Short stories collections are the solution if you’re looking for superb storytelling but don’t want to commit to a full-length novel. Small pieces of time, whether right before bed, during your commute, or while waiting to visit your doctor, are ideal for reading short stories.
You can give these books a read to experience different strategies and mysteries.
To help you expand your “To Be Read” pile, we’ve chosen eleven of the most incredible short tales and collections from a variety of backgrounds and sources.
Plane Tales:
Plane Tales is an amazing piece of literature, which will transport the reader to new places, without purchasing the plane ticket. It is a fascinating collection of stories about various people, planes, and faraway locations in foreign countries. This book can be thought-provoking and will expand your thinking capabilities.
The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
Few genres have made as much use of the short narrative form as horror has, and it’s tough to claim that any author has surpassed Poe in this regard. The Tell-Tale Heart is Poe’s most famous short tale which you must read.
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
The Lottery was first published in The New York in 1948. It is a classic of melancholy mood and unsettling subjects. It nearly single-handedly developed the current notion of gothic horror because of its gloomy atmosphere and use of thought-provoking, unpleasant sarcasm.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper
A woman with problems is confined to a chamber in a colonial home. Her husband and brother are both doctors, and they agree on the diagnosis of anxious despair with a hint of hysteria. She’s not able to be excited or work until she feels better. She disagrees, but the only thing she can do is keep a secret.
“Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl
While not as philosophical or political as many other authors’ short stories, it is a twisting short novel exploring some dubious moral areas. Mary Maloney is presented to us as a lovely wife who’s very devoted. Dahl helps us sympathize with Mary in only a few brief words detailing how she welcomes her husband home — before a thoughtless deed flips her life upside down and takes the reader on a sad trip with her.
We won’t give anything away to those who haven’t read it yet. On the other hand, Dahl gives up a wicked twist on a plate.
“The Stone Boy” by Gina Berriault (1957)
This magnificent and underappreciated classic is a reflection on good and evil, particularly the way that other people’s expectations and preconceptions about us may wear us down and finally drive us to accept their point of view. But it’s a far deeper and more biblical narrative than that, and it challenges categorization, as any great piece of art does. Berriault was a well-known San Francisco writer who died in 1999.
To Build a Fire by Jack London
He’s on his way to meet up with friends at a base camp with a fire and hot meals. He’s a cautious traveler who’s escorted by a husky. It’s becoming colder. The temperature is lower than the man believes. The rough instinctively understand they shouldn’t go far from home since it’s so chilly.
The Love of a Good Woman” by Alice Munro (1998)
I’ve picked “The Love of a Good Woman,” by Canadian writer Munro, from her 1998 book of the same name, from among the handful of short tales favorite to many people’s hearts. It’s about a murder, but nothing is inevitable, and a love match that hinges on the crime’s secrecy. Like so many of Munro’s, this narrative has the grandeur of a novel but never seems rushed or cluttered. People should read this short story to experience suspense and mystery.
Some fantastic and funny travel short stories
Here are some fantastic short stories about travel experiences, which you must read. We had a look around and discovered several intriguing travel novels that we think you’ll enjoy as well.
- How not to travel the world
- A Thousand New Beginnings
Lauren Juliff’s “How not to travel the world” will especially make you want to travel the world. This is an excellent short story about the travel experience, where she sets out to travel the globe with little to no life experience, having never taken a bus or even eaten beans. She opens up about her shortcomings, travel mishaps, and near-death situations. Lauren was duped, assaulted, swept up in a tsunami, and her brakes were broken. What Not to Do When Traveling No matter how many curveballs life throws at you, the world is about chasing your aspirations. It’s about breaking out of your comfort zone, discovering laughter in the most unlikely of circumstances, and falling in love with life on the road.
“Cathedral” by Raymond Carver
“Cathedral,” first published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1981, is now considered one of Raymond Carver’s best works. As the story begins, we meet a narrator whose wife is awaiting a visit from an older friend, a blind guy. Our narrator is dissatisfied and distrustful of individuals who aren’t like him. Thus, he has difficulty connecting until a blind guy asks him to describe a cathedral to him. Carver’s “Cathedral” is one of his particular favorites, and it rightfully deserves so. This book is a fantastic read for everybody who has any physical or emotional disability.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper
The Yellow Wallpaper, published in 1892, is another early-modern gothic horror classic. However, it stresses psychological distress as well.
“A Simple Heart” by Gustave Flaubert (1877)
This narrative was written for George Sand, an old friend and “fellow troubadour” of Flaubert’s. It tells the history of Félicité, an elderly servant lady, and her dwindling love affairs. This book contains a sympathetic and delicate, humorous and unique short story. It also demonstrates Flaubert’s theory that sarcasm and compassion are not mutually incompatible. Sand passed away before she could read it. “It’s the same with all our dreams,” Flaubert said later which became popular.
Bottom line:
In conclusion, we can say that a well-crafted short tale contains all of the elements of a good novel: an overarching subject, genuine characters, and a suspenseful plot with a satisfying conclusion. So you’ve got the gratification of reading a narrative that transports you to another world, moves you in some manner, and stays with you long after you’ve finished it.
