Best Short Stories of Jack London

by Jack London

Poetic, swift with violence and action.
- To the Man on the Trail
- The Law of Life
- The Wit of Porportuk
- To Build a Fire
- The Heathen
- A Piece of Steak
- Love of Life
- Lost Face
- Pearls of Parlay (from A Son of the Sun)
- An Odyssey of the North

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Classics, Literature, Adventure, American, Historical Fiction

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published November 12, 1986

About the author

John Griffith Chaney, better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to become an international celebrity and earn a large fortune from writing. He was also an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction.

London was part of the radical literary group "The Crowd" in San Francisco and a passionate advocate of animal rights, workers’ rights and socialism. London wrote several works dealing with these topics, such as his dystopian novel The Iron Heel, his non-fiction exposé The People of the Abyss, War of the Classes, and Before Adam.

His most famous works include The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in Alaska and the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as the short stories "To Build a Fire", "An Odyssey of the North", and "Love of Life". He also wrote about the South Pacific in stories such as "The Pearls of Parlay" and "The Heathen".

Reviews

[Ehsan'Shokraie']

داستان های جک لندن کلامی برگرفته از حقیقت اند،حقیقت تجربه های زندگی انسان ها،همچو پرتویی از آفتاب گرم و در عین حال سوزان،چشمانمان را می زند آن هنگام که به زندگی های هدر رفته می اندیشیم،گاه از خود می پرسم که در نهایت داستان زندگی من چه خواهد بود و چه روز هایی از آن را زندگی کرده ام و چه بسیار روز ها که نباید در شمار عمر آید حاصل..

#محکومین به زندگی

[Jamie]

I've been reading this over the past few months - London is masterful at drawing the reader into the mind of his characters, especially when expressing desperation or the descent into madness as so many of his subjects, more often than not lost in the wilds of Alaska. It is hard not to feel the freezing cold, the pangs of hunger, the desire for warmth and comfort that his subjects crave. However the story that stuck out to me the most is titled "The Mexican", oddly enough a boxing story and takes place during the Mexican revolution. As leftist as London was, this is the only one that feeds upon his politics and the raw anger seethes through the story. I would recommend tracking down that story in particular - though most of the rest are not to be missed either if you enjoy the short story art form.

[Asser Mattar]

Man versus nature at its best. Ten tragic short stories of how vulnerable we are in this world.

[Harry]

Jack London is a fantastic author, with a disturbing fascination with darkness and death that I just couldn't look away from. My favorite story in this collection was definitely 'Lost Face' - the ending at first shocked me and then had me chuckling. Well worth the read, even if for Lost Face and the very popular, disturbing, 'To Build a Fire'.

[Trường Thanh]

Jack London is an well known author in my country , he is masterful at drawing the reader into the mind of his characters
In my opinion i prefer his shorts to his novels , if i had to pick one favorite , it would have to be " The Apostate" , a haunting story
This collection is nice ; however , i think "To build a Fire " should be given more depth in the end (own opinion ^^)

[Sophie]

Jack London is such an incredible writer you feel each situation he paints as if you were in it. His stories are so emotionally captivating and often devastating I needed a break after each story but I loved each one.

[Charles]

Not only the best stories of Jack London, but among the best stories ever written in the English Language. "To Build a Fire" and "A Piece of Steak" are absolute masterpieces.

[Caleb]

'A Piece of Steak'

[Janet]

Actually, I read a different book of his short stories but it wasn't listed on goodreads. The title is Best of Jack London short stories. The stories are:

To build a fire -- Chinago -- Told in the drooling ward ; Leopard man's story -- Piece of steak -- That spot ; Man with the gash -- Amateur night -- Under the deck awnings ; To kill a man -- Too much gold -- Winged blackmail ; Created He them -- When the world was young -- Unexpected -- House of pride -- White silence ; Wicked woman -- Shadow and the flash -- War ; Which make men remember -- In a far country.

They're all pretty good but my favorites are: To Build a Fire, Too Much Gold, Winged Blackmail, and the hilarious That Spot.

[Milan Vasiljevic]

- The Law Of Life
- Lost Face
- Story Of Kish
- To Build A Fire
- League Of The Old Men
- Daughter Of The Aurora
- An Odyssey Of The North
- All Gold Canyon
- Wisdom Of The Trail
- The Wit Of Porportuk
- The White Silence
- To The Man on Trail
- The Master Of Mystery
- Ligun's Death

[Hriday]

Master class!

(Note to self- Reread soon)

[Daniel Scotter]

Like harry potter and the bible had a baby 🍼

[Ryne]

Holy crap.

That was pretty much my reaction after finishing almost every one of these stories, anyway. The book jacket describes London's stories as "brilliant, poetic, swift with violence and action," and that's a fair summary. They are vibrant and interesting and alive and make it pretty darn clear that the days of exploration and colonization were wild, lawless ones, and that nature cares nothing for you and will kill you straight dead.

I read "To Build a Fire" back in secondary school, so I was a already little prepared for that piece, but I had no idea what I was in for with the rest. This book was a gift from a friend and I think reading it, and knowing how much that person loves it, made this a particularly special experience. But I'm not gushing because of that; I really did just enjoy reading this.

I do wonder if London's depictions of indigenous peoples in the books were accurate or not. Many of the native people featured are well-developed characters, but I also caught an occasional glimpse of the "noble savage" trope in there. I'm actually going to look into the accuracy some more; I was that curious.

Such vivid detail, vibrant characters, and surprising depth of introspection. ("A Piece of Steak" is a piece for which I started out thinking, "Oh, I probably won't like this much" and ended up loving it.) A good read, indeed.

[Lala Nguyen]

Không lênh đênh biển đảo, thì cũng đồng tuyết quạnh hiu khắc nghiệt. Những con người văn minh đầy tham vọng, đối lập với những thổ dân da đỏ man rợ. Những mỏ vàng sáng mắt quên cả lối về. Cả những chuyện tình lạ kỳ, có mà như không, thật mà như không thật

Dù sao cũng đọc qua 2 cuốn kinh điển tiêu biểu : Nanh Trắng và Tiếng Gọi Nơi Hoang Dã rồi

Chắc bạn cũng không đọc JL nữa đâu!

[Dori Sabourin]

In this book of short stories revolving around the Pacific, in land and on the sea, Jack London tells two stories of men trying to survive in the wilderness, two stories of seafaring men undergoing hurricanes, an aging boxer struggling to win back his boxing victories of days gone past, two stories of the Malemute Kid, a story of how Malamuk lost face in front of his own people, a story about the loyalty of a heathen to a friend, and a story concerning a young Indian girl to free her deceased father's soul in the other world. Jack London's stories draw the reader in as he diligently weaves the story from beginning to end.

[John Daugherty]

I think this book is great for people who are not into reading very much. I think this because the book is easy to read and easy to get into. You can finish one of these short stories in less than an hour. The short storys don't feel as short as they are because London does a great job and emersing you into the story to the point you forget you are even reading a book and by the time you finish a story you feel like you just finished watching a movie for two hours. I haven't finished the entire book but Jack London hasn't failed me on a good story yet.

[tj stiller]

What more can I say than I loved this collection. There's not one story that bored me or went on too long. If I had to pick one favorite, it would have to be "Lost Face." Great stuff. I think I prefer his shorts to his novels, and I really like all his known novels, so that says a lot. They weren't kidding when they named the book "Best Short Stories" of London. They really are. The book cover is quite nicely done as well.

[Kathleen Young]

The Cruise of the Dazzler: A boy anxious to see the world leaves home too early without decorous schooling. From middle class to a pirate ship he finds himself maturing through his conscious, connected responsibilities, and family loyalty.

[John]

Jack London reduces life experiences to their purest, most pessimistic form. His stories are uncomfortable because we hope there's more to our lives than how much protein we ate in our last meal and how cold it is outside.

[Igor]

Interesting stories from Jack London. It is the recognizable Jack London writing style and most of the stories are taking part in the North of America or in the far seas. In moments it is bit hard to follow, because some of the words are unused any more.

[Keely]

'To Build a Fire' is AMAZING.

[Katie]

His stories have a great arc; they are a study in short story writing. They're a little too macho for me to really enjoy, though.

[Toni]

Even better than I remembered...

[Jesse Mcwhirk]

Amazing! Everyone should read this book

[Deb]

Jack London...this man is a genius. I can't wait to read more of him. "An Odyssey of the North" simply haunted me!

[Abhishek]

Makes you wanna travel to desolate , windy islands !!

[Jay Bloomquist]

No one better than Jack London. Especially his short stories. Finest fireside reading.

[Dan]

Jack London is a well known author Ive only recently started reading. He was prolific come to find out :)

[Timothy]

A great writer of adventure. I read Jack London with the mind of a boy. Ready to head to the wilderness and live among the native people. This is a great collection.

[Nathan Beery]

A Piece of Steak is probably one of Jack London's best short stories.