Classic Short Stories

by Saki (Contributor)

A Reader's Digest Selection of 15 Short Stories:
Classic Short Stories is a treasure trove of fascinating reading, ideal for reading aloud to children or for dipping into at random. It will enrich and enliven your life - and that of every member of your family. So put it on a handy place on your bookshelf because you will be reaching for it again and again in the years to come.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics

192 pages

First published September 1, 1996

About the author

British writer Hector Hugh Munro under pen name Saki published his witty and sometimes bitter short stories in collections, such as The Chronicles of Clovis (1911).

His sometimes macabre satirized Edwardian society and culture. People consider him a master and often compare him to William Sydney Porter and Dorothy Rothschild Parker. His tales feature delicately drawn characters and finely judged narratives. "The Open Window," perhaps his most famous, closes with the line, "Romance at short notice was her specialty," which thus entered the lexicon. Newspapers first and then several volumes published him as the custom of the time.

His works include
* a full-length play, The Watched Pot , in collaboration with Charles Maude;
* two one-act plays;
* a historical study, The Rise of the Russian Empire , the only book under his own name;
* a short novel, The Unbearable Bassington ;
* the episodic The Westminster Alice , a parliamentary parody of Alice in Wonderland ;
* and When William Came: A Story of London under the Hohenzollerns , an early alternate history.

Oscar Wilde, Lewis Carroll, and Joseph Rudyard Kipling, influenced Munro, who in turn influenced A. A. Milne, and Pelham Grenville Wodehouse.

Reviews

[Terry Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a treasure trove of good stories. There are some by more well known authors: Arnold Bennett, Ambrose Bierce, Henry James and more. Also, a number of stories by some writers I was unfamiliar with. I enjoyed mist of them immensely. The stories by Virginia Woolf were a little too out there for my taste but still enjoyable.

[Amy]

Arnold Bennett
Joseph Conrad
Henry James
Rudyard Kipling
D.H. Lawrence
Edith Wharton
Virginia Woolf
Ambrose Bierce
Wilkie Collins
Hubert Crackanthorpe
Stephen Crane
Ella D'Arcy
Amelia B. Edwards
George Egerton
Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman
Elizabeth Gaskell
William Schwenk Gilbert
George Gissing
Thomas Hardy
W. W. Jacobs
Angelo Lewis,
George Moore
Arthur Morrison
F. W. Robinson,
Anthony Trollope
Mrs Henry Wood
Israel Zangwill

[Tracy Challis]

DNF. I love many of Saki’s short stories, but trying to listen to a collection of them on audiobook just did not work. I kept losing focus and one story ran into another with no indication of a change. It was very confusing. I need to read hard copies. I will stick with that.

[Prashant Sarkar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved Mrs packletides tiger.. rest were nice but style gets a bit repetitive.