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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

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  • 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 Lumber Room

    Short Story by Saki. A mischievous boy in disgrace for putting a frog in his breakfast bowl comes up with an elaborate plan to explore the wonders of his house’s off-limits-to-children lumber-room. His day gets even better when his oppressive aunt falls into a rain-water tank while looking for him.

  • Tennessee’s Partner

    Short Story by Bret Harte. Set in a tough mining town during the California Gold Rush, two men sharing a cabin have a friendship so strong that it survives when one of them runs away with the other’s new bride and returns after she leaves him for someone else.

  • Overcoat

    Short Story by Ghulam Abbas. A man with the persona of a well-to-do dandy enjoys a leisurely stroll through the streets of Lahore. Everything falls apart after he becomes fascinated with a young couple “who seemed to have stepped out of the pages of a romantic novel”.

  • They’re Made Out Of Meat

    Quick Read by Terry Bisson. Two space explorers are discussing whether to make contact with a newly discovered intelligent life form that has been broadcasting radio signals to the stars. They are uneasy about it because the life form seems to be composed entirely of meat.

  • Islands

    Short Story by Alexsander Hemon. A nine-year-old Bosnian boy experiences several traumatic events during a family holiday on a Croatian island. The most notable of these, his uncle’s account of the brutal mistreatment and torture of children in Stalin’s prison camps, shatters his innocent view of the world.

  • Adam and Eve and Pinch Me

    Short Story by A. E. Coppard. A confused man awakens from a daydream about being a ghost and not being able to communicate with his three children. He has a different identity, and the third child featured in the dream, who had special powers, has not yet been born.

  • Amnesty

    Novelette by Octavia Butler. A woman, kidnapped at age eleven and subjected to cruel experiments by an advanced alien race inhabiting Earth’s deserts, is now an Interpreter for one of their “communities”. Her current mission: to “calm” and prepare six recruits for positions translating for other communities.

  • The Horse Dealer’s Daughter

    Short Story by D. H. Lawrence. In an act of desperation, a lonely woman facing a life of servitude and drudgery decides to join her much-loved dead mother by drowning herself. Her rescue by the passing town doctor results in an epiphany that awakens feelings of love and desire.

  • Jacklighting

    Short Story by Ann Beattie. A troubled couple who, having travelled each year to visit a friend and his brother on his birthday, make the trip once more on the birthday following his death. Although each needs closure, they suppress their feelings and do not even discuss the dead man.

  • The Death of Ivan Ilyich

    Novella by Leo Tolstoy. As a successful civil servant faces an early, agonizing death he asks himself the inevitable question: “How could that be, when I did everything [in life] properly?” As he comes to terms with his superficial, bourgeoisie lifestyle, he finds joy and redemption in death.

  • The Tale of the Two Oxen / Do Bailon Ki Katha

    Grade 3-4 Story by Premchand. A series of adventures begin for two oxen when their much-loved owner lends them to his wife’s brother who lives far away. When the brother-in-law mistreats the poor animals, they run away. Their friendship gives them the strength to endure many hardships and return home.

  • The Magic Barrel

    Short Story by Bernard Malamud. A young, introverted rabbinical student hires a matchmaker to find a wife. His first meeting with a potential match reveals an embarrassing truth: he can’t explain the reason for his calling. He finds possible redemption in a woman whose photograph carries an “impression of evil”.

  • Circular Ruins

    Short Story by Jorge Borges. A mystic arrives at the overgrown, burn-out ruins of an ancient riverside temple. Living as an ascetic, his purpose is to “dream” a man into existence, initiate him into the riddles of the universe, and send him to inhabit another temple.

  • Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot

    Short Story by Robert Olen Butler. A jealous husband who did not communicate his love or concerns enough is resurrected as a parrot and purchased as a pet by his recently widowed wife. Ironically, he now realizes how much he loves her, but doesn’t have the vocabulary to tell her.

  • Old Love

    Novelette by Jeffrey Archer. A couple go from rivalry-inspired hatred at first sight to literally being unable to live without each other. From the time they meet as Oxford undergraduates, a fierce sense of competition spurs them on to topping their class, attaining professorships, and earning royal honors.

  • The District Doctor

    Short Story by Ivan Turgenev. A doctor becomes infatuated with a beautiful 20-year-old patient. On sensing her coming death, the woman tells the doctor she loves him. He replies that he also loves her. When the woman confesses their love to her mother, he denies everything and blames her fever.

  • 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.

  • In the Shadow of War

    Short Story by Ben Okri. Set during the Nigerian Civil War, a boy follows a mysterious woman who walks through his village every day wearing a black veil. Other children think she is a witch; three soldiers looking for her think she is a spy.

  • Christmas Not Just Once a Year

    Novelette by Heinrich Böll. After years of austerity during World War II, a German businessman’s wife becomes hysterical when the tree for the traditional lavish family Christmas of 1946 is taken down. To prevent her being institutionalized, her family agree to re-celebrate Christmas Eve every day of the year.

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