Rock Springs"

[Rosa]

I always loved short stories as a child and have read quite a few. My favorites being Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel because of the children's courage. However, my favorite short stories as an adult are Rip Van Wrinkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, maybe because they were the first ones I read.

[Cielosur]

I love the short stories written by Shirley Jackson:  The Lottery, Charles, and The Possibility of Evil. The first Shirley Jackson story I read was The Lottery.  I read it in high school and I never forgot it. 

[Cap2jitsu]

I always loved 'The Scarlet Ibis' by James Hurst. All throughout high school we would use this as the short story to look into for symbols, personification, foreshadowing, and all. It is truly a fun piece to pick apart!

[PashaR]

"A Scandal in Bohemia" is, of course, a Sherlock Holmes story. I find all of these stories enjoyable to read. Doyle wrote only four Sherlock Holmes novels (The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Sign of the Four, A Study in Scarlet, The Valley of Fear). It's easy to find a "complete Sherlock Holmes" collection as either an ebook or a paper book.

My favorite short story writer is O. Henry. His writing (language, I mean) is probably a bit more advanced, and for beginners in English, his stories will be quite difficult to understand. His humor is subtle, he uses slang, many idioms and colloquialisms, and he had an extensive vocabulary. But his stories are funny, witty, adventurous, and often have a great twist at the end.

[Kektheman]

I don't read short stories a lot, but I've recently stumbled upon a really good short stories book! I bought a used book for 1€ because I liked the cover. Good choice! It's called Contes carnivores by Bernard Quiriny. A compilation of fantastic short stories with weird twists and horrific elements. Definitely worth a read!

[raytalks]

I am a fan of Isaac Asimov as well as any Sherlock Holmes Adventures. My favorite Asimov book is 'I Robot', a movie was made of it, but it was never as good. As for Sherlock Holmes, I think I have almost read all of his cases. I remember having read a book of short fantasy stories a few years back, which included the Hobbit story, and only now realize it is the same Hobbit.

[chigreyofthenorns]

One of the best short stories I have read is 1408 by Stephen King. It has been made into a movie starring John Cusack. I really liked this one because it is scary and very unique. Actually, I love all the works of Stephen King because they are real page-turners. He has many collections of short stories that have been published in the past.

[beccagreen]

Yes! The Las Question is also one of my favorites. Although it's a really long read it was well worth it, very futuristic and very ambitious. I love that piece, a true masterpiece of Science Fiction.

[deathbyprayer]

This isn't really a classic not well known but I really love it. The piece was called "Immortal Sin" by Jennifer Pelland and it's one of the best short horror/science fiction stories I've ever come across.

[takibari]

If you're a romantic, you'll probably enjoy Kurt Vonnegut's A Long Walk to Forever.

I love the simplicity of the narration against the impact of the story's message. It's the first Vonnegut I read, which made me curious about his other works. Very interesting author.

[tyconequod]

I actually had to read the short stories of Roald Dahl for my English exam (which I nailed on the language part though horribly failed on everything else), and I found them actually quite amusing for children's stories. (we have English as our third language here in Belgium)

We've also read 'Sherlock Holmes and the speckled band', which I found quite interesting. I often read Sherlock Holmes short stories for reading exercises, and I would really recommend them if you like detectives (which I obviously do).

[Baburra]

My current favorite short stories are written by non professional writers just doing it for fun. By this I'm referring to creepy pastas which have already spread online as a trend years ago. For the unfamiliar, it's basically just any creepy story that's about a few paragraphs long and at first I was skeptical but after reading my first few ones I was really impressed with the way these supposed amateurs write. I was really affected by the stories and could feel myself getting creeped out and even afraid.

[jbepp]

My favorite short story is definitely Jim by Roberto Bolaño. It's mysterious and the way he narrates it makes it a really pleasant read.

[AureliaeLacrimae]

I too have read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Allan Poe and I do recommend them. Poe is the master of short stories, they say. They´re his perfection. Many critics agree that they´re far better than his poems (and his poems are also excellent, it has to be admitted - Raven, anyone? Annabel Lee? Sonnet to Science? Bells? To Helen?).

I was reading some modernist works lately and I also liked Winesburg, Ohio collection by Sherwood Anderson. They´re very short stories and sometimes nothing happens, but they´re interesting to read. You´ll probably enjoy them. I recommend the Hands, Paper Pills, Untold Lie... but whichever you choose, I believe you won´t be disappointed.

[takibari]

I too have read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Allan Poe and I do recommend them. Poe is the master of short stories, they say. They´re his perfection. Many critics agree that they´re far better than his poems (and his poems are also excellent, it has to be admitted - Raven, anyone? Annabel Lee? Sonnet to Science? Bells? To Helen?).

I was reading some modernist works lately and I also liked Winesburg, Ohio collection by Sherwood Anderson. They´re very short stories and sometimes nothing happens, but they´re interesting to read. You´ll probably enjoy them. I recommend the Hands, Paper Pills, Untold Lie... but whichever you choose, I believe you won´t be disappointed.

Are these your new reads? If it is, I'm glad you're back to reading. Guess, you have the time now. Anyway, Winesburg sounds familiar. I may have read one of his stories or two. But I can't recall now. I maybe wrong. If I've more time in my hands, I'll go check out your recommendations myself.

[CorieHens]

Isaac Asimov is my husband's favorite author. He would gobble Asimov's books in the bookstore although he hesitates when the price is quite high. For me, I prefer easy and light reading like the literature of old. I still remember the story of Satan and Sam Shay which is a comic story and funny character but with depth.

[missbookworm]

I actually have got a lot of favorite short stories since I loved my literature classes in college. Here is just a list of them:

- A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner

- The Killers by Ernest Hemingway

- In a Grove by Ryunosuke Akutagawa

- The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant

- Three Hermits by Leo Tolstoy

[xTinx]

Here are some of my all-time favorite short stories:

• The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
• The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
• The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
• The Rockinghorse Winner by D.H. Lawrence
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

I'm also fond of Haruki Murakami's short stories even though they're known to be open-ended and quite too symbolic and bizarre for analytical and practical minds. I own an anthology of his short stories collectively entitled Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. My favorites so far are New York Mining Disaster and Man-Eating Cats.
 

 

[lauraxoxo]

I love a good Raymond Carver story! My favorite is called "Cathedral". Also, "A&P" by John Updike is a great read, and even has a movie version. Hemingway has some really good ones too, like "A Short Story" which is one of his most famous short stories, and one of the great introductions to Flash Fiction.