
Short Fiction
Classic and Contemporary
Roses, rhododendron / A. Adams -- The egg ; I want to know why / S. Anderson -- Rape fantasies / M. Atwood -- The story of my dovecot / I. Babel -- Sonny's blues / J. Baldwin -- The lesson / T.C. Bambara -- My mother's memoirs, my father's lie, and other true stories / R. Banks -- Lost in the funhouse / J. Barth -- A city of churches / D. Barthelme -- [Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL14863196W/An_Occurrence_at_Owl_Creek_Bridge) / A. Bierce -- Like a bad dream / H. Böll -- The end of the duel / J.L. Borges -- Cathedral / R. Carver -- Paul's case / W. Cather -- The enormous radio ; The swimmer / J. Cheever -- The darling ; Gooseberies ; The lady with the dog / A. Chekhov -- [The story of an hour ](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20078864W)/ K. Chopin -- The celebrated jumping frog of Calaveras County / S. Clemens (M. Twain) -- The secret sharer / J. Conrad -- The magic poker / R. Coover ; The blue hotel ; The open boat / S. Crane ; [The way up to heaven](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20504268W) / R. Dahl -- [The red-headed league](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL262476W) / A.C. Doyle -- The doctor / A. Dubus -- King of the bingo game / R. Ellison -- Dry September ; [A rose for Emily](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL82884W) ; [That evening sun](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20080863W) / W. Faulkner -- Babylon revisited / F. Scott Fitzgerald -- Tuesday siesta / G.G. Márquez ; The yellow wallpaper / C.P. Gilman -- The overcoat / N. Gogol -- The life of the imagination / N. Gordimer -- Two gentle people / G. Greene -- Argument and persuasion / D. Hall -- Tony Kytes, the arch-deceiver / T. Hardy -- [The birthmark](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL455204W) ; [Young Goodman Brown](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL455569W) / N. Hawthorne -- A Vermont tale / M. Helprin -- Hills like white elephants / E. Hemingway -- The lottery / S. Jackson -- The real thing ; The tree of knowledge / H. James -- A white heron / S.O. Jewett -- [Araby](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20570121W) ; [The dead](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15073437W) / J. Joyce -- A hunger artist / F. Kafka -- The man who would be king ; Mary Postgate / R. Kipling -- Not a good girl / P. Klass -- Haircut / R. Lardner -- The horse-dealer's daughter ; The rocking-horse winner / D.H. Lawrence -- The professor's houses / U.K. LeGuin -- One off the short list ; A sunrise on the veld / D. Lessing -- To build a fire / J. London -- A tree, a rock, a cloud / C. McCullers -- The magic barrel / B. Malamud -- A dill pickle ; Miss Brill / K. Mansfield -- The outstation / W. Somerset Maugham -- The necklace / G. de Maupassant -- [Bartleby the scrivener](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL102732W) / H. Melville -- Patriotism / Y. Mishima -- Boys and girls / A. Munro -- The passenger / V. Nabokov -- The going-away party ; Where are you going, where have you been? / J.C. Oates -- The creature / E. O'Brien -- Everything that rises must converge ; A good man is hard to find / Flannery O'Connor -- Guests of the nation ; My oedipus complex / Frank O'Connor -- Do you like it here? / J. O'Hara -- I stand here ironing / T. Olsen -- A conversation with my father / G. Paley -- War / L. Pirandello -- [The cask of Amontillado](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL41016W); [Fall of the House of Usher](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL41078W) ; [The purloined letter](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL41065W) / E.A. Poe -- Flowering Judas ; The grave / K.A. Porter -- The valiant woman / J.F. Powers -- The diver / V.S. Pritchett -- The shot / A. Pushkin -- The conversion of the Jews / P. Roth -- I-80 Nebraska, M. 490-M. 205 / J. Sayles -- Gimpel the fool / I.B. Singer -- The chrysanthemums / J. Steinbeck -- The catbird seat / J. Thurber -- The death of Ivan Ilych / L. Tolstoy -- The tryst / I. Turgenev -- A & P ; The music school ; Made in heaven / J. Updike -- Roselily ; To hell with dying / A. Wa
Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fiction, Romance, Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.
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What the reading experience may hold
A fuller profile for choosing with more confidence—not just another copy of the preview.
Fiction · Romance · Nonfiction
Use these as starting points rather than limits; the most memorable books often stretch beyond their catalog labels.
Catalog signals suggest warfare and conflict, violence, death, or criminal harm. These notes may not be complete; consult a publisher or reader-supplied guide when detailed warnings matter.
These notes are inferred from available catalog information and may not be complete. Check a publisher or reader-supplied guide if you need comprehensive warnings.
Dark tone · Steady pace
Best when you want to settle into a longer reading experience.
A good fit if…
Readers looking for a substantial, immersive commitment with room for a world or argument to unfold.
This book's DNA
A visual estimate based on this edition's categories, description, and length. Select a star to explore the signals.
This signal is descriptive, not a rating. It helps compare the kind of reading experience this edition may offer.
Spoiler-Free Emotional Arc
A broad estimate of the book’s emotional rhythm, shown without story events or outcomes.
This visualization is an interpretive estimate based on catalog description, categories, tone, pace, and content signals. It does not describe specific scenes.
A quick reading snapshot
Edition facts and catalog signals to help you decide whether this book fits what you want to read next.
- ISBN-13
- 978-0-1380-9229-0
- Language
- English
- Edition record
- OL7344413M
A more thoughtful way into this book
This guide uses the edition details and category signals above to help you choose deliberately. It does not replace the author's work or a full review.
Best when you want to settle into a longer reading experience.
Begin with its place in Fiction, then notice where the book resists that label.
Read for connection, not completion.
Mark one passage that sharpens the book's central concern and one that complicates it. That tension often reveals more than a quick summary.
Three questions to carry with you
- What does the central character want, and what do they misunderstand about that desire?
- Which detail or relationship changes how you interpret the story?
- What feeling or question does the book leave with you after the plot moves on?
Editorial framework by Wesley Bryan, BookenDeX Founder and Editor.







