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Short Stories from the New Yorker

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The Girls In Their Summer Dresses, by Irwin Shaw
Over the River and Through the Wood, by John O'Hara
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, by James Thurber
The Net, by Robert M. Coates
Home Atmosphere, by Sally Benson
A Toast to Captain Jerk, by Russell Maloney
Kroy Wen, by Kay Boyle
Nice Girl, by Sherwood Anderson
H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N, Samaritan, by Leonard Q. Ross
Prelude to Reunion, by Oliver La Farge
A Small Day, by Erskine Caldwell
Midsummer, by Nancy Hale
The Door, by E. B. White
Tourist Home, by Benedict Thielen
Arrangement In Black and White, by Dorothy Parker
The Courtship of Milton Barker, by Wolcott Gibbs
Homecoming, by William Maxwell
Only the Dead Know Brooklyn, by Thomas Wolfe
The Works, by Nathan Asch
Do You Like It Here?, by John O'Hara
Conversation Piece, by Louise Bogan
The Fury, by Robert M. Coates
Venetian Perspective, by Janet Flanner
Ping-Pong, by St. Clair McKelway
The Three Veterans, by Leane Zugsmith
Wet Saturday, by John Collier
Soldiers of the Republic, by Dorothy Parker
Houseparty, by Walter Bernstein
All the Years of Her Life, by Morley Callaghan
The Explorers, by Jerome Weidman
The Old Lady, by Thyra Samter Winslow
A Matter of Pride, by Christopher La Farge
Love in the Snow, by Joel Sayre
Profession: Housewife, by Sally Benson
The Great Manta, by Edwin Corle
My Sister Frances, by Emily Hahn
Accident Near Charlottesburg, by William A. Krauss
In Honor of Their Daughter, by John Mosher
The Test, by Angelica Gibbs
Goodbye, Shirley Temple, by Joseph Mitchell
Honors and Awards, by James Reid Parker
Pastoral at Mr. Piper's, by Mollie Panter-Downes
Man and Woman, by Erskine Caldwell
Main Currents of American Thought, by Irwin Shaw
The Knife, by Brendan Gill
The Pelican's Shadow, by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Incident on a Street Corner, by Albert Maltz
Such a Pretty Day, by Dawn Powell
Portrait of Ladies, by Mark Schorer
Parochial School, by Paul Horgan
I Am Waiting, by Christopher Isherwood
A Letter From the Bronx, by Arthur Kober
Little Woman, by Sally Benson
The Apostate, by George Milburn
Sailor Off the Bremen, by Irwin Shaw
Barmecide's Feast, by Marc Connelly
Fish Story, by Donald Moffatt
I've Got An Anchor On My Chest, by R. H. Newman
The Happiest Days, by John Cheever
Black Boy, by Kay Boyle
The Nice Judge Trowbridge, by Richard Lockridge
Love In Brooklyn, by Daniel Fuchs
The Great-Grandmother, by Nancy Hale
Chutzbah, by Jerome Wiedman
Mr. Palmer's Party, by Tess Slesinger
A Different World, by Robert M. Coates
Are We Leaving Tomorrow?, by John O'Hara
The Getaway, by Dorothy Thomas

440 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1940

7 people are currently reading
109 people want to read

About the author

The New Yorker

503 books221 followers
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry published by Condé Nast Publications. Starting as a weekly in the mid-1920s, the magazine is now published forty-seven times per year, with five of these issues covering two-week spans.

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5 stars
15 (33%)
4 stars
17 (37%)
3 stars
11 (24%)
2 stars
2 (4%)
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
Profile Image for Debra.
826 reviews5 followers
October 8, 2012
These stories were all written for The New Yorker prior to 1940 and were a delight to read, interesting how things were viewed so long ago......I found this old book in a little out of the way shop...I doubt it had been picked up and read by anyone in 50 years it looked so new and that's the best way to rediscover old but great stories...
Profile Image for Blair.
160 reviews1 follower
November 16, 2013
I find that I have a hard time maintaining motivation to read a book of short stories. I like the flow of a novel. This anthology had some good short stories, and it was interesting to read a collection from a particular era. I have to admit, though, that I only read about half of the stories and then gave up. That shouldn't stop you from reading it, though!
Profile Image for Marilyn Boyle.
Author 2 books31 followers
March 13, 2020
This is a mostly wonderful collection from the New Yorker. It was a trip back to the 1930s to read this; they evoked the mores of the era so well! Most of the stories ( shorter than what’s published now for the most part) were five star worthy. Dealing with, class, racism, and marriage among other issues, most stories delicately delineated the problems of the time.
120 reviews
December 27, 2011
Vintage stories. vintage cutting-edge writing. vintage social customs, ethics, mores...vintage everything!
Profile Image for Christy.
306 reviews
April 8, 2017
Found this buried in a donation to our library group and I'm so glad I grabbed it. There are so many gems! I especially loved "Portrait of Ladies," by Mark Schorer.
Profile Image for Jennifer Trimble.
305 reviews6 followers
August 12, 2025
Some of these stories were very interesting and I even bought a full novel by one of the featured authors. I tried to read all of the stories, but I will admit I had to skip a handful of them. Some because the story structure wasn't flowing and some because the story was referencing things that didn't make sense (maybe because of the writing of the time period being different from now, who knows). I'm going to keep this though, so if I ever want to go back to the stories I skipped, I can.
Profile Image for Jay Gabler.
Author 13 books144 followers
March 23, 2014
Very short, surprisingly slight stories. Many are simply quaint observations of manners, but a few pack a punch. If nothing else, you learn why the names you recognize among the authors are...well, the names you recognize.
Profile Image for Kateri.
122 reviews6 followers
Read
June 26, 2012
Books you'd like to abandon, but they have too many good out-of-print stories in them.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews

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