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The Hudson Book of Fiction: 30 Stories Worth Reading
The "Hudson Series" is dedicated to providing the best literature - without commentary or interpretation - at a student-friendly price.
336 pages, Paperback
First published June 15, 2001
5 people are currently reading
158 people want to read
About the author
Edgar Allan Poe
9,821 books28.7k followersThe name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. His works have been in print since 1827 and include such literary classics as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, and The Fall of the House of Usher. This versatile writer’s oeuvre includes short stories, poetry, a novel, a textbook, a book of scientific theory, and hundreds of essays and book reviews. He is widely acknowledged as the inventor of the modern detective story and an innovator in the science fiction genre, but he made his living as America’s first great literary critic and theoretician. Poe’s reputation today rests primarily on his tales of terror as well as on his haunting lyric poetry.
Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.
The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...
Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.
The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 23, 2016
I don't usually read short stories but this one is an exception. It's an old book, copyright, 2002, but it has stories going back into the 1800's.
I haven't read them all but I wanted to get started on the few I've read.
"The Storm" by Kate Chopin
"The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka
"The Rocking Horse Winner" by D. H. Lawrence
"King of the Bingo Game" by Ralph Ellison
"A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
"The Red Convertible" by Louise Erdrich
Of these 6 the ones that stand out are the ones by Kafka and Marquez. Marquez's story is very strange but his writing enthralled me immediately. I will certainly look to his other books.
Of course everyone "knows" about Kafka's story, but this is the first time I've read it. It is very intense and realize that each sentence and scene are very important. I will definitely re-read this one.
The Lawrence story was one of the first things I had to read when I went to college as a Freshman in English. I remember having an argument with the professor about it's meaning so I had to read it.
The others were stories I just wanted to read. The two first I talked about are worth your time and energy finding them. I hope this review will help some.
I haven't read them all but I wanted to get started on the few I've read.
"The Storm" by Kate Chopin
"The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka
"The Rocking Horse Winner" by D. H. Lawrence
"King of the Bingo Game" by Ralph Ellison
"A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
"The Red Convertible" by Louise Erdrich
Of these 6 the ones that stand out are the ones by Kafka and Marquez. Marquez's story is very strange but his writing enthralled me immediately. I will certainly look to his other books.
Of course everyone "knows" about Kafka's story, but this is the first time I've read it. It is very intense and realize that each sentence and scene are very important. I will definitely re-read this one.
The Lawrence story was one of the first things I had to read when I went to college as a Freshman in English. I remember having an argument with the professor about it's meaning so I had to read it.
The others were stories I just wanted to read. The two first I talked about are worth your time and energy finding them. I hope this review will help some.
July 29, 2007
This book has a lot of stories you won't find in traditional white male "classic" dominated collections. The Yellow Wallpaper is an interesting story about a woman going insane. A Very Old Man With Enourmous Wings is great story about our perceived connection between beauty and nobility. Hills Like White Elephants is also a great story. The A&P is a classic about finally getting what you want. And The Things They Carried is an interesting look into the minds of soldiers.
February 16, 2009
I use this book for teaching Introduction to Literature. It has a wide variety of new and old stories. I like the Hudson Poetry book better, but this is a cheap and worthwhile collection.
January 7, 2010
An inspired collection of American short stories from the past two centuries.
September 7, 2018
Definitely worth reading. It was a mix of authors and styles. I especially liked the Joyce Carol Oates contribution.
April 24, 2022
Picked at semi-random from my shelves of mostly rescued books. A quick check of the table of contents finds that I've already read more than half of these! The classics ...
1 - Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Read for about the third time last night. Well enough written, but I still have no clues what it's about. Typical Hawthorne ...
2 - The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe - read before a couple of times. Very dark humor there.
3 - The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman - second read of this creepy and very political story.
4 - The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky by Stephen Crane - second or third read of this amusing tale.
5 - The Storm by Kate Chopin - not sure that I've read this before. It's about SEX(of course).
6 - Paul's Case by Willa Cather - first time read. The short happy/unhappy life of a misfit.
- WC drops Dreiser word-turds from Sister Carrie - "he bethought himself," and "for the nonce" - UGH!
- Reference is made twice(at least) to some "horrid yellow wallpaper) - curious eh?
7 - Araby by James Joyce- second/third read of this bitter tale of disillusionment in love. I could identify.
8 - The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - first time read for this famous tale. I assume it's meant as dark comedy.
9 - Winter Dreams by F. Scott Fitzgerald - third(?) time read. A precursor to "Gatsby." Also, a close cousin to "Goon Squad" in it's portrayal of passing time and the losses that entails.
10- The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield - second time read. Contains a scene reminiscent of one in "Bleak House."
- so far I'm 7 for 10 in the "already read" category.
11 - Sweat by Zora Neal Hurston - Not read before. A bit like Sredni Vashtar come to think of it.
12 - The Rocking-Horse Winner by D. H. Lawrence - read before: 8 for 12 now.
13 - Hills Like White Elephants by Hemingway - 9 for 13 ... The operation in question is likely an abortion. Or ... maybe an episiotomy?
14 - The Jilting of Granny Weatherall by Katherine Anne Porter. Now 10 for 14 ... KAP was is great writer.
15 - A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner. Read for the third time(?) and I'm now 11 for 15 ... Still a fun read.
- Almost all of these are pretty short stories, making this whole book an easy read.
16- A Worn Path by Eudora Welty. I'm pretty sure I read this before, making me now 12 for 16 in the "stories already read" category.
- Ms. Welty uses a sentence("She walked on.") that reminds of Cormac McCarthy in "All the Pretty Horses" -
17 - King of the Bingo Game by Ralph Ellison - Yup ... read before at least once. My score in this regard is 13 for 17. DUDE! Let go of that button!
18 - Gimpel the Fool by Isaac Bashevis Singer - Another "already read"(probably) story. A parable? About what I have no idea. 14 for 18
19 - A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor - And now my score is 15 for 19. This is one of my all-time favorites. Black comedy at its finest. Watch out for "The Misfit"!
20 - A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - If I read this before I don't recall doing so. If I did and forgot I can see why. Give me Raymond Carver and Alice Munro any day rather than these folk tales/parables or whatever they are.
21 - A & P by John Updike - Another one read before at least once(so now I'm 16 for 21). A young lad learns a hard lesson.
22 - The Swimmer by John Cheever. Read once before and ... I've seen the pretty good movie as well. Cheever = great writer. 17 for 22
23 - Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates. Read before and ... I've seen the PBS movie(Smooth Talk) too. Typical JCO insanity. She loves this stuff. RAPE! MURDER! etc.
18 for 23
24 - Everyday Use by Alice Walker - Read before(or was this a part of "The Color Purple"?) so now I'm 19 for 24.
25 - How I Met My Husband by Alice Munro. Even though I've read a lot of Alice Munro, I don't recall this one. More Munro perfection. Best story so far IMHO. Now 19 for 25
26 - Cathedral by Raymond Carver. Read at least twice before. I Love Ray Carver. Why/how he's so good is a mystery. 20 for 26 now.
27 - The Red Convertible by Louise Erdrich. Only at the end did this seem familiar, even though I must have read it already, as I did read "Love Medicine," which this story was a part of. Oh well, that WAS a while ago. 21 for 27 ...
28 - The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. Read at least once as part of the novel. 22 for 28.
29 - In the American Society by Gish Jen. Funniest story in the collection. 22 for 29
30 - Fiesta, 1980 by junot Diaz. A good writer who writes about crap too much. 22 for 30
And so... a worthy collection, most of which I'd already read elsewhere. However, it's easier(and worthwhile) to re-read short stories than whole novels - right?
1 - Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Read for about the third time last night. Well enough written, but I still have no clues what it's about. Typical Hawthorne ...
2 - The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe - read before a couple of times. Very dark humor there.
3 - The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman - second read of this creepy and very political story.
4 - The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky by Stephen Crane - second or third read of this amusing tale.
5 - The Storm by Kate Chopin - not sure that I've read this before. It's about SEX(of course).
6 - Paul's Case by Willa Cather - first time read. The short happy/unhappy life of a misfit.
- WC drops Dreiser word-turds from Sister Carrie - "he bethought himself," and "for the nonce" - UGH!
- Reference is made twice(at least) to some "horrid yellow wallpaper) - curious eh?
7 - Araby by James Joyce- second/third read of this bitter tale of disillusionment in love. I could identify.
8 - The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - first time read for this famous tale. I assume it's meant as dark comedy.
9 - Winter Dreams by F. Scott Fitzgerald - third(?) time read. A precursor to "Gatsby." Also, a close cousin to "Goon Squad" in it's portrayal of passing time and the losses that entails.
10- The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield - second time read. Contains a scene reminiscent of one in "Bleak House."
- so far I'm 7 for 10 in the "already read" category.
11 - Sweat by Zora Neal Hurston - Not read before. A bit like Sredni Vashtar come to think of it.
12 - The Rocking-Horse Winner by D. H. Lawrence - read before: 8 for 12 now.
13 - Hills Like White Elephants by Hemingway - 9 for 13 ... The operation in question is likely an abortion. Or ... maybe an episiotomy?
14 - The Jilting of Granny Weatherall by Katherine Anne Porter. Now 10 for 14 ... KAP was is great writer.
15 - A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner. Read for the third time(?) and I'm now 11 for 15 ... Still a fun read.
- Almost all of these are pretty short stories, making this whole book an easy read.
16- A Worn Path by Eudora Welty. I'm pretty sure I read this before, making me now 12 for 16 in the "stories already read" category.
- Ms. Welty uses a sentence("She walked on.") that reminds of Cormac McCarthy in "All the Pretty Horses" -
17 - King of the Bingo Game by Ralph Ellison - Yup ... read before at least once. My score in this regard is 13 for 17. DUDE! Let go of that button!
18 - Gimpel the Fool by Isaac Bashevis Singer - Another "already read"(probably) story. A parable? About what I have no idea. 14 for 18
19 - A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor - And now my score is 15 for 19. This is one of my all-time favorites. Black comedy at its finest. Watch out for "The Misfit"!
20 - A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - If I read this before I don't recall doing so. If I did and forgot I can see why. Give me Raymond Carver and Alice Munro any day rather than these folk tales/parables or whatever they are.
21 - A & P by John Updike - Another one read before at least once(so now I'm 16 for 21). A young lad learns a hard lesson.
22 - The Swimmer by John Cheever. Read once before and ... I've seen the pretty good movie as well. Cheever = great writer. 17 for 22
23 - Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates. Read before and ... I've seen the PBS movie(Smooth Talk) too. Typical JCO insanity. She loves this stuff. RAPE! MURDER! etc.
18 for 23
24 - Everyday Use by Alice Walker - Read before(or was this a part of "The Color Purple"?) so now I'm 19 for 24.
25 - How I Met My Husband by Alice Munro. Even though I've read a lot of Alice Munro, I don't recall this one. More Munro perfection. Best story so far IMHO. Now 19 for 25
26 - Cathedral by Raymond Carver. Read at least twice before. I Love Ray Carver. Why/how he's so good is a mystery. 20 for 26 now.
27 - The Red Convertible by Louise Erdrich. Only at the end did this seem familiar, even though I must have read it already, as I did read "Love Medicine," which this story was a part of. Oh well, that WAS a while ago. 21 for 27 ...
28 - The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. Read at least once as part of the novel. 22 for 28.
29 - In the American Society by Gish Jen. Funniest story in the collection. 22 for 29
30 - Fiesta, 1980 by junot Diaz. A good writer who writes about crap too much. 22 for 30
And so... a worthy collection, most of which I'd already read elsewhere. However, it's easier(and worthwhile) to re-read short stories than whole novels - right?
November 1, 2019
This book had so many great works in it and I am glad I now have a compilation of short stories instead of having to buy individual copies of each one. It makes it very convenient to just flip to the next story instead. I am definitely grateful that I bought this book for my Literary Criticism class instead of rented it. With all the notes I made in it, I think it will come in handy in my future classes.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews