Masterful short stories about life in Dublin at the turn of the century, by James Joyce.
The Cloak or the Overcoat as in some translations, is a story by Ukrainian-born Russian author Nikolai Gogol, published in 1842. The story and its author have had great influence on Russian literature, as expressed in a quote attributed to Fyodor Dostoyevsky: "We all come out from Gogol's 'Overcoat'." It is pointed to as the start of the realistic style of writing. Summary by phil c
The Arabian Nights is a collection of Perso-Arabic folk tales and other stories. The collection, or at least certain stories drawn from it (or purporting to be drawn from it), became widely known in the West from the 18th century, after it was translated from the Arabic — first into French and then into English and other European languages. The first English language edition, based on Galland's French rather than the original Arabic, rendered the title as The Arabian Nights' Entertainment - and this, or simply The Arabian Nights, has been the title by which it has been best known to English-speaking people ever since.
The Mysterious Stranger-A Romance- is the final novel attempted by Mark Twain. It was worked on periodically from roughly 1890 up until 1910. The body of work is a serious social commentary by Twain addressing his ideas of the Moral Sense and the "damned human race".
Anton Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics. Chekhov practiced as a doctor throughout most of his literary career: "Medicine is my lawful wife", he once said, "and literature is my mistress." Chekhov had at first written stories only for financial gain, but as his artistic ambition grew, he made formal innovations which have influenced the evolution of the modern short story. His originality consists in an early use of the stream-of-consciousness technique, later adopted by James Joyce and other modernists, combined with a disavowal of the moral finality of traditional story structure. He made no apologies for the difficulties this posed to readers, insisting that the role of an artist was to ask questions, not to answer them. This is a collection of 7 of his insightful short stories about the human condition and include, beside the title story, A Doctor's Visit; An Upheaval; Ionitch; and The Husband which are best known.
Aesop's Fables or the Aesopica are a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and story-teller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BCE. The fables remain a popular choice for moral education of children today. Many of the stories, such as The Fox and the Grapes (from which the idiom "sour grapes" derives), The Tortoise and the Hare, The North Wind and the Sun, The Boy Who Cried Wolf and The Ant and the Grasshopper are well-known throughout the world.
A book of short stories and humorous anecdotes by Mark Twain, published together in 1906.
This is another collection of O. Henry short stories.
Lucy Maud Montgomery was born at Clifton (now New London), Prince Edward Island, Canada, on November 30, 1874. She achieved international fame in her lifetime, putting Prince Edward Island and Canada on the world literary map. Best known for her "Anne of Green Gables" books, she was also a prolific writer of short stories and poetry. She published some 500 short stories and poems and twenty novels before her death in 1942. The Project Gutenberg collection of her short stories was gathered from numerous sources and is presented in chronological publishing order:
Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1896 to 1901
Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1902 to 1903
Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1904
Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1905 to 1906
Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1907 to 1908
Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1909 to 1922
A collection of gentle stories that draw us into that hidden world where fear is just around the next corner, and where loving hands can touch across the boundaries of death.
Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914), satirist, critic, poet, short story writer and journalist. His fiction showed a clean economical style often sprinkled with subtle cynical comments on human behaviour. Nothing is known of his death, as he went missing while an observer with Pancho Villa’s army in 1913/14.
This Book is a collection of humorous short stories which describe the comedy in everyday things and situations.
More humorous adventures (1925) by the world’s most misunderstood English boy.
This is volume is a collection of 50 of de Maupassant's short stories. Summary by James K. White.
A collection of short stories by famed Winnie the Pooh author, A.A. Milne. This charmingly humorous work from Milne's earlier writing period was first published in Punch magazine.
This book (eleven short stories) was also published under the title of “The Old Home House”. Joseph Crosby Lincoln (1870 – 1944) was an American author of novels, poems, and short stories, many set in a fictionalized Cape Cod. Lincoln's work frequently appeared in popular magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post and The Delineator.... Lincoln claimed that he was satisfied "spinning yarns" that made readers feel good about themselves and their neighbors. Two of his stories have been adapted to film. Lincoln's literary career celebrating "old Cape Cod" can partly be seen as an attempt to return to an Eden from which he had been driven by family tragedy. His literary portrayal of Cape Cod can also be understood as a pre-modern haven occupied by individuals of old Yankee stock which was offered to readers as an antidote to an America that was undergoing rapid modernization, urbanization, immigration, and industrialization.... Lincoln died in 1944, at the age of 73, in Winter Park, Florida.
A collection of comedic short stories from the perspective of an old country man.
Collection of short stories originally published in the Saturday Evening Post.
A successful painter reconnects with the woman he once loved during a visit to an English country house. His surprise is great when he learns that her husband is susceptible to a very peculiar habit.
These 14 short stories about animals are superb examples of Roberts smooth storytelling style. Knows as the Father of Canadian Poetry, he loved to also write in prose about the wilderness and the personalities of the animals to be found there as well as the exciting things they are capable of. Bears, White Wolves, Lynxs, hawks and yes, cattle are just a few of the animals written about.
No need to be afraid of the dark - here is a wonderful collection of stories about the creatures and personalities who live at night and sleep in the day.
This collection consists of thirteen stories. The stories are set in the mythical town of Whilomville used by Stephen Crane for many of his best stories. They appeared in Harper's New Monthly Magazine between 1899 and 1900. The writing is crisp, the stories are poignant and funny (usually) and always tell us something about our quirky human nature.
This sparkling collection of 7 short stories by Ferber includes some that are considered her all time best like The Woman Who Tried To be Good and The Maternal Feminine. Writing for and about women, Edna Ferber touches the very heart and soul of what it means to be human; to make good choices and bad; to be weak and strong. This was a very popular book when published in 1913
A collection of short stories written by the author of other literary greats such as The Railway Children, Five Children and It and The Phoenix and the Carpet. Many of her books have been made into television series or films. She wrote for both adults and children and also wrote non-fiction and poetry.
Elbert Hubbard is best known as the author of the "Little Journeys To The Holmes of Famous People". These 11 short stores show the side of him that celebrated caring, friendship love among humans. The first describes how 5 frightened orphan children from a foreign country were cared for on a railroad journey of a thousand miles; all by strangers without any planning and without a word of English being spoken or needed. He observed caring human men and women of all ages doing whatever was necessary to see they reached their destination in whatever comfort could be provided. His famous motto was "The mintage of wisdom is to know that rest is rust and that real life lies in love, laughter and work". Hubbard
Fifteen ghost stories to hear around the Yule log. "It happened that I spent the last winter in a large country mansion, in the north of England, where we had a succession of visitors, and all manner of amusements—... In short, we began to tell ghost stories; and although some of the party professed an utter disbelief in apparitions, they proved to be as fertile as the believers in their contributions—relating something that had happened to themselves or their friends, as having undoubtedly occurred, or to all appearance, occurred—only, with the reservation, that it must certainly have been a dream. The substance of these conversations fills the following pages, and I have told the stories as nearly as possible in the words of the original narrators." ( Author's Preface and david wales)
This collection of stories about dogs and the people they own was published in 1918. The story proceeds leisurely with much information about different breeds of dogs. The author obviously likes both boys and dogs. ( David Wales)
Arizona Nights is a collection of tales from the American West as told by those who took part in them.
Short stories with dramatic parts about civilian life in London during the First World War. Some humorous moments. By the author of "Peter Pan".
Bangs is in top form in his version of this small collection of timeless fairy tales. If you don't immediately recognize Jack and the Check Book, Puss, the Promoter, and the Golden Fleece, don't worry, you soon will.
A collection of short Christmas works by the author of The Story of the Fourth Wise Man
In this urbane collection of short stories by Maurice Baring, characters ranging from legendary figures to schoolboys find themselves in step or out of sorts, where they are meant to be or warned not to go, out of luck or, more often than not, in it.
These short stories, perhaps we might call them modern parables, are not the usual fare of warm and fuzzy Christmas stories (pleasing as those are) but rather life events and crises triggered by Christmas, present or imminent. Brady was a journalist, historian, adventure writer, and Episcopal priest.
These are three stories that will delight your heart and soul. The little girl Ruth in the first story is very privileged young lady with everything she could wish for except,of course, for companionship. Her mother has passed away and her father is a very busy lawyer who barely notices she is there. But then Ruth finds a scruffy, skinny and mostly ugly cat; the cat who lives in the kitchen and cellars,hence The Kitchen Cat. Her attempts to befriend this stray despite insurmountable obstacles make this story a really heart warming tale. She does eventually find the best kind of companionship but I won't tell you with who or when. Sarah's Sunday Out is the tale of a pampered little dog who wants to see the world and finally The Toad in the Hole is the tale of a somewhat selfish little girl and her lesson in seeing things from another's point of view. All are bitter sweet and all are delightful. You will be glad you listened to them. I know I'm glad I read them.
This 1912 collection of short stories is of lighthearted adventures of an irresponsible -- and irrepressible -- Frenchman in England and Paris. The author (1863-1930) was a popular British novelist, dramatist, and playwright, known especially for his short stories. Several of his works were made into London and Broadway stage plays as well as motion pictures (starring Mary Pickford, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and more).
Here are some classic, short Christmas stories from Charles Dickens, who, one may easily argue, was the greatest Christmas storyteller to date. In this season, may we do as Dickens' asked: "Welcome, everything! Welcome, alike what has been, and what never was, and what we hope may be, to your shelter underneath the holly, to your places round the Christmas fire, where what is sits open-hearted!" Happy Holidays!
A Thief in the Night is a 1905 collection of short stories by Ernest William Hornung, featuring his popular character A. J. Raffles. It was the third book in the series, and the final collection of short stories. In it, Raffles, a gentleman thief, commits a number of burglaries in late Victorian England.
Although Raffles had been killed in the Second Boer War at the end of The Black Mask, chronicler and accomplice Bunny Manders narrates additional adventures which he had previously omitted, from various points in their criminal careers.
Here are seven mystery stories featuring Martin Hewitt, Detective, and narrated (of course) by his (nameless) sidekick. Arthur Morrison certainly has imagination, as shown by the very wide range of situations, motivations, crimes and characters he presents in these stories. Hewitt may be after a Russian spy or a domestic animal; he investigates the burglary of documents vital to national security, but also the destruction of a work of art -- which is counterfeit.
A. A. Milne, best known as the creator of Winnie the Pooh, was a prolific author of books, plays, essays and articles. He also spent a number of years editing for Punch Magazine. He even wrote a good detective story -- The Red House Mystery !
In this collection he addresses a vast range of issues, including: the essence of melodrama; the lingering effects of World War I; knowing geography versus owning an atlas; a new kind of haunted house; the inexplicable nature of high finance; the trouble with "experts;" how the life of bees suggests the social importance of artists; the bad influence of theatre critics on good theatre.
All of these short pieces are humorous. Many are informative. Taken together, they will inspire many to navigate over to Milne's five other book-length humorous collections: Happy Days, The Holiday Round, Not That It Matters, Once a Week, and The Sunny Side -- or, perhaps, to The Red House Mystery.
Lad: A Dog is a 1919 American novel written by Albert Payson Terhune and published by E. P. Dutton. Composed of twelve short stories first published in magazines, the novel is based on the life of Terhune's real-life rough collie, Lad. Born in 1902, the real-life Lad was an unregistered collie of unknown lineage originally owned by Terhune's father. Lad's death in 1918 was mourned by many of the story's fans, particularly children.
A collection of six ghostly tales by Ralph Adams Cram, ranging from the demonic to the deeply sad. Gruesome apparitions, oppressive atmosphere, and throughout it all, a profound appreciation for the haunting beauty of Europe through the eyes of an American architect. Includes The Dead Valley, a story singled out as "memorably potent" by H.P. Lovecraft.
Black spirits and white - Red spirits and gray - Mingle, mingle, mingle - Ye that mingle may.
The world’s most confident, most chaos-creating eleven year old boy is at it again in these fourteen glorious and funny 1924 short stories.
Wildest among the fisher-folk may be accounted the Chinese shrimp-catchers. It is the habit of the shrimp to crawl along the bottom in vast armies till it reaches fresh water, when it turns about and crawls back again to the salt. And where the tide ebbs and flows, the Chinese sink great bag-nets to the bottom, with gaping mouths, into which the shrimp crawls and from which it is transferred to the boiling-pot. This in itself would not be bad, were it not for the small mesh of the nets, so small that the tiniest fishes, little new-hatched things not a quarter of an inch long, cannot pass through. The beautiful beaches of Points Pedro and Pablo, where are the shrimp-catchers villages, are made fearful by the stench from myriads of decaying fish, and against this wasteful destruction it has ever been the duty of the fish patrol to act. These stories are set in the waterways around San Francisco Bay and involve the fish patrol with a variety of characters of different ethnicity and cultural backgrounds. ( Description from the opening of "White and Yellow" by Jack London, with addition by Don W. Jenkins)
'Here, among the hosts of ladies who write with care and inelegance, comes a woman artist. An Isle in the Water is a collection of fifteen well-conceived and excellently-finished Irish stories, for which it would be hard to find anything to say but praise. They are all extremely short for the force of their effect, and every touch tells; they are gracefully phrased without an appearance of artifice, subtly expressed without a suspicion of affectation.' -- Saturday Review, 1897
Humorous stories of social climbing in America's "classless" society.
Elizabeth, Princess Bibesco, was an English writer and socialite. The daughter of a British Prime Minister and the wife of a Romanian aristocrat, she drew on her experience in British high society in her work. Her talent is the compression into a few phrases of all the details of a situation, into a few pages the hopes and failures of a lifetime. These (very) short stories explore in a few precise phrases the hopes of newlyweds, the emotions of a widow, and all aspects of life between!
Most of the stories in this collection attempt to present one or another of those problems of life or nature to which, as it appears to many of us, there is no adequate solution within sight. Others are the almost literal transcript of dreams which seemed to me to have a coherency, completeness, and symbolic significance sufficiently marked to justify me in setting them down. The rest are scenes from that simple life of Canadian backwoods and tide-country with which my earlier years made me familiar.
One of four books of short stories written in his brief career. These stories are written using African-American dialect which provides deeper insight to the culture of that time.
The year is 1919 and peace has sprung upon the world after the unspeakable carnage of World War I. The place is Hortons, a building of expensive flats on Duke Street just off Piccadilly, London. Social structures are disintegrating, expectations are not being met, people are confused, life is different. Each story is about a person who lives or works at Hortons, all struggling to adjust to life as it has radically changed. Twelve short stories, published in 1921, by the early twentieth century very popular English writer, Hugh Walpole.
A collection of offbeat stories. Some are a bit out of the ordinary as suggested by the title story about a freshwater mermaid; some are not.