The Greatest Books of All Time on Short Stories

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
295 Franz Kafka Franz Kafka 1971 Czech Unknown
500 Everything That Rises Must Converge Flannery O'Connor 1965 American English
535 Red Cavalry Isaac Babel 1926 Russian Russian
555 The Lady with the Dog Anton Chekhov 1899 Russian Russian
600 Nine Stories J. D. Salinger 1953 American English
615 Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary M. R. James 1904 British English
715 The Sketch Book Of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Washington Irving 1819 American English
727 The Street of Crocodiles Bruno Schulz 1934 Polish Polish
822 I, Robot Isaac Asimov 1950 American English
825 In Our Time Ernest Hemingway 1925 American English
854 Cane Jean Toomer 1923 American English
873 Call to Arms Lu Xun 1922 Chinese Chinese
875 Greguerias Ramón Gómez de la Serna 1910 Spanish Spanish
924 Where I'm Calling From Raymond Carver 1988 American English
959 A Tomb for Boris Davidovich Danilo Kiš 1976 Serbian Serbo-croatian
968 Jesus' Son Denis Johnson 1992 American English
973 The Burning Plain and Other Stories Juan Rulfo 1953 Mexican Spanish
1039 Birds of America Lorrie Moore 1998 American English
1090 The Kreutzer Sonata Leo Tolstoy 1889 Russian Russian
1143 Tevye The Dairyman And The Railroad Stories Sholem Aleichem 1894 Jewish Yiddish
1149 A Sportsman's Notebook Ivan Turgenev 1852 Russian Russian
1205 The Enchanted Wanderer Nikolai Leskov 1873 Russian Russian
1247 The Jungle Book Rudyard Kipling 1894 British English
1331 Cathedral Raymond Carver 1983 American English
1354 Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Strout 2008 American English
1361 The King In Yellow Robert W. Chambers 1895 American English
1372 The Horror Horn And Other Stories E. F. Benson 1931 British English
1420 The October Country Ray Bradbury 1955 American English
1473 What We Talk About When We Talk About Love Raymond Carver 1981 American English
1496 The Sleeping And The Dead August Derleth 1947 American English
1563 Runaway Alice Munro 2004 Canadian English
1634 The House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros 1984 American English
1696 Evenings On A Farm Near Dikanka Nikolai Gogol 1831 Russian Russian
1714 Go Down, Moses William Faulkner 1942 American English
1731 Delta of Venus Anaïs Nin 1977 French English
1747 Twenty Four Hours In The Life Of A Woman Stefan Zweig 1927 Austrian German
1764 Tales Of The Hasidim Martin Buber 1949 German German
1766 Who Do You Think You Are? Alice Munro 1978 Canadian English
1775 Interpreter of Maladies Jhumpa Lahiri 1999 American English
1819 Carry On, Jeeves P. G. Wodehouse 1925 British English
1885 Little Disturbances Grace Paley 1959 American English
1909 The Collected Stories Of Lydia Davis Lydia Davis 2009 American English
1926 Stories of Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Gogol 1831 Russian Russian
1988 Seven Gothic Tales Isak Dinesen 1934 Danish English
2102 Collected Short Stories of Saki Saki 1930 British English
2116 The Treasure Chest Johann Peter Hebel 1811 German German
2125 Tell Me a Riddle Tillie Olsen 1961 American English
2209 Sub Rosa Robert Aickman 1968 British English
2212 Collected Stories W. Somerset Maugham 1951 British English
2214 Mozart On His Way To Prague Eduard Mörike 1856 German German
2266 Pricksongs and Descants Robert Coover 1969 American English
2270 In a Glass Darkly Sheridan Le Fanu 1872 Irish English
2306 The Old Forest Peter Taylor 1985 American English
2435 Nine Horrors And A Dream Joseph Payne Brennan 1958 American English
2466 Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage Alice Munro 2001 Canadian English
2504 Pastoralia George Saunders 2000 American English
2532 Young Goodman Brown & Other Short Stories Nathaniel Hawthorne 1835 American English
2555 Amok Stefan Zweig 1922 Austrian German
2623 Collected Writings Ambrose Bierce 1909 American English
2701 Close Range Annie Proulx 1999 American English
2729 Overcoat Nikolai Gogol 1842 Russian Russian
2767 The Dancing Girl of Izu and Other Stories Yasunari Kawabata 1926 Japanese Japanese
2786 By Night Under The Stone Bridge Leo Perutz 1953 Austrian German
2814 The Golden Apples Eudora Welty 1949 American English
2815 The Belkin Tales Alexander Pushkin 1831 Russian Russian
2826 A Manual For Cleaning Women Lucia Berlin 2015 American English
2873 The Moral Essays Giacomo Leopardi 1832 Italian Italian
2912 A Simple Soul Gustave Flaubert 1877 French French
2922 The Progress of Love Alice Munro 1986 Canadian English
2932 The Compleat Werewolf And Other Stories Of Fantasy And Science Fiction Anthony Boucher 1969 American English
2970 The Steppe Anton Chekhov 1888 Russian Russian
3038 The Snow Goose Paul Gallico 1941 British English
3081 Flappers And Philosophers F. Scott Fitzgerald 1920 American English
3174 Oblivion David Foster Wallace 2004 American English
3244 The Thurber Carnival James Thurber 1945 American English
3263 The Selected Works of Cesare Pavese Cesare Pavese 1968 Italian Italian
3288 Stories of Washington Irving Washington Irving 1820 American English
3324 King Lear of the Steppes Ivan Turgenev 1870 Russian Russian
3382 Like Life Lorrie Moore 1990 American English
3385 Wandering On The Way Zhuangzi, Victor H. Mair -369 Chinese Classical chinese
3419 Taipei People Pai Hsien-yung 1971 Chinese Chinese
3453 Magic for Beginners Kelly Link 2005 American English
3460 The Complete Fiction Of Bruno Schulz Bruno Schulz 1989 Polish Polish
3579 Flowering Judas and Other Stories Katherine Anne Porter 1930 American English
3621 A Small, Good Thing Raymond Carver 1981 American English
3624 The Lost Salt Gift Of Blood Alistair MacLeod 1976 Canadian English
3637 The Return and Other Stories Andrey Platonov 1946 Russian Russian
3637 Till Eulenspiegel Hermann Bote 1510 German German
3637 Krambambuli Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach 1901 Austrian German
3637 The Poor Musician Franz Grillparzer 1848 Austrian German
3637 The Golden Pot E. T. A. Hoffmann 1814 German German
3637 The Marquise Of O Heinrich von Kleist 1808 German German
3637 Cavalleria Rusticana Giovanni Verga 1896 Italian Italian
3828 Bacacay Witold Gombrowicz 1957 Polish Polish
3833 Повесть о жизни Konstantin Paustovsky 1956 Russian Russian
3952 Modern Greek Stories Georgios Vizyinos 1883 Greek Greek
3952 My Mother's Sin Georgios Vizyinos 1883 Greek Greek
3952 The Only Journey Of His Life Georgios Vizyinos 1887 Greek Greek
3952 The Complete Works Of Alexandros Papadiamantis Alexandros Papadiamantis 1952 Greek Greek
4056 Bad Behavior Mary Gaitskill 1988 American English
4104 Lange Schatten Marie Luise Kaschnitz 1960 German German
4131 Dark Avenues Ivan Bunin 1943 Russian Russian
4148 The Tale Of Cross Eyed Lefty From Tula And The Steel Flea Nikolai Leskov 1881 Russian Russian
4212 Miss Sophie's Diary And Other Stories Ding Ling 1928 Chinese Chinese
4266 Cases Daniil Kharms 1939 Russian Russian
4275 In The Ravine Anton Chekhov 1900 Russian Russian
4429 And Really Frau Blum Would Very Much Like To Meet The Milkman Peter Bichsel 1964 Swiss German
4435 In Dreams Begin Responsibilities And Other Stories Delmore Schwartz 1938 American English
4452 Gogol's Wife Tommaso Landolfi 1953 Italian Italian
4493 Soldiers Three Rudyard Kipling 1888 British English
4593 Last Night James Salter 2005 American English
4827 The Largesse of the Sea Maiden Denis Johnson 2018 American English
4855 Best of Simple Langston Hughes 1961 American English
5030 Honored Guest Joy Williams 2004 American English
5037 Eight Men Richard Wright 1961 American English
5084 Short Friday Isaac Bashevis Singer 1964 Polish Yiddish
5100 The Doctor Stories William Carlos Williams 1984 American English
5143 The Nine Mile Walk Harry Kemelman 1967 American English
5153 Cursed Bunny Bora Chung 2021 Korean Korean
5169 Anecdotes of Destiny Isak Dinesen 1958 Danish Danish