Best 11 Stories that eny one could read online
top short stories
LeGuin’s parabolic tale, which won the Hugo Award for
best short story in 1974, is a weird, spacious story about a city that seems to
be a utopia — except for its one flaw, the single child that must always be kept
in darkness and wretched misery so that the others may all live happily. Most
of the citizens eventually accept this, but some do not, and silently leave the
city, vanishing into the world around. Strange but pointed, Le Guin is a master
of her genre.Few short stories have stuck with us as much as this one, which is probably O’Connor’s most famous work — and with good reason. The Misfit is one of the most alarming serial killers we’ve ever met, all the more so for his politeness, and the story’s moral is so striking and terrifying that — whether you subscribe to the religious undertones or not — a reader is likely to finish and begin to reexamine their entire existence. Or at least we did, the first time we read it.
Kafka called this one his “dirty story,” and thought
it imperfect, but it’s one of our favorites of his (though we also recommend
“The Hunger Artist” and “A Country Doctor”). It’s so obviously a story about
writing, in some ultimate way — a machine punishes its victims by writing on
them over and over until their bodies give out — but its as if, while the body
is the source of every problem in the tale, every weakness, it is also the only
place where true knowledge can be translated.
Another short one, we revere this story for its
ability to turn every tiny detail into a portentous disaster, not to mention
the fact that it’s penned in Nabokov’s effortlessly gorgeous, silvery prose. An
old Jewish couple goes to visit their son in the mental hospital, only to be
turned away because he has attempted to kill himself. And that’s it, really.
They go home and look though a photo album, eat some jam. The phone rings. But
the whole thing is, perhaps, both a comment on the nature of insanity and the
nature of the short story itself, with all its rules and strangeness and
banality. And all its symbols, of course.
This story is very short, but pretty much perfect in
every way. Though Barthelme is known for his playful, postmodern style, we
admire him for his ability to shape a world so clearly from so few words,
chosen expertly. Barthelme never over explains, never uses one syllable too
many, but effortlessly leads the reader right where he wants her to be. It’s
funny, it’s absurdist, it’s sad, it’s enormous even in its smallness. It may be
this writer’s favorite story of all time. You should read it.
Gogol might be the oldest writer on this list, but
he’s also one of the weirdest — in a good way. Nabokov once wrote, “In
Gogol…the absurd central character belongs to the absurd world around him but,
pathetically and tragically, attempts to struggle out of it into the world of
humans — and dies in despair.” What else can an absurd noseless man do, after
all?
Chekhov’s stories are indisputably among the greats,
and this one, written rather late, is one of our favorites. Chekhov probes at
both the frailty and the worth of humanity, not to mention the nature of life,
both for the fortunate and the unfortunate. But like most of Chekhov’s stories,
there’s no clear moral, there’s no obvious takeaway. Some men sit around and
discuss their thoughts, and we listen, mulling over the subtleties for
ourselves.
“Sea Oak” is Saunders’s favorite of his own stories,
we’ve heard, so because we find it so hard to choose among them, we’ve included
it here on his own recommendation. Absurdist and satirical, and including at
least one zombie shouting at her housemates to get laid, it’s a weird one. But
it’s also concerned with placelessness, with family, with poverty, and like all
of Saunders’s stories, has a good, thumping heart under all that darkness and
fun-poking.
This tale, from one of the greatest science fiction
writers in history, is deliciously
wicked. Though it was written in 1950, this kind of story — of children driven
mad by want, of technology turning on its masters — will never get old. Until
technology actually turns on us, that is. Then we probably won’t want to hear
about it.
The undisputed queen of the short story, Alice Munro’s
work is stark and often heartbreakingly raw, and this story of memory loss and
the aching tenderness of human interaction is no different. Fun fact: this
story was adapted into the film Away from Her, starring Julie Christie
and Gordon Pinsent.
Gogol might be the oldest writer on this list, but
he’s also one of the weirdest — in a good way. Nabokov once wrote, “In
Gogol…the absurd central character belongs to the absurd world around him but,
pathetically and tragically, attempts to struggle out of it into the world of
humans — and dies in despair.” What else can an absurd noseless man do, after
all?
tags:best anime 2013 top anime 2013 best anime top 10 anime 2013 top anime anime 2013 anime list 2013 best anime of 2013 best anime series top 10 anime anime series 2013 good anime to watch 2013 2013 anime list short animated films anime to watch 2013 top anime of 2013 top anime series popular anime 2013 top ten anime 2013 best anime series 2013 anime 2013 list 2013 anime top anime series 2013 top ten anime top 2013 anime animation movies 2013 best 2013 anime short animated movies anime shows 2013 good anime 2013 short stories short stories for kids short love stories english short stories very short stories best short stories good short stories short stories online writing short stories great short stories best short love stories famous short stories best stories collection of short stories the best short stories interesting short stories short stories to read love short stories list of short stories best short stories in english short romantic love stories top short stories short novels classic short stories best english short stories top 10 short stories 50 great short stories greatest short stories best love short stories short stories collection