LitReading - Classic Short Stories and Timeless Tales
LitReading is a podcast that presents a complete classic or original short story every week, narrated by Don McDonald. It features tales by celebrated writers such as Poe, Twain, O. Henry, and Wharton, along with overlooked gems. Episodes range from a few minutes to a deeply immersive hour, aiming to make stories engaging for listening during drives, walks, quiet evenings, or sleepless nights. The show is part of the Short Storyverses collection, which also includes companion series like New Tales Told, Season’s Readings, FRIGHTLY!, and Readastorus.
Episodes
Still Water by Don McDonald — Four aircraft carriers in a lake?
Dr. Nathan Cole measures water for a living. It's quiet work, gauges and spreadsheets, the slow arithmetic of things that don't change much. Then a reservoir gains four inches overnight with no rain, no inflow, no explanation, and gives them back by morning. Everyone blames the sensor. The sensor is fine. What follows is the worst thing a careful man can discover, which is that he's be
The Romance of a Busy Broker by O. Henry — A Wall Street Love Story with a Twist
Wall Street, a spring morning at the turn of the century. The ticker is running hot, the telephone won’t quit, and Harvey Maxwell, broker, is handling it all like a man with springs where his heart should be. His clerk thinks the boss is slipping. His stenographer has something on her mind. Then a window opens, and somebody on the Exchange starts clubbing the stuffing out of Union Pacific.O. Henry
Autopay by Don McDonald — Following Her Dead Mother’s Credit Card
There is a job nobody warns you about. After the dying comes the paperwork, the hold music, the strangers in call centers who need proof that she is gone.For two years she was her mother’s caregiver. Now she is her mother’s administrator. She makes lists. She keeps folders. She is very good at this.Then she reaches the bottom of the last statement.An original story, written and read by Don McDonal
Tobermory by Saki — A Proper British Cat Tells All
Every house party has a guest who knows too much.A mild little man named Cornelius Appin has spent seventeen years on one problem. He believes he's solved it: he has taught a cat to speak. The company around Lady Blemley's tea table does not believe him — and that, as it happens, is the last comfortable moment anyone in the house will enjoy.Pour yourself some tea. Mind the saucer.Saki was
His Own Voice by Don McDonald — A Graphophone Records What Was Never Said
Winter, 1906. A clerk who speaks to no one from Saturday to Monday buys a mahogany graphophone for far less than it’s worth. The widow selling it keeps her eyes on the snow. Her husband, she says, liked to keep his own voice.He carries it home and records his diary each night, and the machine hands him back to himself, the nearest thing to company he has. Then the wax starts holding something he n
A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell — The Women See What the Men Miss
A farmer lies dead in his bed with a rope around his neck. That morning his wife sat in the kitchen, pleating her apron, and said she slept through it.So the men come out to the farmhouse: the sheriff, the county attorney, and the neighbor who found her. They search the cold rooms for something that will hold up in court. Two of their wives ride along to gather a few things for the woman in the co
A Foot Too Deep by Don McDonald — A Blacksmith Chooses the Terms of a New Orleans Duel
Nobody in New Orleans had ever made Bernard de Marigny look foolish in public. He was rich past counting, small as a foil, and very likely the most dangerous man in Louisiana with a pistol in his hand. Then a blacksmith from a far parish, seven feet of him and slow to speak, said something true on the floor of the legislature, and the whole chamber laughed.The card came to the forge two days later
A Slice of Life by P. G. Wodehouse — A Chemist, a Baronet and a Girl Locked Upstairs
A man in a country pub insists his story is true. It concerns his brother Wilfred, a chemist of some genius, a jolly outdoor girl with a wholesome sunburn, and a Yorkshire baronet who spells his name with four small f's. Somebody is being kept behind a locked door on the second floor. Somebody else is about to regret asking what's true to life.This is P.G. Wodehouse, 1926, at his most gleefully un
The Wrong Funeral by Don McDonald — An Obituary Arrives Forty Years Too Late
An obituary arrives in the mail, folded in thirds, no note, no return address, and the creases are sharp enough to cut with.Roy Kittleson has not seen the man named in it since a Friday in 1986, and he has his reasons, and none of them are good. He drives up anyway. Three hours, most of it flat.He has rehearsed nothing. He is counting on grief to arrive on its own.“The Wrong Funeral,” is an origin
Care Protocol, Episode One — When Self-Driving Cars Start Killing
Here is the first episode of a new Short Storyverses limited series podcast, Care Protocol.Nobody has died on a Portland street in four years. The city handed over the wheel eight years ago and got back quiet nights, clean air, and a fatality rate of zero. Ask anyone. The algorithms saved us.Then, at 7:12 on an ordinary Tuesday, a man waiting for his morning ride is killed against a brick wall at
The Garden’s Wall by Don McDonald — The Cost of Kindness in a Perfect Society
The Garden was finished before anyone in it was born. The rain arrives on schedule, in the amount that has been decided. The manual has never been improved on.Nobody touches anybody. Children learn it early, with the short rod, because correcting is cheapest when they're small.Sela is twenty-two and has never had a low year. When the tremor takes the hands of the old man who grades pears beside he
The Reticence of Lady Anne by Saki — His Wife Gives Him the Silent Treatment
A December afternoon, a fire going down, and a marriage stalled halfway through a quarrel nobody bothered to finish. Egbert comes in for tea prepared to be reasonable, then conciliatory, then almost penitent. Lady Anne, rigid in the armchair by the tea table, declines to participate. Somewhere above them a bullfinch works through the only tune it knows, and on the rug a Persian cat named Don Tarqu
The Outcasts of Poker Flat by Bret Harte — Exiled into a Deadly Sierra Snowstorm
Poker Flat is a mining camp that has recently decided to take its virtue seriously. When the town's new moral committee finishes its business, four of its most familiar faces find themselves traveling a mountain trail with strangers who know far too much about one another's pasts. Among them is a gambler whose quiet confidence suggests he has already calculated every card that has not yet been dea
NOT A STORY
This is not a story.After dozens of episodes, I thought I'd take one to explain myself. Who I am, why LitReading exists, how a story earns a place here, and why there are suddenly so many related shows sharing the same shelf. Also a few honest words about advertising, a tip jar I'd rather call Buy Me a Book, a request for a review, and a listener who found my narration unlistenable.Don's Money pod
A Wasted Day by Richard Harding Davis — The Wisest Man on Wall Street Goes to Criminal Court
Arnold Thorndike buys a Correggio before breakfast and can price his own time to the minute. Two hundred dollars of it. So when he stops his car at the Court of General Sessions to say a word for a young stenographer who got drunk, lost five hundred dollars of his employer's money, and is due up for sentence, he figures the errand will run him about a thousand.The court has other ideas. Richard Ha
The Huntsman by Anton Chekhov — An Estranged Couple Meets on a Country Road
High summer, and it is too hot to sing. A huntsman walks a road with a gun on his shoulder, a bird in his bag, and a dog running ahead of him. A woman steps out of the rye with a sickle in her hand and says his name. She is delighted to see him. He is not.They sit down between two fir trees, and in the ten minutes that follow, Anton Chekhov does something very quiet and very cruel. He was twenty-f
Chain of Custody by Don McDonald — A Rabbit, Three Backyards, Several Secrets and One Patient Dog
This story is the first story specifically written for HumorUs Stories, a funny story podcast from ShortStoryverses.com.In Maple Glen, nothing ever happens. This week, nothing happens in three separate backyards, after dark, and everyone involved would prefer you didn't ask.A deadpan comedy about honesty, neighbors, and one very patient dog.Find more stories at ShortStoryverses.com — a m
The Long Light by Don McDonald — A Daughter Returns to the Family Lake House as Her Mother’s Memory Fades
Nora has come up to Lake Sabbath to do one hard, practical thing — close the old family house for good, and mark what will be sold. She means to stay a single night. But a house keeps its own memory: the key still on its nail, the drawer that sticks, a boat with a name. And a long, unhurried summer evening on still water can ask more of a person than they came prepared to answer. Short Storyverses
The Nice People by H. C. Bunner — A Charming Couple Whose Stories Don’t Quite Match
Atop Orange Mountain, in Mr. Jacobus's summer boarding house, a bored married couple finds relief from their tiresome fellow guests in the arrival of the Bredes — a graceful, good-looking young pair who seem, in every visible way, to be "nice people." But their charming small talk keeps springing leaks.Henry Cuyler Bunner (1855–1896) was a poet, novelist, and the longtime editor of the humor magaz
The Wizard’s Touch by Alice Brown — A Portrait That's More Than a Man's Image
The critics call Jerome Wilmer a wizard. They say he doesn't paint faces — he paints hopes, fears, and longings, and that no secret survives sitting for one of his portraits. Home from Paris for his annual New England summer, Wilmer has spent ten years asking Mary Brinsley the same question and getting the same gentle answer. This year, he sets up a canvas in the barn and asks her fiancé to sit in
The Storm by Kate Chopin — A Married Woman, an Old Flame, and a Sudden Downpour
Here is a special bonus episode for your summer listening pleasure.A sweltering summer afternoon on the Louisiana coast, a storm racing in off the Gulf, and a woman alone in her house when an old flame rides up the path for shelter. Kate Chopin wrote "The Storm" in 1898 and then did something telling with it, she put it in a drawer, because she knew no editor of her day would print a story that re
The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield — A Perfect Afternoon Shadowed by Tragedy
A perfect summer morning, a lawn being readied for the most delightful garden party of the season, and a death just down the hill that no one quite knows what to do with. Katherine Mansfield’s 1922 masterpiece follows young Laura Sheridan as the giddy pleasures of her family’s wealth, a hat, a band, trays of lilies, run headlong into the reality of a working man killed in the lane below. Tender, i
The Castaway by W.W. Jacobs — A Shipwrecked Husband Returns, and a Fortune-Teller Knows Too Much
Another perfect Summer Story from Litreading.A sailor given up for drowned walks back through his own shop door, three years gone, with a fresh scar and a long story about shipwreck, islands, and rescue. His wife weeps with joy. His mother-in-law only sniffs. And across town an old fortune-teller waits with a little china bowl and a great deal to say about where the man has really been. "The Casta
A Day in the Country by Anton Chekhov — Two Children, a Kindly Cobbler, and the Wonders After a Storm
Welcome to our first special summer story of 2026.A May storm rolls over a Russian village, and a small beggar-girl runs through it looking for Terenty the cobbler. Her brother has jammed his hand in a hollow tree, reaching after a cuckoo's egg. What begins as a rescue becomes a long, wandering walk through fields washed clean by rain, a barefoot old man naming every living thing for a boy who can
A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner — A Reclusive Woman, a Vanished Suitor, and a Locked Room
A woman alone in a decaying house. A town that watches her for fifty years, pitying, judging, whispering, and never once truly seeing her. And one room upstairs that no one has opened in forty years.Faulkner published it in 1930 and it just entered the public domain. This is a story that loses none of its grip on the second telling, or the tenth. And you may have caught it: there's no rose an
Dark by Don McDonald — The Last Witness Watches the Final Light Go Out
An original story, written and read by me, Don McDonald.This one began with something I read and couldn't shake. The universe is expanding, and it won't stop, and the stars are spending the only fuel there is. The brightest burn out first. The small, dim, patient ones hold on the longest, for trillions of years, until at last the final star flickers out and the dark that follows has no end and no
Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield — A Lonely Woman Discovers What Others Really Think of Her
On a bright Sunday afternoon in a French public garden, a lonely English teacher lifts her treasured fox fur from its box, settles onto her usual bench, and quietly borrows the lives going on around her. Katherine Mansfield's "Miss Brill," first published in 1920, is a small marvel, barely two thousand words that somehow hold an entire life up to the light. The band plays, the season has begun, th
Man or Monster by Don McDonald — One Man, Thirty Thousand Prisoners, and the Horror of Andersonville
In August 1864, thirty thousand Union prisoners were dying behind a wall of felled pine in southern Georgia. The man in command was a Swiss-born captain with a ruined arm, a sick wife back home, and a daughter whose portrait he kept on his writing table. His name was Henry Wirz, and a year later he would be the only man executed for war crimes after the Civil War."Man or Monster" follows him throu
Chickamauga by Ambrose Bierce — A Lost Child Wanders into the Horrors of War
Ambrose Bierce fought as a Union officer at the battle of Chickamauga in September of 1863. Twenty-six years later, he wrote this story about it.A warning before you press play. "Chickamauga" is brief and graphic. Bierce describes wounded and dying men in unflinching detail, and there is a small child at the center of the story. If you've served, if you've lost someone to war, or if you're listeni
The Pen by Don McDonald — A Simple Errand, a Recruiting Table, and One Life-Changing Signature
Henry Pollard has always had a dangerous relationship with words.In 1861 Indianapolis, while the country rushes headlong toward war, Henry would prefer to remain where he is: alive, sarcastic, and safely distant from glory. But a simple errand on behalf of a worried mother places him at a recruiting table outside the statehouse, where one ordinary moment begins quietly rearranging the rest of his
The Five Boons of Life by Mark Twain — Five Gifts, One Choice, and a Fairy’s Cruel Warning
A man is offered five gifts by a fairy, and told that only one of them holds any real value. He is asked to choose. What follows is one of Mark Twain's bleakest parables, written in the shadow of personal loss, and rendered with the dark precision of a writer who had stopped pretending that wisdom arrives in time to be useful.The Five Boons of Life was published in 1902, when Mark Twain was sixty-
The Crevice by Don McDonald — No One Left Behind, No Matter the Cost
In April, 2026, an American F-15E Strike Eagle went down over western Iran. The weapons officer ejected into the Zagros Mountains and was eventually recovered, in an operation whose full scope remains classified, but which is understood to have involved the destruction of hundreds of millions of dollars in American aircraft on the ground rather than risk leaving them, or him, behind.The Crevice&nb
The Schartz-Metterklume Method by Saki — An Unusual Case of Mistaken Identity
Lady Carlotta misses her train, and a stranger on the platform mistakes her for the new governess. Rather than correct the error, Lady Carlotta decides to accept the position — and teach history by a method the Quabarl household will not soon forget. From the inimitable Saki, a story of social comeuppance served with perfect composure.Saki was the pen name of Hector Hugh Munro, born in Burma in 18
The Telegram That Shouldn't Exist by Don McDonald — A Civil War Mystery
During the Civil War, the military's telegraph network was run by civilians. Teenagers, some of them. Elias Murrow was nineteen, careful, and precise. He trusted the procedure because the procedure had never failed him. Then two messages arrived that couldn't both be real, and he did exactly what he was trained to do.This story is being presented on Litreading for limited time to help build the au
The Sphinx Without a Secret by Oscar Wilde — The Attraction of Mystery
A chance reunion at a Paris café. A photograph of a woman who looks like she's hiding something. And a story that asks a question Wilde never quite answers: What's worse, a woman with a secret, or a woman who simply loves the appearance of having one? Oscar Wilde's "The Sphinx Without a Secret," published in 1887, is a small, perfect jewel of a story about mystery, obsession, and the danger of nee
The Committee Committee by Don McDonald — A Parable on Bureaucracy
The Committee Committee is a parable set in a village where things run smoothly—because they always have.Problems are addressed. Responsibilities are shared. And when questions arise, there is a structure in place to handle them.Over time, that structure has grown more refined, more comprehensive… and more complete.This story is being presented on Litreading for limited time to help build the audi
The Rips by Don McDonald — Her World Rips Apart at the Seams
There are things we expect from the world.Walls stay still. Rooms hold their shape. The spaces we live in behave.And when they don’t, we look for explanations.Old houses settle. Pipes shift. Light plays tricks.But sometimes the world doesn’t explain itself.When an answer can’t be seen, that doesn’t mean there isn’t one.There is something.Something all too real.Something beyond frightening.This sto
My Watch by Mark Twain — The Hazards of Repair
First published in 1870, “My Watch” is one of Mark Twain’s sharpest short comic essays. What begins as a simple adjustment to a timepiece becomes an escalating satire of overconfidence, technical jargon, and the human tendency to meddle with what already works. In fewer than ten minutes, Twain turns a minor inconvenience into a masterclass in comic exaggeration.Mark Twain was the pen name of Samue
The Arrangement by Don McDonald — The Dangers of Misplaced Trust
Every crime begins as a solution. At least to someone. This is a story about a solution. A rented room. A promise. And a man who believes he is doing what’s necessary.This story is being presented on Litreading for limited time to help build the audience for its eventual primary home, New Tales Told part of Short Storyverses. New Tales Told is made up of totally original modern stories written wit
The Doll's House by Katherine Mansfield — The Power of a Small Kindness
Published in 1921, The Doll’s House is one of Katherine Mansfield’s most quietly powerful stories. Set in a small New Zealand community, it explores class, exclusion, and childhood cruelty through something deceptively simple: the arrival of an elaborate doll’s house.Mansfield does not moralize. Instead, she observes. Through small gestures and overheard whispers, she reveals how social
Civic Duty by Don McDonald — A Preventable Possibility
This story is not about the America we live in.It’s about an America that could exist—slowly, legally, and quietly—if people stop asking questions.Civic Duty follows a retired teacher whose life is reduced to data points, compliance scores, and administrative decisions.A speculative warning about what happens when systems replace judgment and loyalty becomes measurable.This story is being presente
To Build a Fire by Jack London — A Man and a Dog Take On Winter's Worst
Set in the frozen Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush, it follows a man traveling alone through temperatures so extreme they defy ordinary experience. Confident in his judgment and dismissive of risk, he presses forward—unaware of how narrow his margin for error truly is.With stark realism and relentless tension, London explores humanity’s limits in the face of nature’s indifference. This is not a
In My Dreams by Don McDonald — Between Sleep and Waking, They Found Each Other
Here is a quiet story about love that arrives too late, and lingers in unexpected ways.About two people who find each other where they never expected to meet.And what it means to hold on, even when you know you can’t.Please check out our other short story universes are shortstoryverses.comIf you enjoyed this story, buy me an e-book!https://www.buymeacoffee.com/donmcdonaldor click FOLLOW Hosted on
The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant — The Cost of Wanting More
The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant is a classic tale of ambition, illusion, and unintended consequences.In this short, elegant story, a young woman’s desire for wealth and status leads her down a path she never expected.A quiet masterpiece with a devastating final twist.Guy de Maupassant was a nineteenth-century French writer and one of the masters of the modern short story.He wrote hundreds o
The Right Call – An Original Short Story by Don McDonald
This is a special presentation of my original short story, “The Right Call,” first released on my companion podcast, New Tales Told.For now, I’ll be sharing my new stories here on Litreading as well—so you can hear them easily, without having to go looking.Litreading will always remain a home for classic short fiction. These are simply new stories, told in the same spirit.The Right Call is a work
The Bet by Anton Chekhov — A Wager Against the World
The Bet is a devastating meditation on freedom, knowledge, money, and the illusions we cling to when we mistake intellect for wisdom and wealth for meaning. Sparse, icy, and quietly explosive, this story leaves no one untouched—not the characters, and not the listener.Anton Chekhov was a Russian physician, playwright, and master of the modern short story. Writing at the turn of the twentieth
The Eternal Code — A Special Presentation of an Original Short Story
This is a special presentation of my new original short story, "The Eternal Code," first released on my companion podcast, New Tales Told. Until the new podcast finds its audience, I will continue to post my original stories at Litreading, too. Litreading will continue to feature classic short fiction, just as always.For listeners who enjoy original, contemporary stories, New Tales Told is where I
Litreading – Classic Short Stories Live On
Every story you've ever loved learned it from somewhere. The plot twist, the heartbreak, the monster in the dark—somebody wrote it first. Narrator Don McDonald brings classic literature back to life, read out loud the way it was meant to be heard. Dickens. Poe. Twain. Wharton. Doyle. Names you know. Stories you think you know—until you actually hear them. Some built entire genres. Some broke every
An Angel in Disguise by T.S. Arthur
Without individual compassion, the good, old days were rarely good for orphaned or disabled children. If you enjoyed this story, buy me an e-book!https://www.buymeacoffee.com/donmcdonaldor click FOLLOW Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A Horseman in the Sky by Ambrose Bierce — A Soldier Must Choose Between Duty and His Father
Early in the US Civil War, families, particularly those in the western part of Virginia (now the state of West Virginia), were torn apart over conflicting loyalties. This story is a fictional account of one young soldier who chose to fight for his country rather than his state.Ambrose served in the Union Army during the Civil War. He became the most famous Civil War storyteller of all time. This
The Law of Life by Jack London — When the Fire Burns Low
Jack London takes us into the frozen silence of the Yukon and leaves us beside an aging chief who has reached the appointed end of his trail. As the tribe moves on, Old Koskoosh remains behind with only a small fire, a dwindling stack of wood, and the memories of a life spent obeying the relentless rhythms of nature. This is a stark, almost ceremonial meditation on aging, duty, and the brutal simp
The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame — A Peace-Loving Dragon Would Rather Discuss Poetry
Not all dragons are fire breathing monsters bent on destruction. If you enjoyed this story, buy me an e-book!https://www.buymeacoffee.com/donmcdonaldor click FOLLOW Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Old Well-Well by Zane Grey — Baseball’s Greatest Fan Watches His Protégé Come to Bat
Professional baseball in United States dates back more than 150 years. It has been considered the great American sport since the 19th century. Popular sports attract rabid fans as was the case even back in 1910 when Zane Grey wrote Old Well Well.Known for his Western novels, Zane Gray was one of the most popular authors of the 20th century. Gray was also a huge baseball fan and published a number
Hills Like White Elephants – A Classic Short Story by Earnest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” is one of the most celebrated short stories ever written — a masterclass in subtext, restraint, and emotional tension.Set at a train station in Spain, it captures a quiet conversation between two lovers waiting for a train — a moment in which everything that matters lies between the lines.Presented by Litreading, part of Short Sto
Clovis on Parental Responsibility by Saki
Saki's recurring character, Clovis takes on an overly proud motherIf you enjoyed this story, buy me an e-book!https://www.buymeacoffee.com/donmcdonaldor click FOLLOW Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County by Mark Twain — A Gambler, a Frog, and One Very Heavy Surprise
Mark Twain's first popular story of a hardcore gambler in a mining camp during the Gold Rush. If you enjoyed this story, buy me an e-book!https://www.buymeacoffee.com/donmcdonaldor click FOLLOW Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Skylight Room by O. Henry — A Poor Young Woman Finds Hope Through a Skylight
O. Henry had a gift for wrapping heartbreak in humor. His stories feel light, almost playful—until that last line hits and you realize he’s been quietly aiming for your chest the whole time.In The Skylight Room, we meet a bright, hopeful young woman renting the smallest, loneliest room in New York. But she still finds a way to fill it—with imagination, with laughter, and with a star she names
The Most Dangerous Game–a Classic Thriller by Richard Connell
We reprise another classic thriller from Litreading's archives for this year's scary season,In this episode, we go on an adventure off the coast of South America, as a famous big game hunter finds himself stranded on an island where hunting has been elevated to a new and frightening level. It’s time to play “The Most Dangerous Game.”"The Most Dangerous Game" has been called "the most popular story
The Willow Walk by Sinclair Lewis — A Bank Robber Invents a Twin—and Becomes Him
This dark, thriller deserves to be included in our reprise of classic stories for the scary season. Written by one of America’s greatest writers, Sinclair Lewis, "The Willow Walk" features some fascinating characters, shocking twists, and powerful imagery. It is also one of our longest stories clocking in at over one hour.In addition to winning a Pulitzer Prize, Sinclair Lewis was the first Americ
Doctor Chevalier’s Lie by Kate Chopin — Sometimes a Lie Is Kinder Than the Truth
Kate Chopin’s Doctor Chevalier’s Lie is a moving meditation on compassion in the face of tragedy. Set against the backdrop of a harsh and unforgiving city, the story turns on a doctor’s quiet decision: whether to report what he sees with unflinching honesty, or to soften the truth for the sake of those left behind. Chopin invites us to consider the value of mercy, the weight of dignity,
Hands by Sherwood Anderson — A Gentle Teacher’s Hands Become His Ruin
How can we tell the difference between benevolence and predation? If you enjoyed this story, buy me an e-book!https://www.buymeacoffee.com/donmcdonaldor click FOLLOW Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
An Alpine Divorce by Robert Barr — A Hateful Marriage Ends on a Deadly Mountain Pass
What happens when hate overwhelms love? If you enjoyed this story, buy me an e-book!https://www.buymeacoffee.com/donmcdonaldor click FOLLOW Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Good Souls by Dorothy Parker — Everyone Should Love Them—So Why Doesn’t Anyone?
We have every reason to love these people, yet we don't. If you enjoyed this story, buy me an e-book!https://www.buymeacoffee.com/donmcdonaldor click FOLLOW Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Handful of Clay—a Classic Short Story by Henry van Dyke
Every day we are bombarded by images of unattainable beauty, regaled with stories of fame, and envious of those who have attained great wealth. It’s easy to lose sight of our important contributions to the world and those around us. No matter how we have ended up , we all started as a figurative "handful of clay."Henry van Dyke was a well-known clergyman, English professor, and author. He spent al
The Idyl of Red Gulch—a Classic Short Story by Bret Harte
A young woman stumbles upon a drunk with whom she forms a bond until she learns more. If you enjoyed this story, buy me an e-book!https://www.buymeacoffee.com/donmcdonaldor click FOLLOW Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Last Leaf—a Classic Short Story by O. Henry
A sick young woman is saved by a final kind gesture. If you enjoyed this story, buy me an e-book!https://www.buymeacoffee.com/donmcdonaldor click FOLLOW Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Araby—a Classic Short Story by James Joyce
James Joyce’s “Araby” is ranked among the pantheon of greatest short stories ever written. In this timeless coming of age tale an adolescent boy, blinded by a hormonal fog, falls for a neighbor girl.Now considered one of the classics of literature, the 1914 collection of short stories, Dubliners, of which “Araby” was an early part was an initial failure selling less than 400 copies. Of those almos
A Case of Premeditation–a Classic Short Story by R. Austin Freeman
Can an almost perfectly planned crime be solved? That question is answered in this classic mystery by one of the early 20th Century's most popular, fictional medical detectives, Dr. Thorndyke.Sandwiched between the Sherlock Holmes mysteries of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the whodunnits of Agatha Christie are R. Austin Freeman's "whocatchums." Freeman pioneered the concept of the inverted detective
The Clock That Went Backward—a Classic Short Story by Edward Page Mitchell
For much of human existence we have questioned the concept of time. Is it always a constant or can it be manipulated, allowing us to move forward or backward chronologically. In this 19th century story, two cousins speculate about the age of their aunt whom they visited regularly, until they discovered the secrets of her old clock.In 1881, several years before H.G. Wells even started writing his c
The Model Millionaire–a Classic Short Story by Oscar Wilde
There is a power that comes from giving without expectation of reward. A self-sacrificing spirit is the theme for Irish author Oscar Wilde’s short story.The Model Millionaire first appeared in print in the newspaper The World in June 1887. The story’s author, Oscar Wilde, was one of the 19th century’s most famous authors and playrights penning works like The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importan
The Rocking Horse Winner–a Classic Short Story by D.H. Lawrence
Note from Don: Listening back to this story before posting it, I have to say that it moved me more than most – and I spent a few days reading, narrating, and editing it."The Rocking Horse Winner" entered the public domain at the beginning of 2022 and is considered one of the all-time best stories. It’s about a young boy’s dysfunctional relationship with his parents, under stress for living well be
Four Men In A Cave-a Classic Short Story by Stephen Crane
Mankind has always loved to explore sometimes crossing great wildernesses, but more often just poking around in our own backyards. This light-hearted tale is about a group of men who decide to investigate a local cave and literally stumble across a huge surprise.Stephen Crane was born years after the US Civil War ended, but is best known for his stirring 1895 Civil War novel, The Red Badge of Cour
The Girl and the Photograph–a Classic Short Story by Lucy Maud Montgomery
A fleeting glimpse in the pines, a photograph stolen from a friend’s mantel, and a correspondence born from mistaken identity—The Girl and the Photograph by Lucy Maud Montgomery is no simple tale of memory. It’s about the way chance, error, and destiny conspire to test a heart’s fidelity. What begins as a love nurtured by letters and a photograph turns into a crisis of identity, and then, at the l
A Country Cottage-a Classic Short Story by Anton Chekhov
Life has a nasty habit of throwing us curves that we can either cause us long-term misery or force us to make the best of a bad situation as illustrated in this very short tale.Anton Chekhov was undoubtedly brilliant. A physician by trade, his premier talent was writing. Chekhov had a unparalleled gift for understanding the depths of human emotions and sharing them first through his short stories
The Mark on the Wall - a Classic Short Story by Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf demonstrates how simply focusing on one thing has the power to unleash torrents of thoughts and memories.Born Adeline Virginia Stephen in 1882, British author Virginia Woolf went on to become an icon of modern 20th century literature. If you enjoyed this story, buy me an e-book!https://www.buymeacoffee.com/donmcdonaldor click FOLLOW Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more in
The Widow's Cruise–a Classic Short Story by Frank Stockton
We have been sharing stories with each other since the beginning of time. On occasion these tales have been known to grow a bit tall, as was the case when four elderly seamen spent an evening with a widow sharing a variety of yarns each one wilder than the next. Then the wood adds a tale of her own.Frank Stockton was a 19th century author and humorist with an uncanny knack for poking fun a human f
Desiree's Baby–a Classic Short Story by Kate Chopin
Racism has always been an ugly part of the human condition. Yet, the horrors of racism in America are most undeniably illustrated by the treatment of African-Americans, particularly in the South. Here is just a small example of the pain caused by racial hatred in antebellum Louisiana.I have presented the story exactly as written, as the author, Kate Chopin, lived during this terrible period in US
The Log - a Classic Short Story by Guy de Maupassant
The lure of an illicit affair is not a new facet of human nature. People have been both tempting and tempted throughout time. But for a sudden twist of fate, our next story might have ended badly for everyone involved.Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a 19th-century French author considered one the era greatest short storyist spinning realistic tales of the human condition If you enjoyed thi
The Story-Teller–a Classic Short Story by Saki
Most stories for children try to teach a lesson—this one tries to blow them up. In The Storyteller by Saki, an overstuffed train car, three fidgety kids, and one very unconventional tale collide in a wickedly sharp jab at moralistic storytelling. It’s short, twisted, and just the kind of thing you’d expect from an author who clearly didn’t have much patience for either sanctimony or smal
The Three Day Blow–a Classic Short Story by Ernest Hemingway
Our second tale in this story series by a young Ernest Hemingway picks up a few months after our last story, "The End of Something," which you might want to hear before listening to this tale. A few month's after his breakup, Nick visits his friend Bill as a fall storm hits the Horton’s Bay region.Our second tale in this story series by a young Ernest Hemingway picks up a few months after our last
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