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Approximate Reading Times

Quick Read: under 5 minutes
Short Story: 5 to 30 minutes
Novelette: 30 to 90 minutes
Novella: 1.5 to 2.5 hours

Some Other Stories You May Like

See top menu for all 1,500+ stories

  • An Astrologer’s Day

    Short Story by R. K. Narayan. A fake astrologer agrees to answer a question from a reluctant passer-by for many times his usual fee. Although a deliberate lie, the astrologer’s answer not only eases the tormented man’s mind, but also brings in peace and redemption to himself.

  • The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg

    Novella by Mark Twain. The citizens of Hadleyburg, which is regarded as “the most honest and upright town in all the region”, manage to offend a vindictive passing stranger. The visitor was so upset that he came up with and elaborate plan to destroy the town’s image.

  • A Christmas Story

    Short Story by Walter Dean Myers. An old woman teaches a new police patrolman an important lesson by inviting his family to Christmas dinner. Along with his co-workers, the policeman has a negative view of Harlem. His wife insists on going, and the visit reveals another side of the community.

  • The Ambitious Guest

    Short Story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. A man stops at an inn high on a mountain pass and boats about his ambition to do something be remembered by. The family have built a safe house nearby in the event of an avalanche, but when the ‘slide’ comes, nature wins.

  • The Underground Gardens

    Short Story by T. C. Boyle. An Italian immigrant is disheartened to find that land he bought by mail order is too dry and hard to farm. Spurred on by a love interest, he hand digs a subterranean mansion. When the woman rejects him, he keeps on digging.

  • Fish Cheeks

    Grade 5-6 Story by Amy Tan. A fourteen–year-old girl, is uncomfortable with her Chinese looks and what others might think of her family’s Chinese ways. She is especially concerned because her would-be boyfriend Robert and his church minister father have been invited for Christmas dinner.

  • The Last Question

    Short Story by Isaac Asimov. A powerful story that spans several trillion years of human history. A computer evolves from Multivac on Earth to AC in hyperspace. One by one, “Man” fuses with AC until it is finally able to answer mankind’s last unanswered question.

  • First Confession

    Short Story by Frank O’Connor. A young boy’s intolerance over his grandmother’s unusual habits results in violent fantasies. A young priest’s double standards in scolding the boy’s sister for hitting him and “rewarding” the boy for confessing these murderous thoughts sends them both a confusing message.

  • Escapes

    Short Story by Joy Williams. A woman relates her experiences as a young girl living with her alcoholic mother. She recounts how her father left them due to her mother’s drinking, her mother’s frequent mention of the escape artist Houdini, and an embarrassing incident at a magic show.

  • The Pale Man

    Short Story by Julius Long. A man wanting a peaceful holiday checks into a small-town hotel. He notices a tall, pale man staying in another room of the hotel, and asks the room clerk about him. The room clerk tells him there is no such guest.

  • The Flying Machine

    Short Story by Ray Bradbury. A Chinese Emperor learns that one of his subjects has invented a “flying machine”. Thinking the invention could be used against him if the “technology” fell into the wrong hands, he has the man be executed, the kite destroyed, and the whole episode hushed up.

  • Theft

    Short Story by Katherine Porter. After receiving a letter ending a love affair, and later having her purse stolen, a struggling writer realizes that if she doesn’t do more to take charge of her life and stop “letting things go”, she will end up with nothing.

  • The Law of Life

    Short Story by Jack London. In accordance with custom, an old Inuit who was once chief of his tribe is left to die in the snow. He reflects on his life, and particularly the fighting spirit of an old moose that was too weak to keep up with its herd.

  • To Da-duh in Memoriam

    Short Story by Paule Marshall. During her first visit to her parent’s homeland, a feisty nine-year-old American girl engages in a process of one-upmanship with her eighty-year-old Barbadian grandmother. As the grandmother extols the natural bounty of her country, the girl counters with the modern wonders of New York.

  • Kabuliwallah

    Short Story by Rabindranath Tagore. An Afghani fruit-seller (Kabuliwallah) forms an unlikely friendship with the precocious five-year-old daughter of a middle-class Bengali writer. Many years later, on learning why the fruit-seller had spent so much time with his daughter, the writer and Kabuliwallah form an instant bond.

  • A January Night / Poos Ki Raat

    Short Story by Premchand. An Indian farmer, forced to pay his debts with money he had saved to buy a blanket, watches over his crops one night in freezing temperatures. Although he manages to survive the night, his crops do not. His wife is devastated, but he is happy.

  • The Legend of Nai Raeng

    Thai Folktale. A man was born so big that his parents named him Nai Raeng, signifying strength, energy and power. After many adventures, he becomes local governor. One day, honor dictates that he must order that his own head be cut off and placed above a buried treasure.

  • The Treasure in the Forest

    Short Story by H. G. Wells. Two men kill another to get their hands on a map that shows the location of a buried treasure. They find the treasure and, as they carry some of it away, learn why its owner was smiling as they killed him.

  • A Job for Valentin

    Grade 7-8 Story by Judith Ortiz Cofer. A teenage girl working in a swimming pool kiosk is tasked with training Valentin, a thirty-year-old mentally challenged man. She would rather work alone and have more time to flirt with the muscular young lifeguard and talk with friends.

  • The Bakery Attack / Second Bakery Attack

    Stories by Haruki Murakami. A recently married couple clearly have a lot to learn about each other when, after the man tells his new wife about how a first bakery attack didn’t turn out as expected, she proves surprisingly adept at planning and carrying out a second robbery.

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