50 World’s Greatest Short Stories

by Various

Discover the best of short fiction in this collectable edition featuring fifty of the greatest stories from around the world. This exquisite collection showcases a curated selection of timeless short stories from renowned authors across the globe. With its beautiful design and captivating narratives, this collectible edition is a treasure for literature enthusiasts.
   

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Short Stories, Childrens

612 pages, Paperback

Published January 20, 2017

About the author

Various is the correct author for any book with multiple unknown authors, and is acceptable for books with multiple known authors, especially if not all are known or the list is very long (over 50).

If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.

Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.

Reviews

[Sneha Halder · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an anthology of the 50 'greatest' short stories in the world.
I hereby rate all the stories from to 1 to 5, (no decimals) . All the stories are rated respective to each other and may have been rated higher if I have read it as a standalone.
ALEXANDER PUSHKIN
1. The Queen of Spades - 2

ANTON CHEKOV
2. About Love - 1
3. At Christmas Time - 2
4. Oh! The Public - 3
5. The Bet - 3
6. The Lady with the Dog - 3
7. The Lottery Ticket - 4

CHARLES DICKENS
8. A Child's Dream of a Star - 3
9. Doctor Marigold - 4
10. The Begging-Letter Writer  - 5

D.H. LAWRENCE
11. The Rocking-Horse Winner - 4

EDGAR ALLAN POE
12. The Tell-Tale Heart - 5

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
13. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - 4

FRANK STOCKTON
14. The Lady or the Tiger? - 3

FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY
15. A Christmas Tree and a Wedding - 2
16. White Nights - 5

GUY DE MAUPASSANT
17. The Necklace - 3

H.G. WELLS
18. The Magic Shop - 1
19. The Man Who Could Work Miracles - 3

H.H. MUNRO (SAKI)
20. The Music on the Hill - 1
21. The Open Window - 3
22. Tobermory - 2

JACK LONDON
23. The Enemy of All the World - 3

JAMES JOYCE
24. A Little Cloud - 3
25. A Mother - 3
26. After the Race - 2

KATE CHOPIN
27. The Story of an Hour - 2

KATHERINE MANSFIELD
28. The Fly - 3

LEO TOLSTOY
29. God Sees the Truth, But Waits - 2

MARK TWAIN
30. After-Dinner Speech - 2
31. Eve's Diary - 4
32. How to Tell a Story - 2
33. The Five Boons of Life - 2

O. HENRY
34. The Gift of the Magi - 2
35. The Last Leaf - 4

OSCAR WILDE
36. The Devoted Friend - 4
37. The Happy Prince - 5
38. The Model Millionaire - 2
39. The Nightingale and the Rose - 3
40. The Sphinx Without a Secret - 2

RABINDRANATH TAGORE
41. Living or Dead? - 5
42. The Cabuliwallah - 4
43. The Postmaster - 5

RUDYARD KIPLING
44. How the Leopard Got His Spots - 1
45. My Own True Ghost Story - 2

SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
46. The "Slapping Sal" - 1

STEPHEN LEACOCK
47. My Financial Career - 2

THOMAS HARDY
48. The Three Strangers - 2

VIRGINIA WOOLF
49. A Haunted House - 1

W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM
50. Rain - 3

Overall rating 3

[Asha Seth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of the best stories written over generations.

[Priyanka Sarkar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yesterday, I read the story,"Magic Shop" by H.G.Wells. Initially,I made my mind about the story to be a deceitful one rather than True Magical happenings.A boy looks inside the shop through the glass window and insists his father to get inside.The uninterested father goes inside the shop and purchases his son's choices and after that,till their exit from the shop...do read the story! Once they exited, the whole Magic Shop got completely Vanished from the sight and place too!!! The story held the nerves of mine,the same may happen with u.Do Read! Thanq all.

[Vivek Vikram Singh · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is no theme in this anthology - just some great short stories thrown together pell mell. The individual stories are all 4 and 5 star but there seems to be no coherence in why they are in the sequence they are; or why one story made it from an author and why another did not. Lazy.

[Rahul Waghmare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful collection.... Looking forward to read more by the authors of these short stories

[Aditya Ambekar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb collection of short stories from some of the best storytellers from the world. The writing is full of warmth & philosophy. Stories from Pushkin, Chekov are so full of life. HG Wells weaves magic as a theme in his 2 stories. Special mention for ;The Rocking-Horse Winner' by D.H. Lawrence, 'White Nights' by Distoevsky. Found Dickens's stories bit to heavy. Tagore weaves splendid characters in his pieces and so does Oscar Wilde with his bizarre imagination. Was most looking forward to stories from Saki and he did not disappoint. Excellent read.

[Adnan Nusrat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contains one the best short stories by renowned authors including Chekhov, Dickens, Poe,Dostoyevsky,Mark Twain, O Henry, Oscar Wilde, Rabindranath Tagore and others,

[Somali · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Greatest' of them all? I doubt. Although there are some gems. Good for beginners, okay to keep in collection. But lacks certain must-have-s when it comes to collections.

There are so many authors from all over the world. I missed a good description of each author. It is disturbing when one has to visit google repeatedly for references. People who like to imagine specific details of sequences, has to know which country, which era, which language, and culture does the story emerge from. With such a short span, authors might not have built that in the story. The editors are supposed to manage that. Otherwise the cream of the stories are lost at times. At least the year of publication could have been included.

I had no idea Charles Dickens was such a tough read! Not complaining on the storyline, but the language!! Uf!

[Abhishek Gour · Rating 3 out of 5]

This felt like a concoction of all the mediocre work by the world renowned short story writers. The ones that couldn't make it to their individual short story compilation have been assembled and put together for that voracious reader who can't get enough of them.

[Sam Eiffel · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the stories were very well written. It's hard to choose a favourite but some of them were The Rocking Horse Winner, The Lady with the Dog, The Last Leaf and My Financial Career. I loved this book very much.

[Snehal Damke · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best collection of stories from Chekov to Dickens to Dostoevsky to Pushkin to Tagore masterprieces. Whosoever wants to dabble with best of worlds story tellers and their best works....just grab this one !!

[Anisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s the weirdest thing, there were so many stories which while reading, I realised, I had read in my school books. This was very exciting and almost nostalgic for me! It’s a good compilation of some very good, a lot of good and some alright stories by brilliant writers.

[Vivek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally.

[Drficticity · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such amazing collection of short stories,got this as a gift and enjoyed it thoroughly

[Nivedita Dhar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but I expected more from this analogy. Not much impressed. But some of the stories are quite good and elegant. 3⭐️

[Udayakumar DS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth having in your collection. Magic shop, white nights, The necklace, The three strangers, Five boons of life are some short stories I would not have known if I hadn't got this book.

[Essem · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection could have been better.

[Arunayan Sharma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not so greatest, but enjoyable stories.

[Aditya Narendra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best of the world in a shell.

[Venkat Dastami · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some stories are entertaining, but overall a good read!

[Krish Kashyap · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing collection... highly recommended.