Litreading - Classic Short Stories

Mankind has always loved to explore sometimes crossing great wildernesses, but more often just poking around in our own backyards. This light-hearted tale is about a group of men who decide to investigate a local cave and literally stumble across a huge surprise.Stephen Crane was born years after the US Civil War ended, but is best known for his stirring 1895 Civil War novel, The Red Badge of Courage. Crane was also a prolific writer of short stories, many of which ranged from actual war stories to the more personal battles of people against the wilderness or themselves. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A fleeting glimpse in the pines, a photograph stolen from a friend’s mantel, and a correspondence born from mistaken identity—The Girl and the Photograph by Lucy Maud Montgomery is no simple tale of memory. It’s about the way chance, error, and destiny conspire to test a heart’s fidelity. What begins as a love nurtured by letters and a photograph turns into a crisis of identity, and then, at the last moment, a revelation that love had been waiting patiently all along. This isn’t just about remembering a face—it’s about recognizing a soul when it finally stands before you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Life has a nasty habit of throwing us curves that we can either cause us long-term misery or force us to make the best of a bad situation as illustrated in this very short tale.Anton Chekhov was undoubtedly brilliant. A physician by trade, his premier talent was writing. Chekhov had a unparalleled gift for understanding the depths of human emotions and sharing them first through his short stories and later, his plays. Chekhov once said “Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Virginia Woolf demonstrates how simply focusing on one thing has the power to unleash torrents of thoughts and memories.Born Adeline Virginia Stephen in 1882, British author Virginia Woolf went on to become an icon of modern 20th century literature. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There are those for whom work becomes an obsession to the detriment of their personal lives. The businessman in our next story gives new meaning to the modern term “workaholic.”William Henry Porter, better known as O. Henry led a short albeit intriguing life. Before he died in New York City in 1910 at age 47, Porter was a pharmacist, sheep ranch hand, draftsman, banker, and prolific author of short stories. Oh, and he was also a convicted embezzler who served time in federal prison. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We aren't the first generation to be frustrated by advancing technology. More than a century ago, new fangled products were making people crazy like this gentleman who supposedly related our next hilarious tale Mark Twain.Mark Twain (the pen name of Samuel Clemens) had an unmatched knack for taking a normal story and turning it into a hilariously funny tall tale. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have been sharing stories with each other since the beginning of time. On occasion these tales have been known to grow a bit tall, as was the case when four elderly seamen spent an evening with a widow sharing a variety of yarns each one wilder than the next. Then the wood adds a tale of her own.Frank Stockton was a 19th century author and humorist with an uncanny knack for poking fun a human failings. One of his most famous stories was "The Lady or the Tiger." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Racism has always been an ugly part of the human condition. Yet, the horrors of racism in America are most undeniably illustrated by the treatment of African-Americans, particularly in the South. Here is just a small example of the pain caused by racial hatred in antebellum Louisiana.I have presented the story exactly as written, as the author, Kate Chopin, lived during this terrible period in US history. Just five years after the end of the Civil War, Chopin married a French-American and lived with him for more than a decade in Louisiana. While Chopin’s brilliant writing is as powerful today as it was more than a century ago, it, like so many other tales of the time, focused on the suffering of white characters, ignoring the true cruelty suffered by their slaves. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The lure of an illicit affair is not a new facet of human nature. People have been both tempting and tempted throughout time. But for a sudden twist of fate, our next story might have ended badly for everyone involved.Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a 19th-century French author considered one the era greatest short storyist spinning realistic tales of the human condition Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most stories for children try to teach a lesson—this one tries to blow them up. In The Storyteller by Saki, an overstuffed train car, three fidgety kids, and one very unconventional tale collide in a wickedly sharp jab at moralistic storytelling. It’s short, twisted, and just the kind of thing you’d expect from an author who clearly didn’t have much patience for either sanctimony or small talk. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our second tale in this story series by a young Ernest Hemingway picks up a few months after our last story, "The End of Something," which you might want to hear before listening to this tale. A few month's after his breakup, Nick visits his friend Bill as a fall storm hits the Horton’s Bay region.Our second tale in this story series by a young Ernest Hemingway picks up a few months after our last story, The End of Something, which you might want to hear before listening to this tale in which Nick visits his friend Bill as a fall storm hits the Horton’s Bay region Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This story is part of a series of tales written by a young Earnest Hemingway. It’s a “slice of life” story about the conflicting emotions in a relationship between a young couple. “The End of Something” was written when Hemingway was in his early 20s and features a recurring semi-autobiographical character, Nick Adams. The story had its roots in an early romance that began when Hemingway was in his late teens. Nick became a regular part of Hemingway’s early works and is featured in our next tale which follows chronologically, “The Three Day Blow.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When the plans for a top-secret British defense project are stolen and the apparent thief is found dead, the government turns to legendary detective Sherlock Holmes to solve the mystery and find the documents. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Marriage takes the simple concept of procreation and turns it into a lifelong commitment that can, at times, lead to unexpected anger and resentment. As Mark Twain once said, "God's great cosmic joke on the human race was requiring that men and women live together in marriage.” Anyone who has ever been married will see parallels to their own partnerships.Despite the fact that Edna Ferber never married, she was an astute observer of people. That led her to great success as a writer. Her 1925 novel, "So Big," was a best-seller and won Ferber a Pulitzer Prize. The book was made into three movies. Her subsequent book, "Show Boat" was turned into a popular musical and her 1952 book "Giant" was the seed for the popular move of the same name starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How times have changed. Just over a century ago, women were still fighting for the right to vote and the prevailing belief among men was that they were too emotional and fragile to do so. Our next story takes place, ironically, in a fictional Britain in the wake of a great plague. Join me as we travel back to a very different world in Hermann the Irascible by SakiSaki was the nome de plume of British author, H.H. Munro who was a prolific short story writer around the turn of the twentieth century. His wit, insight and style are unmistakable and incredibly enjoyable, even if the subject is a bit dated. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Women’s health issues have long been explained away as emotional issues due to their role as the “weaker sex.” Serious illnesses were diagnosed as nothing more than hysteria and rest was prescribed. This ignorance of women’s real health problems is brilliantly portrayed in this haunting tale of a woman driven to the brink.The author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman actually suffered a horrible case of post partum depression for which she was treated in a similar condescending manner. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This witty tale is about a veritable snake-oil salesman who uses his wares to help win the love of a beautiful young ward of an English Baronet. British author P. G. Woodhouse was one of the mid-20th century’s most popular humorists – on both side of the Atlantic. He was also a lyricist and screenwriter. While living in France a the beginning of World War II, he was imprisoned by Germany, for whom he made some controversial broadcasts. After the war he and his wife Edith moved to the United States. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How can we best learn life’s secrets during our short lives? Is the best student the one with eyes fixed on the words in a book or focused on the world around them? That is the fundamental question of this profound short tale.Often, it is the shortest stories that impart the most profound notions. This tale is one of many thoughtful, brief short stories penned by late 19th-century American feminist author Kate Chopin. Chopin was a prolific writer, who published more than 100 short stories and novels before her death in 1904. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Life in the ancient world was often brutal and cruel. Resources were often limited leading to leaders ruthless edicts. In this old Japanese folktale, a young peasant is faced with an impossible decision.Matsuo Basho, one of Japan’s most famous poets, was born 1644 and is known for creating the poetic style that eventually evolved into what are now known as haikus. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Human cruelty is nothing new. It has been a demon we have had to battle since the dawn of our kind. Yet, we also have the capacity to defeat our callousness and inhumanity (a term that drips with irony). This short powerful short story illustrates the depth our inner evil.Note: while this story shares a name with a Disney animated movie they are in no way related.One of the true masters of the short story, Guy de Maupassant was born in France in 1850. After serving in the Franco-Prussian War de Maupassant was taken in by well-known French author Gustav Flaubert where he was exposed to some of the greatest writers of the era. His stories were (and still are) so popular that the only Shakespeare has had more stories adapted into movies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.