18 books like Short stories

What to read after Short stories — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

Law of the Desert Born Louis L'Amour · 1983 · ★ 4.0 · 245p · ≈ 8h · Moderate This first-rate collection of short stories by the incomparable Louis L’Amour showcases the legendary writer at his very spinning a fascinating and wholly authentic set of unforgettable tales. In these extraordinary stories, we meet a man who is forced to defend himself by taking another’s life—and must pay for his actions in a most punishing manner; a young thrill-seeker who finally finds a… Shares: American Short stories, Westerns, History

Maruja Bret Harte · 1885 · 266p · ≈ 8h · Challenging Morning was breaking on the high road to San Jose. The long lines of dusty, level track were beginning to extend their vanishing point in the growing light; on either side the awakening fields of wheat and oats were stretching out and broadening to the sky. In the east and south the stars were receding before the coming day; in the west a few still glimmered, caught among the bosky hills of the… Shares: American Short stories, Frontier and pioneer life, Westerns

A Sappho of Green Springs Bret Harte · 1890 · 168p · ≈ 5h · Challenging The door of the editorial room of the "Excelsior Magazine" began to creak painfully under the hesitating pressure of an uncertain and unfamiliar hand. This continued until with a start of irritation the editor faced directly about, throwing his leg over the arm of his chair with a certain youthful dexterity. With one hand gripping its back, the other still grasping a proof-slip, and his pencil in… Shares: American Short stories, Westerns

Colonel Starbottle's client, and some other people Bret Harte · 1892 · ★ 3.0 · 285p · ≈ 9h · Challenging Everyone's favorite bloviating attorney makes a triumphant return to the law profession in the title story of this charming collection from Bret Harte. Colonel Starbottle takes on a client named Jo Corbin, who has committed a grievous crime and works out a convoluted plan of repentance. Shares: American Short stories, Westerns

How the West Was Won Louis L'Amour · 1963 · ★ 4.1 · 248p · ≈ 8h · Moderate They came by river and by wagon train, braving the endless distances of the Great Plains and the icy passes of the Sierra Nevada. They were men like Linus Rawlings, a restless survivor of Indian country who'd headed east to see the ocean but left his heart--and his home--in the West. They were women like Lilith Prescott, a smart, spirited beauty who fled her family and fell for a gambling man in… Shares: Frontier and pioneer life, Westerns

The writings of Bret Harte Bret Harte · 1874 · 20p · ≈ 40m · Challenging Francis Bret Harte was born on August 25, 1836 in Albany New York. As a young boy Harte developed an early love of books and reading. He first published at the tender age of 11; a satirical poem titled "Autumn Musings." Expecting praise he encountered anything but and was later to write "Such a shock was their ridicule to me that I wonder that I ever wrote another line of verse." By age 13 his… Shares: Frontier and pioneer life, Westerns

Blazed Trail Stories and Stories of the Wild Life Stewart Edward White · 1904 · ★ 3.4 · 260p · ≈ 8h · Challenging Stewart Edward White’s 1904 collection of thirteen short stories entertain readers with wild and wooly tales of the American frontier, including narratives about prospecting and logging. Shares: Frontier and pioneer life, Westerns

Winter Dreams F. Scott Fitzgerald · 2004 · ★ 3.7 · 48p · ≈ 1h · Moderate "Winter Dreams" is a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald that first appeared in Metropolitan Magazine in December 1922, and was collected in All the Sad Young Men in 1926. It is considered one of Fitzgerald's finest stories and is frequently anthologized. In the Fitzgerald canon, it is considered to be in the "Gatsby-cluster," as many of its themes were later expanded upon in his famous novel The… Shares: American Short stories, Short Stories

South Sea Tales Jack London · 1911 · ★ 3.8 · 157p · ≈ 5h · Challenging Despite the heavy clumsiness of her lines, the Aorai handled easily in the light breeze, and her captain ran her well in before he hove to just outside the suck of the surf. The atoll of Hikueru lay low on the water, a circle of pounded coral sand a hundred yards wide, twenty miles in circumference, and from three to five feet above high-water mark. On the bottom of the huge and glassy lagoon was… Shares: American Short stories, Short Stories

Waifs and Strays O. Henry · 1917 · 78p · ≈ 2h · Challenging Urban teens take center stage in a pair of edgy short story collections. Waifs and Strays presents 15 previously published works by Canadian fantasy writer Charles de Lint, including "May This Be Your Last Sorrow" from The Essential Bordertown and "There's No Such Thing," which appeared in Yolen and Greenburg's anthology Vampires. In its first appearance, "Sisters," tells of precocious… Shares: American Short stories, Short Stories

Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules David Sedaris · 2005 · ★ 3.6 · 344p · ≈ 11h · Moderate From the internationally bestselling author of Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris, comes a collection of his favorite short stories from acclaimed authors such as Flannery O'Connor, Jhumpa Lahiri, Tobias Wolff, and more.David Sedaris is an exceptional reader. Alone in his apartment, he reads stories aloud to the point he has them memorized. Sometimes he fantasizes that he wrote them.… Shares: American Short stories, Short Stories

Le vicomte de Bragelonne, ou, dix ans plus tard Alexandre Dumas · 1848 · ★ 4.0 · 462p · ≈ 15h · Challenging In the months of March-July in 1844, in the magazine Le Siecle, the first portion of a story appeared, penned by the celebrated playwright Alexandre Dumas. It was based, he claimed, on some manuscripts he had found a year earlier in the Bibliotheque Nationale while researching a history he planned to write on Louis XIV. They chronicled the adventures of a young man named D'Artagnan who, upon… Shares: Histoire, Historical Fiction, History

Pardners Rex Ellingwood Beach · 1905 · 128p · ≈ 4h · Challenging Pardners is a Fiction Short Story Book. "Most all the old quotations need fixing", said Joyce in tones forbidding dispute. "For instance, the guy that alluded to marriages germinating in heaven certainly got off on the wrong foot. He meant pardnerships. The same works ain't got capacity for both, no more'n you can build a split second stop watch in a stone quarry. No, sir! A true pardnership is… Shares: Frontier and pioneer life, Westerns

Other Main Traveled Roads Hamlin Garland · 1910 · 349p · ≈ 11h · Challenging This book-collection file includes: Cavanagh's Forest Ranger, A Daughter of the Middle Border, The Eagle's Heart, The Forester's Daughter, A Little Norsk, Main-Travelled Roads, The Moccasin Ranch, Other Main-Traveled Roads, Prairie Folks, The Spirit of Sweetwater, A Spoil of Office, The Tyranny of the Dark, and Wayside Courtships.According to Wikipedia: "Hannibal Hamlin Garland (September 14,… Shares: Frontier and pioneer life, Westerns

Red men and white Owen Wister · 1895 · ★ 3.7 · 280p · ≈ 9h · Challenging It consists of eight western stories. Something new was happening among the Crow Indians. A young pretender had appeared in the tribe. What this might lead to was unknown alike to white man and to red; but the old Crow chiefs discussed it in their councils, and the soldiers at Fort Custer, and the civilians at the agency twelve miles up the river, and all the white settlers in the valley… Shares: Frontier and pioneer life, Westerns

Whirligigs O. Henry · 1910 · ★ 3.7 · 314p · ≈ 10h · Challenging O. Henry's short, simple stories are noted for their careful plotting, ironic coincidences, and surprise endings. Contents: The World and the Door; The Theory and the Hound; The Hypotheses of Failure; Calloway's Code; A Matter of Mean Elevation; "Girl"; Sociology in Serge and Straw; The Ransom of Red Chief; The Marry Month of May; A Technical Error; Suite Homes and their Romance; The Whirligig of… Shares: American Short stories, Short Stories

The Crusade of the Excelsior Bret Harte · 1887 · 250p · ≈ 8h · Challenging The speaker, though apparently more at his ease at sea, was in dress and appearance fully as unnautical as Banks. As he leaned over the railing, his white, close-fitting trousers and small patent-leather boots gave him a jaunty, half-military air, which continued up to the second button of his black frock-coat, and then so utterly changed its character that it was doubtful if a greater contrast… Shares: American Short stories, Westerns

The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales Bret Harte · 1961 · 384p · ≈ 12h · Moderate Shares: Westerns, Short Stories Shares: Westerns, Short Stories

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