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
5172 Anecdotes of Destiny Isak Dinesen 1958 Danish Danish
5272 I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream Harlan Ellison 1967 American English
5292 Revenge Yōko Ogawa 1998 Japanese Japanese
5294 The Poisoned Kiss And Other Stories From The Portuguese Joyce Carol Oates 1975 American English
5294 Tante Jolesch Or The Decline Of The West In Anecdotes Friedrich Torberg 1975 Austrian German
5319 Faithless Joyce Carol Oates 2001 American English
5382 Bluenose Ghosts Helen Creighton 1969 Canadian English
5422 In the Heart of the Heart of the Country William H. Gass 1968 American English
5488 Sillabari Goffredo Parise 1984 Italian Italian
5532 Fimfárum Jan Werich 1963 Czech Czech
5532 Bubáci Pro Všední Den Karel Michal 1962 Czech Czech
5574 Stranger Things Happen Kelly Link 2001 American English
5649 The Bear William Faulkner 1942 American English
5655 Reasons to Live Amy Hempel 1985 American English
5696 How I Came To Know Fish Ota Pavel 1971 Czech Czech
5710 Διηγήματα Michail Mitsakis 1987 Greek Greek
5715 The Gallery John Horne Burns 1947 American English
5754 Die Tessinerin Thomas Hürlimann 1981 Swiss German
5784 Dialogues With Leucò Cesare Pavese 1947 Italian Italian
5784 Il Mare Non Bagna Napoli Anna Maria Ortese 1953 Italian Italian
5864 The New Arabian Nights Robert Louis Stevenson 1882 Scottish English
5864 The Piazza Tales Herman Melville 1856 American English
5902 Parables, Fragments, Aphorisms Franz Kafka 1935 Czech German
5993 Bloodchild Octavia E. Butler 1984 American English
6007 The Burrow Franz Kafka 1924 Austrian German
6007 The Flood Yevgeny Zamyatin 1929 Russian Russian
6007 The Wonderful Farm Marcel Aymé 1939 French French
6007 Three Women Robert Musil 1924 Austrian German
6126 Obabakoak Bernardo Atxaga 1988 Spanish Basque
6155 CivilWarLand in Bad Decline George Saunders 1996 American English
6187 The Second Tree From The Corner E. B. White 1954 American English
6190 Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman Haruki Murakami 2006 Japanese Japanese
6227 Boule De Suif Guy de Maupassant 1880 French French
6303 Rejection Tony Tulathimutte 2024 American English
6352 Karingana Ua Karingana José Craveirinha 1982 Mozambican Portuguese
6363 Во сне ты горько плакал Yuri Kazakov 1995 Russian Russian
6369 Cabbage And Kings O. Henry 1904 American English
6374 The Body Stephen King 1982 American English
6471 The Spinning Heart Donal Ryan 2012 Irish English
6522 The Escaped Cock D. H. Lawrence 1929 British English
6548 The Boarded Window Ambrose Bierce 1891 American English
6595 Centuria Giorgio Manganelli 1979 Italian Italian
6638 Life With Jeeves P. G. Wodehouse 1983 British English
6669 Strange Pilgrims Gabriel García Márquez 1992 Colombian Spanish
6696 The Times Are Never So Bad Andre Dubus 1983 American English
6696 The Stories Of Breece D'j Pancake Breece D'J Pancake 1983 American English
6701 It's A Good Life Jerome Bixby 1953 American English
6718 Stories of Adalbert Stifter Adalbert Stifter 1801 Austrian German
6738 My Misspent Youth Meghan Daum 2001 American English
6738 The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup Susan Orlean 2001 American English
6762 Difficult Loves Italo Calvino 1958 Italian Italian
6798 Oh, Whistle, And I'll Come To You, My Lad M. R. James 1904 British English
6800 We Others Steven Millhauser 2011 American English
6820 Killing Stella Marlen Haushofer 1958 Austrian German
6822 The Pat Hobby Stories F. Scott Fitzgerald 1962 American English
6822 Tales Of The Jazz Age F. Scott Fitzgerald 1922 American English
6940 Summerhouse, Later Judith Hermann 1998 German German
6955 We All Love Glenda So Much And Other Tales Julio Cortazar 1980 Argentinian Spanish
6965 The Seance and Other Stories Isaac Bashevis Singer 1968 Polish Yiddish
6967 Sagarana Joao Guimaraes Rosa 1946 Brazilian Portuguese
6968 The Boat Nam Le 2008 Australian English
6982 Hawthorn & Child Keith Ridgway 2012 Irish English
6985 Fine Just the Way It Is Annie Proulx 2008 American English
6991 House Of Day, House Of Night Olga Tokarczuk 1998 Polish Polish
7068 Stories From A Shona Childhood Charles Mungoshi 1989 Zimbabwean English
7087 There Once Lived A Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbour’s Baby Ludmila Petrushevskaya 2009 Russian Russian
7104 Get In Trouble Kelly Link 2015 American English
7218 Little Novels Of Sicily Giovanni Verga 1883 Italian Italian
7218 The She Wolf And Other Stories Giovanni Verga 1880 Italian Italian
7218 Sylvie Gerard de Nerval 1853 French French
7218 Christmas Stories Charles Dickens 1852 British English
7218 Tales Gottfried Keller 1856 Swiss German
7218 Tales Adalbert Stifter 1840 Austrian German
7218 Tales Nikolai Leskov 1870 Russian Russian
7218 The Short Fiction Charles W. Chesnutt 1899 American English
7218 Stories And Poems Of Stephen Crane Stephen Crane 1900 American English
7218 Three Exemplary Novels Miguel de Unamuno 1933 Spanish Spanish
7218 Selected Tales Leonid Andreyev 1900 Russian Russian
7218 Selected Stories Ivan Bunin 1933 Russian Russian
7218 Nervous People And Other Satires Mikhail Zoshchenko 1927 Russian Russian
7218 Twenty One Stories Shmuel Yosef Agnon 1941 Israeli Hebrew
7218 Death In The Woods And Other Stories Sherwood Anderson 1933 American English
7218 Strange Tales From A Chinese Studio Pu Songling 1740 Chinese Classical chinese
7570 All Fires The Fire Julio Cortazar 1966 Argentinian Spanish
7594 Enormous Changes at the Last Minute Grace Paley 1974 American English
7607 Writing Marguerite Duras 1993 French French
7617 Don't Get Too Comfortable David Rakoff 2005 Canadian English
7628 Whale Cheon Myeong-kwan 2004 Korean Korean
7678 The Soft Side Henry James 1900 British English
7684 Sophie Calle Sophie Calle 1994 French French
7736 Stag Dance Torrey Peters 2025 American English
7737 The Wanderers Richard Price 1974 American English
7754 Another Marvelous Thing Laurie Colwin 1986 American English
7810 Twilight of the Superheroes Deborah Eisenberg 2006 American English
7856 Heart, Be At Peace Donal Ryan 2024 Unknown English
7898 Dangerous Laughter Steven Millhauser 2008 American English
7946 The Dark Tower And Other Stories C. S. Lewis 1977 British English
7983 Ruahine Ngahuia Te Awekotuku 2003 Unknown English
8032 Walk The Blue Fields Claire Keegan 2007 Irish English
8070 Minor Angels Antoine Volodine 1999 French French
8108 The Amber Gods And Other Stories Harriet Prescott Spofford 1863 American English
8108 The Moccasin Maker E. Pauline Johnson 1913 Canadian English
8145 Walker On Water Kristiina Ehin 2014 Estonian Estonian
8145 Simple Stories Ingo Schulze 1998 German German
8216 Stories In An Almost Classical Mode Harold Brodkey 1989 American English
8225 Island Alistair MacLeod 2000 Canadian English
8245 19 Knives Mark Anthony Jarman 1997 Canadian English
8279 Love And Summer William Trevor 2009 Irish English
8338 Three Short Novels Kay Boyle 1958 American English
8360 Redeployment Phil Klay 2014 American English
8447 Russian Disco Wladimir Kaminer 2000 German German
8468 The Fiddler In The Subway Gene Weingarten 2010 American English
8504 The Grass Harp Truman Capote 1956 American English
8521 Sourdough And Other Stories Angela Slatter 2010 Australian English
8536 Young Skins Colin Barrett 2013 Irish English
8566 Open Lisa Moore 2002 Canadian English
8626 Play The Monster Blind Lynn Coady 2000 Canadian English
8627 The Storm And Other Things Eugenio Montale 1978 Italian Italian
8671 Brás, Bexiga E Barra Funda Antônio De Alcântara Machado 1927 Brazilian Portuguese
8715 Sweet Talk Stephanie Vaughn 1990 American English