Short Stories, Long Journeys: My Never Ending Reading List

The Library of Babel.

There are an endless amount of short-stories that I would like to read before departing from this Earth. Hopefully, this list will be a useful tracking system for individual stories and collections that pique my interest. Considering the sheer volume of works vying for my attention, I get the feeling that this might end up a disorganized dumping ground as opposed to an organized reference guide. Either way, I love making lists and excited to see what happens. 

I'm always open for recommendations and please leave them in the comments below.

Onwards and upwards and sideways and backwards!

Individual short stories:

1. Car Crash While Hitchhiking by Denis Johnson
2. Wash by William Faulkner
3. Goodbye Marcus, Goodbye Rose by Jean Rhys
4. England, My England by D.H. Lawrence
5. The Import by Jai Chakrabarti
6. American express by James Salter
7. Chameleon by Anton Chekhov
8. The Prom Terrorists by Rabih Alameddine
9. A Lodging for the Night by Robert Louis Stevenson
10. King Kong Korab by Pete Hsu
11. A Penny Short by Pete Hsu (Online)
12. The Egg by Sherwood Anderson
13. The Ascent by Ron Rash
14. I Spy by Graeme Greene
15. Headlights by Samanta Schweblin
16. Song of Roland by Jamaica Kincaid
17. Snow by Anne Beattie
18. Rain by Somerset Maughham
19. ‘Paymon’s Trio’ by Colette de Curzon
20. A Cruelty by Kevin Barry
21. The Story of my Dovecoat by Isaac Babel
22. The Red-Headed League by Arthur Conan Doyle
23. Double Corner by Wallace Stegnar
24. The Pearl of Love by H.G. Wells
25. The Space by Christopher Boucher
26. Sea Loves Me by Mia Cauto
27. Biology by Kevin Wilson
28. The Hit Man by T.C. Boyle
29. The Second Tree from the Corner by E.B. White
30. The woman who lived in a restaurant by Leone Ross
31. The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson
32. A Country full of Sweets by Erskine Caldwell
33. A Stick of Candy by Jane Bowles
34. You're the Sweetest One by Lashonda Katrice Barnett
35. Jeeves and the Hard-Boiled Egg
36. Testimony of Pilot by Barry Hannah
37. Roses, Rhododendron by Alice Adams
38. Guests by Mary Terrier
39. While the Women are sleeping by Javier Marias
40. Death by Landscape by Margaret Atwood (online)
41. Comfort by Jamal Brinkley
42. The Choc-Ice Woman by Mary Costello (New yorker)
43. They Told Us Not to Say This by Jenn Alandy
44. Lara's Theme by Madhuri Vijay (New Yorker)
45. ‘Heads of the Colored People’ by Nafissa Thompson-Spires
46. Hunters in the Snow by Tobias Wolff
47. The Toast by Rebecca Curtis
48. A clearing by Wendell Berry
49. The Hunter's Wife by Anthony Doerr
50. Unread Messages by Sally Rooney
51. The Hand by Colette
52. Psychology by Katherine Mansfield
53. Monster by Michael Czyzniejewski
54. Wrong Object by Mona Simpson
55. The Cliff by Charles Baxter
56. Arrival by Gurnaik Johal
57. Zero Pineapples by Timothy Willis Sanders
58. How to Make Love to a Physicist by Deesha Philyaw
59. Snowfall by Deesha Philyaw
60. Concrete Negro by Jocelyn Johnson
61. Twenty Minutes by James Salter
62. Marching Songs by Keith Ridgeway
63. Empty Air by Richard Smyth
64. Absit by Angelica Gorodischer
65. Death of a Clerk by Anton Chekhov
66. Ward number 6 by Anton Chekhov
67. A Chameleon by Anton Chekhov
68. The Chaser by John Collier
69. Heat by Joyce Carol Oates (online)
70. Putois by Anatole France
71. Stock by Cynan Jones
72. The Yellow Ranch by Kali Fajardo-Anstine
73. Minotaur by Jim Shepard
74. Today Will be a Quiet Day by Amy Hempel
75. The Sniper by Liam O'Flaherty
76. Aren't You Happy for Me? by Richard Bausch
77. Kids in Kindergarten by Corinna Chong (2021 CBC short story winner)
78. The Pocketbook Game by Alice Childress
79. Where You'll Find Me by Anne Beattie
80. Children on their Birthdays by Truman Capote
81. Daisy's Valentine by Mary Gaitskill
82. Baster by Jeffrey Eugenides (new Yorker)
83. The Red-Headed League by Arthur Conan Doyle
84. The Duplicity of Hargraves by O. Henry
85. The H Street Sledding Record by Ron Carlson
86. Teenage Punk by Lucia Berlin
87. The Murders in Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe
88. My Son the Murderer by Bernard Malamud
89. The Hunter by E.L. Doctorow
90. The Prom Terrorists by Rabih Alameddine
91. Seven Floors by Dino Buzzati
92. Bettering Myself by Ottessa Moshfegh
93. My Apologies by Sam Lipsyte (New yorker)
94. They're not your Husband by Raymond Carver
95. Foaling Season by Aryn Kyle
96. The Worm in Philly by Sam Lipsyte
97. Peach Cobbler by Deesha Philyaw
98. Mr. Hadj's Sunset Ride by Saladin Ahmed
99. Just Before the War with the Eskimos by J.D. Salinger
100. Intruders of Sleepless Nights by Pamela Painter
101. Snowfall by Deesha Philyaw
102. The Republic of Empathy by Sam Lipsyte (New Yorker)
103. Making Friends by Joy Williams (Paris Review)
104. Concord 34 by Salley Rooney (online)
105. A Science for Being Alone by Daniel Alarcon
106. A Piece of Steak by Jack London
107. Let's Play Dead by Senaa Ahmed
108. City of Clowns by Daniel Alarcon
109. Liquid Papers by Nicolette Polek
110. Keats at 24 by Caleb Crain (New Yorker)
111. Delivery by Bruce Barrow
112. St. Lucy’s Home For Girls Raised By Wolves by Karen Russell (online)
113. Peking Duck by Ling Ma
114. Time Invents Us by Anita Felicelli
115. Happiest Moment by Lydia Davis
116. Rondine al Nido by Claire Vaye Watkins
117. Allah Have Mercy by Mohammed Naseehu Ali (New Yorker)
118. Shock of Birth by Cadwell Turnbull
119. Trebuchet by Avitus B Carle
120. The Face in the Mirror by Mohsin Hamid (New Yorker)
121. Former Marine by Russell Banks
122. The Metal Bowl by Miranda July (New Yorker)
123. Goodbye to the Road Not Taken by A.M. Homes
124. Extra by Yiyun Li
125. The Wind by Lauren Groff
126. The price by Neil Gaiman
127. October in the Chair by Neil Gaiman
128. A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman
129. Snow Glass Apples by Neil Gaiman
130. Hide & Seek by P. Djeli Clark
131. Purity of the Turf by P.G. Wodehouse
132. Sara Cole: A Type of Love Story by Russell Banks
133. The Clearing by Luisa Mercedes Levinson
134. The Man Who Would be King by Rudyard Kipling
135. Two men by andrew porter
136. All Will be Well by Yiyun Li
137. Who, me a bum? by Luisa Valenzuela
138. A family supper by Kazuo Ishiguro
139. The Man of the World by Frank O'Connor (online)
140. Pet Milk by Stuart Dybek
141. The Red Convertible by Louise Erdrich
142. The Infamous Bengal Ming” by Rajesh Parameswaran (online)
143. Separating by John Updike
144. The Bulgarian Poetess by John Updike
145. A Conversation with my Father by Grace Paley
146. The Re-Encounter by Isaac Bashevis Singer
147. The pleasures of Television by Rebecca Bernard
148. Taking Care by Joy Williams
149. Three People by William Trevor
150. China by Charles Johnson
151. Footfalls by Wilbur Daniel Steele
152. Story by Lydia Davis
153. The Last Thing we Need by Claire Vaye Watkins
154. The Adventure Of The Speckled Band by Arthur Conan Doyle (online)
155. The Hitchhikers by Eudora Welty
156. Blood-burning Moon by Jean Toomer
157. Axolotl by Julio Cortazar 
158. Ambush by Donna Tartt
159. After Rain by William Trevor
160. Ten Year affair by Erin Somers
161. The Match by Colson Whitehead
162. The interior castle by Jean Stafford
163. Resurrection of life by William Saroyan
164. The resemblance between a violin case and a coffin by Tennessee Williams
165. Country Husband by John Cheever
166. Donkey Gets Greedy, Donkey Gets Punched by Steve Almond
167. Slaves on the Block by Langston Hughes
168. Who's Passing for Who by Langston Hughes
169. Liars in Love by Richard Yates
170. The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington by Phenderson Djèlí Clark
171. You're Ugly too by Lorrie Moore
172. Koolau the Leper by Jack London
173. The Crime Wave at Blandings by P.G. Wodehouse
174. Children On Their Birthdays by Truman Capote
175. *virginia is not your home*
176. The Way Up To Heaven, by Roald Dahl
177. Great Automatic Grammatizator by Roald Dahl
178. The Key by Isaac Bashevis Singer
179. Home for Christmas by Carson McCullers
180. O'Brian's First Christmas by Jeanette Winterson
181. Little Miss Sophie by Alice Dunbar-Nelson (online)
182. Any Further West by Kali Fajardo-Anstine
183. Christmas at Red Butte by Lucy Montgomery (online)
184. Santa Claus is a White Man by John Henrik Clarke
185. Charades by Lorrie Moore
186. Merry Christmas by Stephen Leacock
187. Christmas or the Good Fairy by Harriet Beecher Stowe 
188. Charity by Cara Blue Adams 

Sci-Fi:

1. Stitched to Skin Like Family is by Nghi Vo (Hugo winner 2025)
2. How to Raise a Kraken in your Bathtub by P. Djèlí Clark 
3. Cold Equations by Tom Godwin
4. Amnesty by Octavia Butler
5. The Pi Man by Alfred Bester
6. Tender by Sofia Samatar
7. Escape from Spiderhead by George Saunders
8. The Last Defender of Camelot by Roger Zelazny
9. The Deposition by Tobias Wolff
10. Petra by Greg Egan
11. The Safe Deposit Box by Greg Egan
12. The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C. Clarke
13. The Gambler by Paolo Bacigalupi
14. Small Offerings by Paolo Bacigalupi
15. I sexually identify as a helicopter by Isabel Fall
16. Wangs Carpets by Greg Egan
17. Closer by Greg Egan
18. Seasons of Glass and Iron by Amal El-Mohtar
19. The Emissary by Ray Bradbury 
20. Standard Loneliness package by Charles Yu
21. Paycheck by PKD
22. The Father Thing by PKD
23. The Eyes Have it by PKD
24. The Sea Raiders by H.G. Wells
25. The Giving Plague by David Brin
26. The Man who Lost the Sea by Theodore Sturgeon
27. The Ghost Birds by Karen Russell (New Yorker)
28. It's a Good Life by Jerome Bixby
29. Dodkins Job y Jack Vance
30. The ugly little boy by Isaac Asimov
31. Rain, rain go away by Isaac Asimov
32. Sandkings by George R.R. Martin
33. The Women Men Don't see by James Tiptree Jr.
34. Hinterlands by Willian Gibson (Burning Chrome)
35. The Diary of a Rose by Ursula Le Guin
36. Mazes by Ursula Le Guin
37. Coming of Age in Karhide by Ursula Le Guin
38. The Wild Girls by Ursula Le Guin
39. The Mother of Seggri by Ursula Le Guin
40. Very Far Away From Anywhere Else by Ursula Le Guin
41. Nightfall by Isaac Asimov
42. Billenium by JG Ballard
43. The Concentration City by JG Ballard
44. The Voices of Time by JG Ballard
45. Why I want to Fuck Ronald Regan by JG Ballard
46. The Commuter by PKD 
47. The Hanging Stranger by PKD
48. Asleep in Armageddon by Ray Bradbury
49. The Off Season by Ray Bradbury
50. The Fight of the Good Ship Clarissa
51. And the Moon be Still as Bright by Ray Bradbury
52. Scanners Live in Vain by Cordwainer Smith
53. Algorithms for Love by Ken Liu
54. Simulacrum by Ken Liu (paper menagerie)
55. The Life Cycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang
56. Bridesicle by Will McIntosh
57. Terminus by Stanislaw Lem

Collections:

1. How Are you going to save yourself by J.M. Holmes
2. Jean Rhys - collected stories
3. Small Odysseys: Selected Shorts Presents 35 New Stories
4. Things You Should Know by A.M. Homes
5. The Oranging of America by Max Apple
6. So Long Been Dreaming (ed. Nalo Hopkinson)
7. Love Beyond Body, Space and Time
8. Seabirds Are Still Alive by Toni Cade Bambara
9. The Complete Stories of A.A. Milne
10. The Last Suspicious Holdout by Ladee Hubbard
11. The Black Fantastic: 20 Afrofuturist Stories
12. Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans
13. Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? by Kathleen Collins
14. The State of the Art by Iain M. Banks
15. Holler Child by Latoya Watkins
16. Far From Home by Walter Tevis
17. The Menace from Earth - Robert A. Heinlein (1959)
18. Aye, and Gomorrah and other stories by Samuel R. Delany
19. Einstein's Monsters by Martin Amis
20. The Paintree by Olive Senior
21. How to Love A Jamaican by Alexia Arthurs
22. Secret Lives, and Other Stories by Thiong'o
23. The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of his Mouth and Other Stories by Roger Zelazny
24. The Collected Stories of Chester Himes
25. Salt Slow by Julia Armfield
26. A Broken People's Playlist by Chimeka Garricks
27. Glimpse: An Anthology of Black British Speculative Fiction
28. The Collected Stories of William Trevor
29. The Awkward Black Man by Walter Mosley
30. Damned if I do by Percival Everett
31. Half an Inch of Water by Percival Everett
32. 21st century SF (Robarts)
33. Quintessence of Dust by Craig Wallwork
34. The cost of living: early and uncollected stories of Mavis Gallant (Robarts)
35. Perchance to Dreams by Charles Beaumont (cool cover, intro by Ray Bradbury)
36. What is not Yours is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi (Kindle)
37. Long, Last, Happy by Barry Hannah (Robarts)
38. Witness by Jamel Brinkley (Robarts)
39. A Lucky Man by Jamel Brinkley
40. Short stories of the civil rights movement : an anthology (Robarts)
41. Flash Fiction in America: 73 very short stories (Robarts)
42. Woman hollering Creek and Other Stories by Sandra Cisneros (Robarts)
43. Dare the Sea by Ali Hosseini (Robarts)
44. Holler, Child (Stories) by LaToya Watkins
45. Call and Response by Gothataone Moeng (UTL, online)
46. The Flying Leap by Judy Budnitz (Robarts)
47. Hunger: A novel and stories by Samantha Lan Chang (Robarts)
48. Each of us Killers by Jenny Bhatt (Robarts)
49. The Oxford Book of American Short Stories (2013, Robarts)
50. From Death to Morning by Thomas Wolfe
51. The witness for the prosecution and other stories by Agatha Christie
52. More Pricks than Kicks by Samuel Beckett
53. The Collected Short Stories of Saki
54. The Sorcerers Apprentice by Charles Johnson
55. Lot by Bryan Washington
56. Waltzing the Cat by Pam Houston
57. Tender by Sofia Samatar (UTL online)
58. Sans Souci and other stories by Dionne Brand
59. The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen
60. Short Stories of Langston Hughes (UTL online)
61. Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans (Robarts)
62. The Art and Craft of Asian Stories: A Writer’s Guide and Anthology (Robarts, Online)
63. Blue collar, white collar, no collar : stories of work
64. In Bed One Night and Other Brief Encounters by Robert Coover
65. Blood Feast: The Complete Short Stories of Malika Moustadraf (online)