No list of favorite short stories can be complete without some mention of William Trevor, the Irish author whose collection Ireland is hauntingly beautiful.

Vladimir Nabakov's Impression of a Sunset.
Ernest Hemmingway's A Clean, Well Lighted Place
James Joyce's Araby

I read a short story many years ago that I think was called The Girl With The Green Ribbon that haunted me for many years afterward (I was pretty young at the time). Anyone else heard of this story?

I enjoyed the majority of the short stories in the Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie. As well as the ones in Parker Pyne Investigates.

Just read an assortment of short stories in English Class including Hills like White Elephants by Ernest Hemmingway.

I love Hemingway's short fiction. But to pick a particular short story, I will go with "Revelation" by Flannery O'Connor. For some reason that one really sticks with me. Also "Good Country People" and "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by the same author. Good stuff.

In high school I read the short story "The Scarlet Ibis" (I hope I got the title correct). I remember its story haunted me for years, and there are still moment thirty five years later when that story stirs my conscience.

The one which freaked me out was Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart", but Mike (where are you?) mentioned that a year-and-a-half ago.

"The Star" by Arthur C. Clarke has one of the best "twists" I've ever read. "Chopin in Winter" by Stuart Dybek is absolutely beautiful. "The Bet" by Anton Chekhov, translated by Constance Garrett, is probably my single favorite short story, and Chekhov is the master. I've also read several by Alice Munro, who is good, although I wouldn't say one story truly sticks out among the others, which isn't a bad thing in this case.

i read this story a LONG time ago and i agree with you. it's haunting. by the way. who is the author of this story?

quote:

Originally posted by Elle:
I read a short story many years ago that I think was called The Girl With The Green Ribbon that haunted me for many years afterward (I was pretty young at the time). Anyone else heard of this story?

quote:

Originally posted by crimsonan9el:
i read this story a LONG time ago and i agree with you. it's haunting. by the way. who is the author of this story?

quote:

Originally posted by Elle:
I read a short story many years ago that I think was called The Girl With The Green Ribbon that haunted me for many years afterward (I was pretty young at the time). Anyone else heard of this story?

I don't think there is a proper author of the story. Many times it gets credited as a piece of folklore.

A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings by Garcia Marquez.

My favorite is White Nights by Dostoevsky.

I remember being read to from a book of adventure/mystery/suspense stories when I was on a camping trip, but I don't know the name of the book. I think it included the Pit and the Pendulum by Poe. There was one story in it that had millions of ants attacking a fort. The fort or castle was surrounded by a moat, but the ants just kept crawling toward the wall over the drowned ants that went in before them. I think Jack London's To Build A Fire was also in the book. Has anyone else come across a book like this?

I am also haunted by the story, 'The Scarlet Ibis' by James Hurst. I read this story in Junior High School and recall feeling overcome with a sense that my own, younger brother was going to die. I recall returning home on the school bus wanting to do something for him. We ended up walking about 2 1/2 miles to a small store where I bought him a bag of plastic soldiers.

Several years later, my brother was killed in a motorcycle accident when he was 19. I still feel very strongly that the feelings when I read 'The Scarlet Ibis' were somehow a premonition that David would die young.

Mike

I am very sorry for the loss of your Bro at such a young age, but I do welcome you to the site. I know you have had to live with it a long time now. I hope you enjoy it here and post away.

P.S. Have you had any other premonitions, hopefully with happy endings?

Hello Mark -

Should have thought about it a bit before posting my emotional connection to 'The Scarlet Ibis'.

I do have a number of other authors and short stories that I like. For example:

Theodore Dreiser 'The Lost Phoebe'. A very poignant story which explores how an old farmer struggles with losing his life-long wife and close companion.

SAKI (H. H. Munro) The 'Reginald' short story series. For those not familiar with SAKI, he was a British writer who published in the years leading up to WW I. SAKI, and many other talented writers, artists and deep thinkers enlisted to fight and, as with many others, SAKI was killed on some obscure battlefield. Witnesses indicated that he and his fellow soldiers were taking up a position, at dusk, along a battered portion of trench line in a shell crater. One of his fellow soldiers lit a cigarette, which was a very foolish act. SAKI yelled to the soldier to '..put out that cigarette!'; but too late, the Germans heard SAKI yell out and he, not the soldier that lit the cigarette, was shot and killed.

Stephen Vincent Benet 'By the Waters of Babylon' A story I remember reading in Mrs. Seidel's sixth grade class, Tyndall AFB elementary school around 1964. This was during the height of the cold war; we would routinely do 'nuclear attack drills' which involved crawling under your desk and putting your head between your legs. We joked that this was so you could kiss you behind 'goodbye' ...... as if crouching under your school desk was going to offer any protection against a 25 meg Russian nuke. This story really speaks to that time.

Dorothy Parker 'But the One on the Right'. I really like her sense of humor.

Don Marquis Most all of the 'Archey and Mehitabel' series....not actually short stories; they were a series of newspaper columns published from 1916 through the mid 1930s.

Don Marquis 'Hermione and Her Little Group of Serious Thinkers'.

Regarding your P.S. Yes, I can think of positive premonitions...or more accurately, very strong feelings of knowing something to be true without having any evidence to backup the feeling.

My wife's favorite author is Elizabeth Borten de Trevino. She was one of the first female newspaper writers, turn of the century. She eventually published a series of books on her life in Mexico; also published a number of childrens books.

I bought one of her books at a used book store for my wife based on the title. She really liked the author, so I began searching for other books by Elizabeth Borten de Trevino whenever I went to used book stores, jumble shops etc. I found it very difficult to locate her books in this fashion (pre internet days).

In Austin, Texas I visited a very run down little jumble shop filled with old used books (in no order whatsoever) cameras, furniture, old clothes and what have you....probably the gleanings from 50 estate sales. When I walked into that store, I felt, beyond any doubt that an Elizabeth Borten de Trevino book was somewhere among all the 'piles'; I only had to find it. I searched for quite a long time among the used books that were stacked on several long folding tables toward the back of the store, but no luck. As I walked back toward the front of the store however, I saw three shelves of used books mounted to the wall I hadn't noticed before. On the bottom shelf, I found a copy of Elizabeth Borten de Trevino's book, with the original dust jacket entitled 'My Heart Lies South'.... for $1.

Not earth shattering, but both a positive premonition story that also relates to books ;-).

Have a nice afternoon.

Mike

One of my favorites is "King Of The Bingo Game" by Ralph Ellison.

Has nobody mentioned Ray Bradbury yet? "The Illustrated Man" is a very fun read. I have to admit I think of RB as more of a children's author than a serious literature writer, but whatever that means, I love his stories.

Chekhov and Ivan Bunin.

The stories contained in Gustaw Herling's The Noonday Cemetery and William Trevor's A Bit on the Side.

I've always loved "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros. It's pretty widely anthologized; her short story collection "Women Hollering Creek" is a favorite

I'm also very fond of "A Rose for Emily" by Faulkner.