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Best-Loved Short Stories: Flaubert, Chekhov, Kipling, Joyce, Fitzgerald, Poe and Others
Here, in large-print format, is a selection of great tales by American and European authors. Eleven stories include F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Bernice Bobs Her Hair," Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace," Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat," Chekhov's "The Lady with the Toy Dog," and O. Henry's "The Furnished Room," in addition to works by Gustave Flaubert, Leo Tolstoy, Rudyard Kipling, James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence, and Willa Cather.
This Dover edition is specially designed for those who need or prefer large print and meets the standards of the National Association for Visually Handicapped.
This Dover edition is specially designed for those who need or prefer large print and meets the standards of the National Association for Visually Handicapped.
336 pages, Paperback
First published May 5, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 18, 2024
An excellent collection of short stories. I loved “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant. An ungrateful, materialistic, bad wife gets a life lesson and there’s an M. Night Shyamalan's type twist ending that’s fantastic. I also loved “Bernice Bobs Her Hair,” which is the second short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald that I have found so interesting and fun that I’m starting to think I really like that guy. I read “The Great Gatsby,” when I was a kid and didn’t enjoy it but maybe I should read it again because I love Fitzgerald’s short stories.
I continue to hate Edgar Allan Poe. His story “The Black Cat” was weird and boring. I also continue to find Willa Cather extremely boring. Her story “ Paul’s Case,” was a snooze fest. “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter” by D. H. Lawrence stunned me. First the guy is gonna marry some lady he doesn’t know who just tried to kill herself and she’s willing because she has no place to live—and she’s a hobosexual—that’s what you call a person who enters a relationship for a place to live, smh. That story is not romantic. That story is messed up.
“A Simple Heart” by Gustave Flaubert was boring and depressing. “The Lady with the Dog” by Anton Chekhov felt like the ramblings of some sleazy old Russian man who was cheating on his wife, and I didn’t care about his plight. “How Much Land Does a Man Need” by Leo Tolstoy was good and it had a moral. “The Man Who Would Be King” by Rudyard Kipling was hard for me to follow, boring, too long, and racist. “Eveline” by James Joyce was great. And “The Furnished Room” by O Henry was also a good read.
This collection gets 4/5 stars and is well worth reading.
I continue to hate Edgar Allan Poe. His story “The Black Cat” was weird and boring. I also continue to find Willa Cather extremely boring. Her story “ Paul’s Case,” was a snooze fest. “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter” by D. H. Lawrence stunned me. First the guy is gonna marry some lady he doesn’t know who just tried to kill herself and she’s willing because she has no place to live—and she’s a hobosexual—that’s what you call a person who enters a relationship for a place to live, smh. That story is not romantic. That story is messed up.
“A Simple Heart” by Gustave Flaubert was boring and depressing. “The Lady with the Dog” by Anton Chekhov felt like the ramblings of some sleazy old Russian man who was cheating on his wife, and I didn’t care about his plight. “How Much Land Does a Man Need” by Leo Tolstoy was good and it had a moral. “The Man Who Would Be King” by Rudyard Kipling was hard for me to follow, boring, too long, and racist. “Eveline” by James Joyce was great. And “The Furnished Room” by O Henry was also a good read.
This collection gets 4/5 stars and is well worth reading.
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July 28, 2015Wow. Writing styles have really changed since 1800's. Read only first short story, A SIMPLE HEART by Flaubert. Covers 80 years by just zooming through decades, highlighting obscure fragments of life... very odd to me. Not easy to follow and not very interesting. I wonder how it became one of the best loved? Anyway... I'll pick this up again one day.
March 14, 2015
Stubbornly MADE myself read all the short stories, even though a few could not hold my interest. I enjoyed "The Necklace," "The Furnished Room," and "Bernice Bobs Her Hair."
August 19, 2019
Every one excellent
A wide variety of stories written in varying styles
From Chekhov to Fitzgerald.....moving from one era to another.
Highly recommended
A wide variety of stories written in varying styles
From Chekhov to Fitzgerald.....moving from one era to another.
Highly recommended
February 15, 2025
Of 11 stories, only 1 was authored by a woman. Six ended in death. All entailed desperation, cruelty, and/or meanness. I am left feeling thankful not to be a woman 100+ years ago.
A Simple Heart (Flaubert) ... long story about a good, uneducated servant (of God)... parrot, nephew, little girl.
The Necklace (de Maupassant) ... the only story I'd read before ... what a waste of worry and debt and labor... a lesson in not coveting
The Girl with the Toy Dog (Chekov) ... I can't stand hypocritical Gomov ... a ruinous love affair... two unhappy people living when divorce is anathema.
How Much Land Does a Man Need? (Tolstoy) ... be content, be thankful. My favorite story of the bunch, though it also ended in a bloody death.
The Man Who Would Be King (Kipling)... lots of battles and death ... the exotic, unknown middle east, racism.
The Horse Dealer's Daughter (Lawrence)... started with death, then attempted suicide, then some kind of weird attraction & extracted promise of marriage (love???)
Eveline (Joyce)... a desperate daughter... what's worse/better: the pain we know (and a promise kept) or the unknown?... ambiguous ending
The Black Cat (Poe)....all of Poe's tricks: murder, cruelty, too early entombment. Horror.
The Furnished Room (O Henry)... a ghost/love story. Why were the tenant and his lover (who dies by suicide) ever parted?
Paul's Case (Cather)... too much want, not enough gratitude... stealing, high living, death by suicide.
Bernice Bobs Her Hair (Fitzgerald)... a different type of cruelty... shallow women... hair = source of beauty, shallow men, how to flirt, sweet revenge
A Simple Heart (Flaubert) ... long story about a good, uneducated servant (of God)... parrot, nephew, little girl.
The Necklace (de Maupassant) ... the only story I'd read before ... what a waste of worry and debt and labor... a lesson in not coveting
The Girl with the Toy Dog (Chekov) ... I can't stand hypocritical Gomov ... a ruinous love affair... two unhappy people living when divorce is anathema.
How Much Land Does a Man Need? (Tolstoy) ... be content, be thankful. My favorite story of the bunch, though it also ended in a bloody death.
The Man Who Would Be King (Kipling)... lots of battles and death ... the exotic, unknown middle east, racism.
The Horse Dealer's Daughter (Lawrence)... started with death, then attempted suicide, then some kind of weird attraction & extracted promise of marriage (love???)
Eveline (Joyce)... a desperate daughter... what's worse/better: the pain we know (and a promise kept) or the unknown?... ambiguous ending
The Black Cat (Poe)....all of Poe's tricks: murder, cruelty, too early entombment. Horror.
The Furnished Room (O Henry)... a ghost/love story. Why were the tenant and his lover (who dies by suicide) ever parted?
Paul's Case (Cather)... too much want, not enough gratitude... stealing, high living, death by suicide.
Bernice Bobs Her Hair (Fitzgerald)... a different type of cruelty... shallow women... hair = source of beauty, shallow men, how to flirt, sweet revenge
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 22, 2021
This book includes eleven short stories by European and American authors. I really enjoyed the stories by de Maupassant and Tolstoy. The others were just so-so to me.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews