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That Glimpse of Truth: The 100 Finest Short Stories Ever Written
Alternate cover edition of ASIN B00KFDRC3U
Profound, lyrical, shocking, wise: the short story is capable of almost anything. This collection of 100 of the finest stories ever written ranges from the essential to the unexpected, the traditional to the surreal. Wide in scope, both beautiful and vast, this is the perfect companion for any fiction lover.
Here are childhood favourites and neglected masters, twenty-first century wits and national treasures, Man Booker Prize winners and Nobel Laureates.
Featuring an all-star cast of authors, including Kate Atkinson, Julian Barnes, Angela Carter, Anton Chekhov, Richmal Crompton, Charles Dickens, Roald Dahl, Penelope Fitzgerald, Gustave Flaubert, Rudyard Kipling, Somerset Maugham, Ian McEwan, Alice Munro, V.S. Pritchett, Thomas Pynchon, Muriel Spark and Colm Tóibín, THAT GLIMPSE OF TRUTH is the biggest, most handsome collection of short fiction in print today.
Profound, lyrical, shocking, wise: the short story is capable of almost anything. This collection of 100 of the finest stories ever written ranges from the essential to the unexpected, the traditional to the surreal. Wide in scope, both beautiful and vast, this is the perfect companion for any fiction lover.
Here are childhood favourites and neglected masters, twenty-first century wits and national treasures, Man Booker Prize winners and Nobel Laureates.
Featuring an all-star cast of authors, including Kate Atkinson, Julian Barnes, Angela Carter, Anton Chekhov, Richmal Crompton, Charles Dickens, Roald Dahl, Penelope Fitzgerald, Gustave Flaubert, Rudyard Kipling, Somerset Maugham, Ian McEwan, Alice Munro, V.S. Pritchett, Thomas Pynchon, Muriel Spark and Colm Tóibín, THAT GLIMPSE OF TRUTH is the biggest, most handsome collection of short fiction in print today.
816 pages, ebook
First published October 23, 2014
363 people are currently reading
1731 people want to read
About the author
David Miller
1,042 books52 followersLibrarian Note: There are more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
August 30, 2017
I once read a teensy self-published novel and put the boot into it because of all the typos. Come on, I said, it's your damn novel, proofread it. Now here is a nearly 1000 page long big important collection of short stories and blow me down, typos all over the place. Anyway, I have been reading this big thing on and off since I got it 3 years ago and all due respect but it was a pretty lukewarm bunch of stuff. Lot of them were just a little bit too subtle, I think. Like, uh? What was the point there? Somebody explain it to me.
Do you like O Henry or would you rather
Read Barrie, Zweig, Saki and Cather?
Such sumptuous, extravagant choice -
Gogol, Dinesen, Cheever, Joyce -
By page 400 if you are able
To carry on there's Isaac Babel.
What could we possibly be missing?
Of course - a little bit of Gissing
Etc Etc
Not too many of these have made my all-time favourites list but I did really like A M Homes' account of sex with Barbie and Ken dolls, that one is a must read. I could see the outline of Toy Story 4 in that one.
Do you like O Henry or would you rather
Read Barrie, Zweig, Saki and Cather?
Such sumptuous, extravagant choice -
Gogol, Dinesen, Cheever, Joyce -
By page 400 if you are able
To carry on there's Isaac Babel.
What could we possibly be missing?
Of course - a little bit of Gissing
Etc Etc
Not too many of these have made my all-time favourites list but I did really like A M Homes' account of sex with Barbie and Ken dolls, that one is a must read. I could see the outline of Toy Story 4 in that one.
June 5, 2017
The tales within Head of Zeus’ That Glimpse of Truth: 100 of the Finest Short Stories Ever Written have been selected and introduced by David Miller. The book’s blurb states, ‘Profound, lyrical, shocking, wise: the short story is capable of almost anything’, and goes on to describe the way in which the stories range ‘from the essential to the unexpected, the traditional to the surreal… Here are childhood favourites and neglected masters, twenty-first century wits and national treasures, Man Booker Prize winners and Nobel Laureates’.
In his witty introduction, in which he leads an informed discussion about the power of the short story, Miller writes of the Herculean task of selecting the one hundred best tales ever written: ‘I’ve tried to remain dispassionate, searching for the finest, ending up being wholly and, I’d argue, usefully passionate. I have spent weeks, then months, quarrelling with myself (and others) and, now there is a result, some will complain I’ve not included a or y, or h or z or given due attention to the burgeoning literary genre or scene in delete as appropriate‘. He goes on to say that ‘… as a short story is already a distillation, it gives the writer a far harder task to achieve everything, not just any thing. Every thing in this book is as good as it can get’.
So many wonderful authors have been included in this anthology; just glancing at the full list on the back of the book before I began to read, I picked out Virginia Woolf, Anton Chekhov, Roald Dahl, William Maxwell, Ian McEwan and Flannery O’Connor. The range of contributors is diverse, particularly when one takes into account the wealth of original languages in which the tales were originally penned. Primarily, those in That Glimpse of Truth are English, but there are stories translated from Danish, Yiddish and Vietnamese to name but three. The stories have been ordered by the chronological date of birth of each author as, says Miller, ‘that seemed easiest’. It is as good a way as any to organise a collection of tales, and there is consequently a marvellous progression from beginning to end.
The book’s title has been taken from a quote by Joseph Conrad, on why he chose to write within the short story form: ‘My task which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel… and, perhaps, also that glimpse of truth for which you have forgotten to ask’. That Glimpse of Truth begins with a story from ‘The Book of Jonah’, and encompasses, among others, the Brothers Grimm, Nikolai Gogol, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Stefan Zweig, Edith Pearlman and Lorrie Moore. The format of the book makes it a perfect volume from which to read one or two stories per day. So many themes, perspectives, characters and emotions have been encompassed. There are stories within stories, and also those which ask wider questions.
That Glimpse of Truth has been beautifully designed. The book itself is lovely; a red hardback with a nicely designed dustjacket and ribbon bookmarks. The only drawback is that there are rather a lot of mistakes within the majority of the stories, and it is a real shame that it was not better edited. Regardless, at over 900 pages, That Glimpse of Truth is sure to keep every reader amused. It is a marvellous collection, and has been thoughtfully put together, so much so that it is an absolute delight to read.
In his witty introduction, in which he leads an informed discussion about the power of the short story, Miller writes of the Herculean task of selecting the one hundred best tales ever written: ‘I’ve tried to remain dispassionate, searching for the finest, ending up being wholly and, I’d argue, usefully passionate. I have spent weeks, then months, quarrelling with myself (and others) and, now there is a result, some will complain I’ve not included a or y, or h or z or given due attention to the burgeoning literary genre or scene in delete as appropriate‘. He goes on to say that ‘… as a short story is already a distillation, it gives the writer a far harder task to achieve everything, not just any thing. Every thing in this book is as good as it can get’.
So many wonderful authors have been included in this anthology; just glancing at the full list on the back of the book before I began to read, I picked out Virginia Woolf, Anton Chekhov, Roald Dahl, William Maxwell, Ian McEwan and Flannery O’Connor. The range of contributors is diverse, particularly when one takes into account the wealth of original languages in which the tales were originally penned. Primarily, those in That Glimpse of Truth are English, but there are stories translated from Danish, Yiddish and Vietnamese to name but three. The stories have been ordered by the chronological date of birth of each author as, says Miller, ‘that seemed easiest’. It is as good a way as any to organise a collection of tales, and there is consequently a marvellous progression from beginning to end.
The book’s title has been taken from a quote by Joseph Conrad, on why he chose to write within the short story form: ‘My task which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel… and, perhaps, also that glimpse of truth for which you have forgotten to ask’. That Glimpse of Truth begins with a story from ‘The Book of Jonah’, and encompasses, among others, the Brothers Grimm, Nikolai Gogol, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Stefan Zweig, Edith Pearlman and Lorrie Moore. The format of the book makes it a perfect volume from which to read one or two stories per day. So many themes, perspectives, characters and emotions have been encompassed. There are stories within stories, and also those which ask wider questions.
That Glimpse of Truth has been beautifully designed. The book itself is lovely; a red hardback with a nicely designed dustjacket and ribbon bookmarks. The only drawback is that there are rather a lot of mistakes within the majority of the stories, and it is a real shame that it was not better edited. Regardless, at over 900 pages, That Glimpse of Truth is sure to keep every reader amused. It is a marvellous collection, and has been thoughtfully put together, so much so that it is an absolute delight to read.
January 30, 2018
Been dipping in and out of this for a few years. It’s more an historical narrative of the genre, rather than a ‘Best 100’ as the stories gradually move from old at the outset to contemporary by the end . At least 30 are incredible stories, and the anthology is worth buying for these alone. I thought another 40 or so strong, well strong according to my own personal taste -and Miller deliberately provides a very varied selection here in terms of style and theme. And there was roughly a quarter I disliked (not Miler’s fault - it’s subjective). I’d highly recommend this anthology to lovers of prose, as well as lovers of the short story genre, along with anyone keen on seeing the short story’s evolution via a reading journey.
February 18, 2015
Obviously, these are not really the 100 finest short stories ever written; they are one person's selection. Further, I note that David Miller works for a literary agent, and according to the credits a suspiciously high proportion of the contemporary authors are represented by his agency. It's a global collection but inevitably biased towards the West.
But leaving those matters aside, there are some crackers here. There are the obvious choices, like Chekhov, Munro, and Pritchett (though I wouldn't have chosen the stories he did) -- but I most enjoyed discovering authors I hadn't read before. I was especially taken by Sean O'Faolain; his How to write a short story is witty and superb. Other more than honourable mentions go to John Cheever's The Swimmer, Palm Court by the unknown (to me) James Salter, the brilliant Live Bait by also unknown Frank Tuohy. I laughed aloud at Georgina Hammick's The Dying Room, which revolves around an argument between an upper class mother and her son about what to call specific rooms in the house -- the English class system meticulously skewered. Elsewhere I laughed at Wodehouse's consummate comic turns: "In the case of Angus McAllister, why, going a step further, have made hum a human being at all? All the ingredients of a first-class mule simply thrown away." Or, of a village fete: "There was only one man who could have coped adequately with the situation, and that was King Herod, who -- regrettably -- was not among those present."
Tim Winton's Boner McPharlin's Moll, Gita Mehta's Teacher's Story, Isaac Babel's My first fee -- there are more than I can mention here. Well worth having if you love short stories -- keep it handy to dip into -- and I'll be looking for more from the authors mentioned here.
But leaving those matters aside, there are some crackers here. There are the obvious choices, like Chekhov, Munro, and Pritchett (though I wouldn't have chosen the stories he did) -- but I most enjoyed discovering authors I hadn't read before. I was especially taken by Sean O'Faolain; his How to write a short story is witty and superb. Other more than honourable mentions go to John Cheever's The Swimmer, Palm Court by the unknown (to me) James Salter, the brilliant Live Bait by also unknown Frank Tuohy. I laughed aloud at Georgina Hammick's The Dying Room, which revolves around an argument between an upper class mother and her son about what to call specific rooms in the house -- the English class system meticulously skewered. Elsewhere I laughed at Wodehouse's consummate comic turns: "In the case of Angus McAllister, why, going a step further, have made hum a human being at all? All the ingredients of a first-class mule simply thrown away." Or, of a village fete: "There was only one man who could have coped adequately with the situation, and that was King Herod, who -- regrettably -- was not among those present."
Tim Winton's Boner McPharlin's Moll, Gita Mehta's Teacher's Story, Isaac Babel's My first fee -- there are more than I can mention here. Well worth having if you love short stories -- keep it handy to dip into -- and I'll be looking for more from the authors mentioned here.
December 26, 2015
I asked for this book for Christmas last year and I took the whole year to read it. 100 of the finest short stories ever written - you don't zip through that, you savor that a couple of stories a week. As with any anthology, I liked some stories better than others. Some of my favorites were Fitzgerald's Babylon Revisited and Cheever's The Swimmer, neither of which I had previously read even though they are classics. Other well-known classics included in this collection include Shirley Jackson's The Lottery and Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find.
A lesser-known and more recent story that really stuck with me was Ian McEwan's Butterflies. You need strong nerve to even read it, but it is almost perfectly constructed, as the horror of what actually happened slowly occurs to you.
Like my reviews? Check out my blog at http://www.kathrynbashaar.com/blog/
A lesser-known and more recent story that really stuck with me was Ian McEwan's Butterflies. You need strong nerve to even read it, but it is almost perfectly constructed, as the horror of what actually happened slowly occurs to you.
Like my reviews? Check out my blog at http://www.kathrynbashaar.com/blog/
June 14, 2021
UPDATE: Couldn't finish... for now... after around 400 pages that is...still, I recommend it for short stories afficionados. Maybe to re-read/continue.
Each story is prefaced by a few fascinating paragraphs describing the life of the writer we are about to read. Most also mention how the author died.
Anon - The Book of Jonah - the actual chapter of the Bible. Interesting choice.
Miguel de Cervantes - The Deceitful Marriage *** two stories within a story, the protagonist meets an acquaintance to whom he relates how he was deceived into marrying a woman who claimed to be rich while he was also deceiving her in the same way. The second story though is of two talking dogs and ends with the acquaintance reading an account of one of the dogs' life stories.
The Brothers Grimm - The Children of Hameln - why is this a children's tale again?
Edgar Allan Poe - The Tell-Tale Heart ** typical EAP horror story - how alien is the mind of the criminal
Nikolai Gogol - The Nose * hated it
Charles Dickens - The Signal-Man ** very descriptive, I feel, as with many of the stories of this collection, that there's more to it than "meets the eye" - a signal-man in a remote location dies as predicted by ill omens he failed to interpret and forebodings of his death... or did they cause his death?
Gustave Flaubert - A Simple Heart **** heartbreaking... with an ending that made me cry... the image of that wormy parrot covered by flowers on an altar... plus, she's named "Felicite"
Kate Chopin - Desiree’s Baby ** man rejects wife for giving birth to mixed-blooded offspring accusing her of being mixed-blooded herself even though he is aware that his mother was half Black
Guy de Maupassant - The Horla *** double-edged - is the horla a new species that succeeds the humans or is the protagonist going slightly mad
Joseph Conrad - The Lagoon - skipped
George Gissing - Fleet-Footed Hester ** a Hal Hartley style love-story
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - A Scandal in Bohemia *** Sherlock Holmes finally (but fleetingly) meets his match. And she's female
Knut Hamsun - A Lecture Tour ** less delusional than the tell-tale heart protagonist but still... Knut Hamsun is described as being the equivalent of Munch's The Scream in literature... cool
J.M. Barrie - Cree Queery and Mysy Drolly * squalid, sad, disturbing - Cree loves his mother all his miserable life and when he dies he pays his miserable debt
Anton Chekhov - The Lady with the Dog *** believable and elegantly written love-story
O. Henry - The Cop and the Anthem ***** Soapy wants to go to prison for 3 wintery months... he has difficulties being arrested. Excellent. Funny, sharp, personal.
Edith Wharton - The Other Two **** another elegant, analytic, and well-written short story on a thorny subject - how is a man expected to deal with not one, but two of his wife's ex-husbands
M.R. James - “Oh Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad” * whistle found in archaeological site changes the main character's strong disbelief in surreal phenomena
Rudyard Kipling - Mary Postgate *** anti-war, misunderstanding... I don't find it typical for Kipling. After her protegee dies in the war, Mary Postgate lets a French soldier die believing he's 1. German, 2. responsible for the death of a child. Has something in common with Flaubert's story
Henry Lawson - The Loaded Dog - skipped when explosives and a dog appeared on the same page
Ivan Bunin - A Cold Autumn **** a love-story that lasted a cold autumn evening and a lifetime
Saki - Sredni Vashtar **** excellent, I got to know, understand and love the 10 years old protagonist. Also, great end.
Willa Cather - Consequences ** well-written but mysterious despite the fact that, with all those mentions of suicide, the ending was predictable. Still, admitting that the old man haunting Cavenaugh is the devil in some way, why did he choose Cavenaugh?
G.K. Chesterton - The Three Horsemen *** smart, well written. Horseman number one kills horseman number two out of obedience - in order to prevent him from countering the order to kill the Polish poet. The third horseman shoots the first from a distance, as ordered, mistaking him for the second.
W. Somerset Maugham - Mr. Know-all *** unexpectedly, Mr. Kelada, nicknamed Know-all, chooses to be ridiculed rather than expose the fact that, despite what Mr. Ramsey believes, Mrs. Ramsey's pearls are real - a fact that would shed doubts about her fidelity in the year she spent without her husband in New York. I liked the Greek Choir like "I didn't like Mr. Kelada"
Robert Walser - A Little Ramble * Man takes a walk... I found it irrelevant
P.G. Wodehouse - Lord Emsworth and the Girl Friend *** unlikely friendship between misanthropic gentleman and village girl benefits both. Sweet.
Stefan Zweig - Forgotten Dreams ** A woman who chose who marry for money meets an old lover.
Virginia Woolf - Solid Objects *** haunting. Man becomes fascinated with oddly shaped 'solid objects' thus giving up all other aspects of his life, his career included.
James Joyce - Eveline ** At the last minute, on the dock, Eveline decides not to leave home with the sailor Frank.
Franz Kafka - A Hunger Artist ** typically Kafkaesque
Isak Dinesen - The Ring *** Allegory? Newly married spoiled young lady meets sheep-stealing-thug - she attempts to buy her safety with her wedding ring, which is refused. Made me think.
D.H. Lawrence - The Rocking-Horse Winner **** Boy makes a fortune gambling on horse races attempting to solve his family's never-ending money problems. He achieves a state of clairvoyance riding his rocking-horse. He dies.
Each story is prefaced by a few fascinating paragraphs describing the life of the writer we are about to read. Most also mention how the author died.
Anon - The Book of Jonah - the actual chapter of the Bible. Interesting choice.
Miguel de Cervantes - The Deceitful Marriage *** two stories within a story, the protagonist meets an acquaintance to whom he relates how he was deceived into marrying a woman who claimed to be rich while he was also deceiving her in the same way. The second story though is of two talking dogs and ends with the acquaintance reading an account of one of the dogs' life stories.
The Brothers Grimm - The Children of Hameln - why is this a children's tale again?
Edgar Allan Poe - The Tell-Tale Heart ** typical EAP horror story - how alien is the mind of the criminal
Nikolai Gogol - The Nose * hated it
Charles Dickens - The Signal-Man ** very descriptive, I feel, as with many of the stories of this collection, that there's more to it than "meets the eye" - a signal-man in a remote location dies as predicted by ill omens he failed to interpret and forebodings of his death... or did they cause his death?
Gustave Flaubert - A Simple Heart **** heartbreaking... with an ending that made me cry... the image of that wormy parrot covered by flowers on an altar... plus, she's named "Felicite"
Kate Chopin - Desiree’s Baby ** man rejects wife for giving birth to mixed-blooded offspring accusing her of being mixed-blooded herself even though he is aware that his mother was half Black
Guy de Maupassant - The Horla *** double-edged - is the horla a new species that succeeds the humans or is the protagonist going slightly mad
Joseph Conrad - The Lagoon - skipped
George Gissing - Fleet-Footed Hester ** a Hal Hartley style love-story
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - A Scandal in Bohemia *** Sherlock Holmes finally (but fleetingly) meets his match. And she's female
Knut Hamsun - A Lecture Tour ** less delusional than the tell-tale heart protagonist but still... Knut Hamsun is described as being the equivalent of Munch's The Scream in literature... cool
J.M. Barrie - Cree Queery and Mysy Drolly * squalid, sad, disturbing - Cree loves his mother all his miserable life and when he dies he pays his miserable debt
Anton Chekhov - The Lady with the Dog *** believable and elegantly written love-story
O. Henry - The Cop and the Anthem ***** Soapy wants to go to prison for 3 wintery months... he has difficulties being arrested. Excellent. Funny, sharp, personal.
Edith Wharton - The Other Two **** another elegant, analytic, and well-written short story on a thorny subject - how is a man expected to deal with not one, but two of his wife's ex-husbands
M.R. James - “Oh Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad” * whistle found in archaeological site changes the main character's strong disbelief in surreal phenomena
Rudyard Kipling - Mary Postgate *** anti-war, misunderstanding... I don't find it typical for Kipling. After her protegee dies in the war, Mary Postgate lets a French soldier die believing he's 1. German, 2. responsible for the death of a child. Has something in common with Flaubert's story
Henry Lawson - The Loaded Dog - skipped when explosives and a dog appeared on the same page
Ivan Bunin - A Cold Autumn **** a love-story that lasted a cold autumn evening and a lifetime
Saki - Sredni Vashtar **** excellent, I got to know, understand and love the 10 years old protagonist. Also, great end.
Willa Cather - Consequences ** well-written but mysterious despite the fact that, with all those mentions of suicide, the ending was predictable. Still, admitting that the old man haunting Cavenaugh is the devil in some way, why did he choose Cavenaugh?
G.K. Chesterton - The Three Horsemen *** smart, well written. Horseman number one kills horseman number two out of obedience - in order to prevent him from countering the order to kill the Polish poet. The third horseman shoots the first from a distance, as ordered, mistaking him for the second.
W. Somerset Maugham - Mr. Know-all *** unexpectedly, Mr. Kelada, nicknamed Know-all, chooses to be ridiculed rather than expose the fact that, despite what Mr. Ramsey believes, Mrs. Ramsey's pearls are real - a fact that would shed doubts about her fidelity in the year she spent without her husband in New York. I liked the Greek Choir like "I didn't like Mr. Kelada"
Robert Walser - A Little Ramble * Man takes a walk... I found it irrelevant
P.G. Wodehouse - Lord Emsworth and the Girl Friend *** unlikely friendship between misanthropic gentleman and village girl benefits both. Sweet.
Stefan Zweig - Forgotten Dreams ** A woman who chose who marry for money meets an old lover.
Virginia Woolf - Solid Objects *** haunting. Man becomes fascinated with oddly shaped 'solid objects' thus giving up all other aspects of his life, his career included.
James Joyce - Eveline ** At the last minute, on the dock, Eveline decides not to leave home with the sailor Frank.
Franz Kafka - A Hunger Artist ** typically Kafkaesque
Isak Dinesen - The Ring *** Allegory? Newly married spoiled young lady meets sheep-stealing-thug - she attempts to buy her safety with her wedding ring, which is refused. Made me think.
D.H. Lawrence - The Rocking-Horse Winner **** Boy makes a fortune gambling on horse races attempting to solve his family's never-ending money problems. He achieves a state of clairvoyance riding his rocking-horse. He dies.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 30, 2023
Out of 100 short stories in the book
20% bad or boring
60% good
20% brilliant or highly entertaining
20% bad or boring
60% good
20% brilliant or highly entertaining
May 16, 2025
1000 pages for 100 short stories by 100 different authors! It took me a few months to chip away at this. Most of the stories were great and worth reading; many of them I absolutely loved and I have written down authors names so I can find more of their work.
Read
September 29, 2020Endlich geschafft!!
Einige Kurzgeschichten waren atemberaubend, andere waren öde und einschläfernd, manche blieben mir lange im Gedächtnis, andere vergaß ich quasi schon sofort nach dem Lesen.
Insgesamt fand ich diese Sammlung sehr lohnenswert und könnte mir vorstellen, die ein oder andere Geschichte noch öfter zu lesen.
Einige Kurzgeschichten waren atemberaubend, andere waren öde und einschläfernd, manche blieben mir lange im Gedächtnis, andere vergaß ich quasi schon sofort nach dem Lesen.
Insgesamt fand ich diese Sammlung sehr lohnenswert und könnte mir vorstellen, die ein oder andere Geschichte noch öfter zu lesen.
November 29, 2017
Fairly decent collection of stories. As it was said in the preamble they are personal choices of the author. I did like the stories in varying degrees, and I might choose some stories differently, but I do acknowledge that it is quite nice cut through the century of authors.
November 13, 2021
Some outstanding, a few real disappointments, but overall an engrossing journey through the genre that emphasises that the quality of writing in the best short stories matches the greatest of novels.
February 11, 2015
great collection but print book format is too big and heavy to hold to read
March 23, 2021
An anthology of 100 short stories by different authors ranging from Aesop through to the modern day.
I love the idea of reading short stories by many different authors to get a feel for different styles of short storytelling across a variety of genres. However, this particular anthology was just a bit too literary for me - quite a few of the stories were a bit too subtle, or I felt that I’d missed the point. The book is arranged chronologically by the authors’ birth, so it could just be that an older style of short story is not my thing and I might have enjoyed the more modern stories, but it increasingly felt like a chore to pick up, so I DNFed it at almost halfway (I’m not sure why I persevered for quite so long - it’s over 800 pages). Of the stories that I did read, “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin stood out and was by far my favourite. Don’t be put off by my reaction - if you enjoy literary writing or are a big fan of the classics, this might be right up your alley!
I love the idea of reading short stories by many different authors to get a feel for different styles of short storytelling across a variety of genres. However, this particular anthology was just a bit too literary for me - quite a few of the stories were a bit too subtle, or I felt that I’d missed the point. The book is arranged chronologically by the authors’ birth, so it could just be that an older style of short story is not my thing and I might have enjoyed the more modern stories, but it increasingly felt like a chore to pick up, so I DNFed it at almost halfway (I’m not sure why I persevered for quite so long - it’s over 800 pages). Of the stories that I did read, “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin stood out and was by far my favourite. Don’t be put off by my reaction - if you enjoy literary writing or are a big fan of the classics, this might be right up your alley!
March 12, 2022
It feels slightly churlish to only award this compilation 4 stars, after all, it contains 100 of the finest short stories ever written, apparently. And therein lies the problem; true, there are some fabulous inclusions and in the main the book was a pleasure to read. Yet, for every diamond their is a turd. Two of the stories I was unable to complete despite their brevity. Some seemed to go on and on and on with barely any purpose to the author's wittering. Others delighted in labouring the format with all the pretentiousness the auteur could muster. Certainly, at times, the idea of telling a simple, brief, entertaining narrative seems to have passed many of the writers and the collection compiler by.
Yet, despite its faults, this is a truly wonderful book filled with fabulous inclusions by truly great writers. It took me several months to read, dipping in and out between lighter-weight novels. My favourites are many and for anyone who enjoys a more literary quality this is a worthwhile treasure.
Yet, despite its faults, this is a truly wonderful book filled with fabulous inclusions by truly great writers. It took me several months to read, dipping in and out between lighter-weight novels. My favourites are many and for anyone who enjoys a more literary quality this is a worthwhile treasure.
dnf
July 28, 2024An anthology of 100 short stories by different authors ranging from Aesop through to the modern day.
I love the idea of reading short stories by many different authors to get a feel for different styles of short storytelling across a variety of genres. However, this particular anthology was just a bit too literary for me - quite a few of the stories were a bit too subtle, or I felt that I’d missed the point. The book is arranged chronologically by the authors’ birth, so it could just be that an older style of short story is not my thing and I might have enjoyed the more modern stories, but it increasingly felt like a chore to pick up, so I DNFed it at almost halfway (I’m not sure why I persevered for quite so long - it’s over 800 pages). Of the stories that I did read, “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin stood out and was by far my favourite. Don’t be put off by my reaction - if you enjoy literary writing or are a big fan of the classics, this might be right up your alley!
I love the idea of reading short stories by many different authors to get a feel for different styles of short storytelling across a variety of genres. However, this particular anthology was just a bit too literary for me - quite a few of the stories were a bit too subtle, or I felt that I’d missed the point. The book is arranged chronologically by the authors’ birth, so it could just be that an older style of short story is not my thing and I might have enjoyed the more modern stories, but it increasingly felt like a chore to pick up, so I DNFed it at almost halfway (I’m not sure why I persevered for quite so long - it’s over 800 pages). Of the stories that I did read, “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin stood out and was by far my favourite. Don’t be put off by my reaction - if you enjoy literary writing or are a big fan of the classics, this might be right up your alley!
October 27, 2018
I finally finally finished this, after years of reading it on and off. I read it because of deciding to try to write some short stories, to see some of the “finest” examples of the form.
I kept getting stuck because I would come across a really bad story and then either struggle to want to finish it or expect the next one to be just like it, which it never was.
As you’d expect with an anthology. some of the stories in this collection are incredible. Some are absolutely abysmal. It’s like the book equivalent of a lucky dip or Bertie Botts’ Every Flavoured Beans. Hence three stars, on average.
My favourite stories, in ascending order of favouriteness, were:
Forgotten Dreams by Stefan Zweig
I remember it was good, but I forget what it was about.
Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote by Jorge Luis Borges
More of a pretentious joke than a story, but I did find it funny. Very clever.
The Index by J.G. Ballard
Ingenious. Tells a story through one explanatory note and a fictionalised index. Funny.
The Nose by Gogol
It’s really hard to picture what is going on, but that doesn’t make it any less compelling--perhaps more. Wow.
The Hare and The Tortoise by Aesop
Genius.
A Cold Autumn by Ivan Bunin
A little jewel.
A Little Ramble by Robert Walser
More of a journal entry note. Flash fiction? Poetic. Poignant.
The Toymaker and His Wife by Joanne Harris
More flash fiction, but a clever and piercing fable.
A Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka
How have I not read Kafka yet? I really need to read Kafka.
Radio Gannet by Shena Mackay
Unexpected and smile-raising.
Lord Emsworth and the Girl Friend by P.G. Wodehouse
I’d never read any Wodehouse before and enjoyed this. Funny and touching at the same time.
“O Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad” by M.R. James
Bizarre. Haunting. Mesmerising.
The Book of Jonah by anonymous
A classic. If you read it carefully, it’s actually very very funny, especially at the end.
Parson’s Pleasure by Roald Dahl
Ah good old Roald Dahl. I only read a few of his “grown up” short stories when I was younger. Perfect example of the twist or the trick at the end. Need to read more of these.
Beauty’s Sister by James Bradley
Notable for contemporarising the fairy tale genre proficiently.
The Deep by Anthony Doerr
A powerful, life-affirming, bittersweet story.
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
Chilling but supremely effective. In a weird way a bit like a proto-Hunger Games.
Errand by Raymond Carver
Ok, I get why he is considered so good now.
The Swimmer by John Cheever
Stunning, lyrical and eerie. Leaves a strong taste in the mouth.
The Wavemaker Falters by George Saunders
A serendipitous discovery; an arresting surprise; a true hidden gem. Never heard of this guy before but this darkly comic, vivid and evocative story made me laugh out loud and heave with silent giggles several times when I was reading it in bed and my wife had to ask me to be quiet. I’ll be looking him up in order to find more things he has written.
A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor
I’d read this before, but reading it again here I was reminded of how beautiful and utterly powerful this story is. It leaves a strong imprint on the memory. AND it contains some interesting theological reflections placed in the mouth of its villain. Gold standard. I’d love to write a story like this. I can see why it is among the most anthologised of all short stories ever written in English. (Go and listen to the Sufjan Stevens song named after it too).
My least favourite stories, in descending order of un-favouriteness, were:
Solid Geometry by Ian McEwan
Saw the trick coming miles off--it was signposted far too heavy-handedly by McEwan. A chore.
At The Beach by Bernard MacLaverty
Just a bit gross, for me, in a few probably highly subjective ways.
Lizzie’s Tiger by Angela Carter
I know Carter is really famous and groundbreaking and all, but I found the surprise hidden at the heart of this story just nasty and unpleasant; gratuitous and virulent.
Entropy by Thomas Pynchon
Self-indulgent pretentious bollocks.
The Tangling Point by Tim Parks
Again, gross. About an affair + implies that an old man has sex with a dog.
Mixed Breeding by Nicola Barker
A literal “shaggy dog story”. Yuk! What is it with these writers and dog sex?
A Real Doll by A.M. Homes
Graphic sex, this time with Barbie dolls. Urgh. Stopped reading and skipped ahead.
Let Me Count the Times by Martin Amis
An absolutely disgusting, obscene and horrible story. I’m actually ashamed of myself that I finished reading this and didn’t just skip over it. It’s clever in its own way, but simultaneously lurid and filthy. I think Amis should be ashamed of himself for having written it.
Some other things I noticed:
1. Good short stories seem more often than not to have compelling characters painted with revealing details in a small space, feature interesting or unusual situations or people, and focus on precise, surprising observations.
2. Somewhere around Alice Munro (born in the 1930s), every story starts to involves or mention sex in some way. Almost without fail. They are not necessarily better for it.
3. Short stories can be highly moving and profound, even as much as novels. They’re like little pearls or gemstones. But they can also be total crap, so you’re playing roulette whenever you read them, which can make them hard to want to read. So VERY similar to Bertie Botts' Every Flavoured Beans, then. But hey, if you get a dud at least you won’t waste as much time as with a novel. And they’re worth it for the gemstones that you do find.
I kept getting stuck because I would come across a really bad story and then either struggle to want to finish it or expect the next one to be just like it, which it never was.
As you’d expect with an anthology. some of the stories in this collection are incredible. Some are absolutely abysmal. It’s like the book equivalent of a lucky dip or Bertie Botts’ Every Flavoured Beans. Hence three stars, on average.
My favourite stories, in ascending order of favouriteness, were:
Forgotten Dreams by Stefan Zweig
I remember it was good, but I forget what it was about.
Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote by Jorge Luis Borges
More of a pretentious joke than a story, but I did find it funny. Very clever.
The Index by J.G. Ballard
Ingenious. Tells a story through one explanatory note and a fictionalised index. Funny.
The Nose by Gogol
It’s really hard to picture what is going on, but that doesn’t make it any less compelling--perhaps more. Wow.
The Hare and The Tortoise by Aesop
Genius.
A Cold Autumn by Ivan Bunin
A little jewel.
A Little Ramble by Robert Walser
More of a journal entry note. Flash fiction? Poetic. Poignant.
The Toymaker and His Wife by Joanne Harris
More flash fiction, but a clever and piercing fable.
A Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka
How have I not read Kafka yet? I really need to read Kafka.
Radio Gannet by Shena Mackay
Unexpected and smile-raising.
Lord Emsworth and the Girl Friend by P.G. Wodehouse
I’d never read any Wodehouse before and enjoyed this. Funny and touching at the same time.
“O Whistle and I’ll Come to You, My Lad” by M.R. James
Bizarre. Haunting. Mesmerising.
The Book of Jonah by anonymous
A classic. If you read it carefully, it’s actually very very funny, especially at the end.
Parson’s Pleasure by Roald Dahl
Ah good old Roald Dahl. I only read a few of his “grown up” short stories when I was younger. Perfect example of the twist or the trick at the end. Need to read more of these.
Beauty’s Sister by James Bradley
Notable for contemporarising the fairy tale genre proficiently.
The Deep by Anthony Doerr
A powerful, life-affirming, bittersweet story.
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
Chilling but supremely effective. In a weird way a bit like a proto-Hunger Games.
Errand by Raymond Carver
Ok, I get why he is considered so good now.
The Swimmer by John Cheever
Stunning, lyrical and eerie. Leaves a strong taste in the mouth.
The Wavemaker Falters by George Saunders
A serendipitous discovery; an arresting surprise; a true hidden gem. Never heard of this guy before but this darkly comic, vivid and evocative story made me laugh out loud and heave with silent giggles several times when I was reading it in bed and my wife had to ask me to be quiet. I’ll be looking him up in order to find more things he has written.
A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor
I’d read this before, but reading it again here I was reminded of how beautiful and utterly powerful this story is. It leaves a strong imprint on the memory. AND it contains some interesting theological reflections placed in the mouth of its villain. Gold standard. I’d love to write a story like this. I can see why it is among the most anthologised of all short stories ever written in English. (Go and listen to the Sufjan Stevens song named after it too).
My least favourite stories, in descending order of un-favouriteness, were:
Solid Geometry by Ian McEwan
Saw the trick coming miles off--it was signposted far too heavy-handedly by McEwan. A chore.
At The Beach by Bernard MacLaverty
Just a bit gross, for me, in a few probably highly subjective ways.
Lizzie’s Tiger by Angela Carter
I know Carter is really famous and groundbreaking and all, but I found the surprise hidden at the heart of this story just nasty and unpleasant; gratuitous and virulent.
Entropy by Thomas Pynchon
Self-indulgent pretentious bollocks.
The Tangling Point by Tim Parks
Again, gross. About an affair + implies that an old man has sex with a dog.
Mixed Breeding by Nicola Barker
A literal “shaggy dog story”. Yuk! What is it with these writers and dog sex?
A Real Doll by A.M. Homes
Graphic sex, this time with Barbie dolls. Urgh. Stopped reading and skipped ahead.
Let Me Count the Times by Martin Amis
An absolutely disgusting, obscene and horrible story. I’m actually ashamed of myself that I finished reading this and didn’t just skip over it. It’s clever in its own way, but simultaneously lurid and filthy. I think Amis should be ashamed of himself for having written it.
Some other things I noticed:
1. Good short stories seem more often than not to have compelling characters painted with revealing details in a small space, feature interesting or unusual situations or people, and focus on precise, surprising observations.
2. Somewhere around Alice Munro (born in the 1930s), every story starts to involves or mention sex in some way. Almost without fail. They are not necessarily better for it.
3. Short stories can be highly moving and profound, even as much as novels. They’re like little pearls or gemstones. But they can also be total crap, so you’re playing roulette whenever you read them, which can make them hard to want to read. So VERY similar to Bertie Botts' Every Flavoured Beans, then. But hey, if you get a dud at least you won’t waste as much time as with a novel. And they’re worth it for the gemstones that you do find.
June 13, 2025
I embarked on an exploration of the short story and my journey landed me here. From Anon to Adichie with 98 writers between.
A rich treasure of writing each with its own gift to the reader. Where to begin from Irish, Russian, Norwegian, French, Danish with our own Mansfield holding her own amongst these gifted writers.
The author of the collection says he hoped they reflect what writing is about, life, its complications, reflecting as many genres, moods, and voices as he could curate.
This is a snapshot or writing spanning about 150 years or so, it is a reminder of the writers I will revisit and to not always look for the next best thing, but to rediscover writing we have treasured previously that may have disappeared from my radar.
I loved this bucket of reading I dipped in and out of. Highly recommended, I think I may even buy this book to keep.
A rich treasure of writing each with its own gift to the reader. Where to begin from Irish, Russian, Norwegian, French, Danish with our own Mansfield holding her own amongst these gifted writers.
The author of the collection says he hoped they reflect what writing is about, life, its complications, reflecting as many genres, moods, and voices as he could curate.
This is a snapshot or writing spanning about 150 years or so, it is a reminder of the writers I will revisit and to not always look for the next best thing, but to rediscover writing we have treasured previously that may have disappeared from my radar.
I loved this bucket of reading I dipped in and out of. Highly recommended, I think I may even buy this book to keep.
January 19, 2018
I read only 38% of the stories or rather 28 of them.
I found them on the whole slightly disappointing.
Some were hard to understand: Borges' Pierre Menard and Pynchon's Entropy, one was just utterly boring : MacLaverty's At the Beach .
I liked Flaubert's a Simple Heart and Munro's story about the wife whose husband could only joke and whose parents didn`t like her. Also Barnes' melancholic story of a recent widower on his Island holiday he had been to 20 times with his wife, was moving in its brevity and sustained feelings.
I was amused by Martin Amis' funny sory abut a calculator salesman's obsession with the frequency of his sex life.
I found them on the whole slightly disappointing.
Some were hard to understand: Borges' Pierre Menard and Pynchon's Entropy, one was just utterly boring : MacLaverty's At the Beach .
I liked Flaubert's a Simple Heart and Munro's story about the wife whose husband could only joke and whose parents didn`t like her. Also Barnes' melancholic story of a recent widower on his Island holiday he had been to 20 times with his wife, was moving in its brevity and sustained feelings.
I was amused by Martin Amis' funny sory abut a calculator salesman's obsession with the frequency of his sex life.
April 16, 2021
A strange mixture of stories here. Some really unpleasant - I will never look at a Barrie doll in the same way again; Some just odd. The only one I enjoyed was the Wodehouse story but others did give things to think about. Too many were pointless, snapshots rather than stories. But this collection does provide a good source of samples of the works of key authors. There were some gems such as Kate Chopin’s tragic story of racial prejudice that I found more moving than The Awakening. A good read to dip into rather than an enjoyable easy read.
July 19, 2018
Some of these stories were not for me. Some of them were a little strange, some were a little boring. A lot of them had really interesting endings that weren't really endings. But most of them, I really enjoyed, and wanted more of each. David Miller chose a great selection of stories for this collection.
August 20, 2019
There's bound to be a subjective element in the choosing, but the range is very good. Some are well known, many were new to me even where I was familiar with the author. I often find short story anthologies rather indigestible but this was surprisingly pleasurable, with only - for me- the odd duff or disturbing one.
February 9, 2022
I read the bulk of this during a hospital stay, the cause of which made it difficult for me to concentrate for long. The short story was the ideal reading material, and this wonderful collection (for which I paid only £0.99) is a superb and diverse anthology of the form. Each reader will find something different here, and that is of course the book's beauty.
March 3, 2018
With 100 stories there will inevitably be a mix of good and bad, but I found too many which I thought poor. There were also a lot of typos which was very distracting.
June 8, 2020
Good collection of short stories.
November 20, 2020
The good, the bad, and the ugly. Amazing stories from known and not so well-known authors, with a few strange ones thrown in for good measure. To re-read, to discover, to enjoy.
April 7, 2021
Some belters, some bobbins.
May 11, 2021
Great collection of short stories. 4.5 stars
June 26, 2022
FINALLY I AM FREE!!!!!!!
July 9, 2022
All the short stories were chosen by the editor and it is very subjective. I didn't like most of them even if there are a few surprises...
July 20, 2023
Some beautiful pieces! Love the inclusion of the Book of Jonah!
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