english short story book reading

18 Great Short Stories You Can Read Free Online

Sarah Ullery

Sarah suffers from chronic sarcasm, and an unhealthy aversion to noise. She loves to read, and would like to do nothing else, but stupid real life makes her go to work. She lives in the middle of a cornfield and shares a house with two spoiled dogs and a ton of books.

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When I have no idea what to read, I find a bunch of free short stories online, save them onto the Pocket app , and read them as if I’ve compiled my own short story collection. Like a music playlist I create to match a mood, I create short story playlists to break a book slump, or to sample a bunch of different authors’ writing.

As to where to find great stories, The New Yorker stories are generally best, but require a subscription if you read too many in a month. I also like Narrative Magazine , which will ask you for an email, but their stories are free too. Tor of course has some great free stuff, and you can find most of the classics through Gutenberg . The stories on this list that are not from any of these publications, I found through simple Google searches. If I’m interested in an author, but don’t necessarily want to read a whole book, I look to see if they have any short fiction available that I can read first.

From this list, my favorites are Zadie Smith and Italo Calvino’s stories. I’d never read Zadie Smith, but after loving “The Embassy of Cambodia” I started On Beauty  (a 500 page book) and I absolutely love it. Both stories satisfied a reading itch I needed scratched.

Here are a few of my favorite free short stories you can read online right now.

“ The Library of Babel ” by Jorge Luis Borges

The world is a library that contains all the books that have ever been written, but most of them are indecipherable. Many people venture to the library to find the meaning of life. It reminded me of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld library.

“Perhaps my old age and fearfulness deceive me, but I suspect that the human species — the unique species — is about to be extinguished, but the Library will endure: illuminated, solitary, infinite, perfectly motionless, equipped with precious volumes, useless, incorruptible, secret.”

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

This used to be my favorite short story, and I might only think that because I read it when I was a freshman in high school and I remember being shocked by the ending. It’s always stayed with me.

“A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor

Another story with an ending that you won’t forget anytime soon. O’Connor was a master. If you’ve never read any of her work I would start here.

“In the Penal Colony” by Franz Kafka

It’s a chilling story. A man known as the Traveller is visiting a foreign penal colony where he is shown a special machine used to execute prisoners. The machine inscribes the prisoner’s crime onto their body until they die. It takes 12 hours of torture before the prisoner dies. I told you it was chilling!

“The Devil in America ” by Kai Ashante Wilson (Tor)

Kai Ashante Wilson has quite a talent. This ties present day police brutality towards African Americans to post-emancipation America and a family of freed slaves that are living with the Devil that followed them from Africa.

“The City Born Great” by N.K. Jemisin (Tor)

Cities, once they are old enough, must be born. New York City is ready to be born, and must be led into the world by a reluctant midwife.

“Spider the Artist” by Nnedi Okorafor (Lightspeed Magazine)

Okorafor is a wonderful storyteller, and if you’ve never read her books, this would be a great place to start. And if you like this short story, check out Binti: The Complete Trilogy .

“Exhalation” by Ted Chiang (Lightspeed Magazine)

Oh, you’ve never read Ted Chiang? Well, you must go out now and read this story and then read Stories of Your Life and Others  and his collection Exhalation: Stories . I was shocked by how good and complex his writing was. I had no idea that the movie The Arrival was based on one of his short stories.

“The Daughters of the Moon” by Italo Calvino (The New Yorker)

I don’t know. It’s either Zadie Smith’s “The Embassy of Cambodia” or this story that is my favorite on the list… I can’t decide. I think it’s this story. A story about the people of Earth deciding to throw away the Moon. It’s a story of consumerism. Luckily, I own The Complete Cosmicomics , so I can continue reading Calvino’s magnificent short story collection.

“The Embassy of Cambodia ” by Zadie Smith (The New Yorker)

After you read “The Devil in America” read this story and see if you can find the parallels. This was my first time reading Zadie Smith because I’d always heard mixed reviews, but if her longer fiction is anything like this short story, I’m in love. If you need help figuring out where to start with Zadie Smith’s books, check out our Reading Pathway guide to Zadie Smith .

“Sweetness” by Toni MOrrison (The New Yorker)

A prelude to Morrison’s book God Help the Child , this is the story of Bride’s mother, and her rationale for raising her daughter in a loveless home.

“Girls, At Play”  by Celeste Ng (Bellevue Literary Review)

“This is how we play the game: pink means kissing; red means tongue. Green means up your shirt; blue means down his pants. Purple means in your mouth. Black means all the way.”

The first four sentences of this short story sent chills down my spine. A superbly told story of the extremes of girlhood and adolescence; the pressures girls face as they get older.

“On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning” by Haruki Murakami (Genius)

Love at first sight, if you believe love is predestined rather than a choice. Fated love, to me, no matter how hard my heart becomes, still seems ridiculously romantic. I haven’t read Murakami in a long time but now I’m itching to pick up one of his books (I really want to read 1Q84 , but it’s soooo long!).

“Chechnya”  by Anthony Marra (Narrative Magazine)

This was Anthony Marra’s first published short story, and works as an outline for his novel A Constellation of Vital Phenomenon . It’s the kind of story you read while holding your breath.

“The Fruit of My Woman” by Han Kang (Granta)

This story was written in 1997 before the publication of The Vegetarian . The two stories share many of the same themes, and it’s evident that this story served as a blueprint for the later book. In “The Fruit of My Woman” the wife is slowly turning into a tree (something that also comes up in The Vegetarian ). The allusions to Daphne turning herself into a laurel tree to escape the advances of Apollo are hard to miss, but there’s no clear indication that Daphne was an actual influence on either story. Han Kang can do no wrong in my eyes.

“A Lady’s Maid” by Sarah Gailey (Barnes & Noble)

I love Sarah Gailey. This is a great introduction if you’re unfamiliar with her work. It’s Victorian London with androids — so much to love!

“A Bruise the Size and Shape of a Door Handle” by Daisy Johnson (American Short Fiction)

A hot and bothered story about a house falling in love with the girl who lives in the attic. I loved everything about this story. This is included in Johnson’s short story collection, Fen , and I can’t wait to get my hands on it. Also, the writing style reminded me of Samantha Hunt.

“Hollow” by Breece D’J Pancake (The Atlantic)

Breece D’J Pancake died when he was 26. He was from West Virginia, and I would label his writing “grit-lit”. This story was almost too gritty for me. He’s the kind of writer that other writers love. His short story collection has a blurb from Joyce Carol Oates.

Want more short stories? Check out our post on the 100 must-read contemporary short story collections , 20 must-read short stories on audio , and the best short stories of all time !

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A2–B1 stories

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In this section, read our entertaining short stories specially written for pre-intermediate (CEFR level A2) or intermediate (CEFR level B1) learners.

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Lovers on All Saints’ Day

By juan gabriel vasquez.

13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl

By mona awad.

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Human Values Foundation Stories on Values 2016 Edition – By children for children

Human Values Foundation

Categories: Age 10-13 years , Age 2-5 Years , Age 6-9 years , All FKB Books , Children , Editor's Picks , English Stories , FKB Make a Difference , Grade 1 to Grade 3 , Grade 4 to Grade 6 , Human Values Foundation , Inspirational , Intermediate English , moral , Open Educational Resources , Story Collections , Values

Stories on Values is an endearing and beautiful collection of short stories written by children, as selected entries from the Human Values Foundation’s annual Stories on Values competition. The Human Values Foundation has kindly made these available to republish here so as to reach a wider audience with these endearing and important lessons. More details …

Pixie And The Green Book Mystery – Early chapter book

Coraline Grace

Categories: Adventure , Age 6-9 years , All FKB Books , Editor's Picks , English Stories , fairytale , Fantasy , Grade 1 to Grade 3 , Intermediate English , Older Children

Pixie And The Green Book Mystery is the first in a series about the adventures of Pixie from Coraline Grace. The Purple Mystery, and The Yellow Mystery are up next. Author – Coraline Grace Magic is alive at The Rocky Point Library. It’s an apple disaster day for Pixie, a second-grader at Rocky Point Elementary. …

Aesop’s Fables – Illustrated for Children

Categories: Aesop , Age 6-9 years , Animals , Children , English Stories , Fable , Free Kids Books , moral , Public Domain , Story Collections

Here’s another bumper edition of Aesop’s fables, this one includes 147 fables, beautifully illustrated by Milo Winter. The contents is hyperlinked, and the morals have been summarised at the beginning for easy reference. This edition, formatted by Free Kids Books, is also available in pdf, flipbook, and in an editable (odt) format. Aesop’s fables for …

Fables – Reader for Grade 1

Core Knowledge Foundation

Categories: Age 2-5 Years , Age 6-9 years , All FKB Books , Animals , Beginner English , Core Knowledge Foundation , Creative Commons , Early Reader , English Stories , Fable , Grade 1 to Grade 3 , Open Educational Resources , Story Collections

Fables is a collection of folk tales and fables written for a grade 1 level. The collection of stories also has an associated workbook and teacher guide available. This grade 1 reader has many of the sounds highlighted throughout the text to help children learn new phonemes, and there is a list of decoded sounds …

Karabo’s Question – What do I do? What do I know?

Illustrated by Natalie Edwards, Written by Liesl Jobson

Categories: Age 2-5 Years , All FKB Books , Beginner English , BookDash , Creative Commons , Early Reader , English Stories , Grade 1 to Grade 3 , Grade K and Pre K

Karabo’s Question is a rhyming book for young children. This book focusses on the /əʊ/ sound, eg “ow” in know, “oe” in tow, “o” in no, “ew” in sew. In this respect it can make a nice addition to a structured phonics program for introducing this sound. Illustrated by Natalie Edwards Written by Liesl Jobson This …

Sizwe’a Smile – Something you can give away and keep!

Illustrated by Genevieve Terblanche, Written by Vianne Venter

Categories: Age 2-5 Years , All FKB Books , Beginner English , Behaviour , BookDash , Creative Commons , Emotions , English Stories , Grade 1 to Grade 3 , Grade K and Pre K , Toddlers , Values

A smile is a thing you can give away and keep, it costs nothing, it makes everyone feel good, and it’s contagious. In Sizwe’s smile we find out more about how a big smile can go a long way to make everyone happy. This book was brought to us by BookDash, a literacy non-profit aimed …

Classic Stories – Big Book for Early Grades and Kindergarten CKF

Categories: Age 2-5 Years , All FKB Books , Animals , Beginner English , Classic Books , Core Knowledge Foundation , Creative Commons , English Stories , Fable , fairytale , Grade 1 to Grade 3 , Grade K and Pre K , Open Educational Resources , Stories with English Worksheets , Story Collections

The Classic Stories Big Book from the Core Knowledge Foundation includes condensed versions of ten famous classic stories or fables, each includes beautiful illustrations, perfect for reading to kindergarten or early grade children, and suitable for early reading by early grade developing readers. This book is designed for the US preschool / pre-kindergarten (Pre-K) syllabus …

How to Be Happy – Be Nice Series Book 2 – More Gerty Goat guidance

Compiled by Danielle Bruckert

Categories: Age 2-5 Years , All FKB Books , Alliteration , Animals , Beginner English , Behaviour , Children , Creative Commons , Danielle Bruckert , Early Reader , Editable Files , Editor's Picks , English Stories , Free Kids Books , Grade 1 to Grade 3 , Grade K and Pre K , Health , Non-Fiction , School Projects , Stories with read along video , Toddlers , Values

How to be Happy is a short simple book for young children and beginner ESL reader, promoting values of appreciation and giving, and can be used as an early reader. The book is perfect for building confidence in reading with only 25 words most of which are simple words. This book also teaches kids ten …

Animals Have Hobbies Too – Hello English

Hello English

Categories: Age 2-5 Years , Age 6-9 years , All FKB Books , Animals , Beginner English , Children , Creative Commons , English Stories , Grade 1 to Grade 3 , Hello English , Humour , Stories with English Worksheets , Toddlers

In Animals Have Hobbies Too, we find out all the exciting things animals do when we’re not watching. From cats and chickens, to dogs and frogs, foxes and little things that fit in small boxes, animals have hobbies just like people do. But animals have strange and funny hobbies. Keep your eyes sharp and your …

The Frog Prince – Classic Fairytale Picture Book

Categories: Age 2-5 Years , Age 6-9 years , Children , Classic Books , Core Knowledge Foundation , Creative Commons , English Stories , fairytale , Grade 1 to Grade 3 , Intermediate English , Reptiles , Stories with English Worksheets

This is a beautifully illustrated picture book version of the classic fairytale The Frog Prince, and includes reading comprehension questions at the end. The classic fairytale also has a teaching guide with lesson plans available for Grade 1 students, and reading comprehension questions available at the end of the book. This illustrated eBook and read …

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20 Free English E-books (PDF) That’ll Give You a Taste of Classic English Literature

Reading lets you explore a whole new world.

In classic English literature , the language is so powerful that you’ll remember words, phrases and grammar long after you’ve finished the book.

Plus, you’ll learn stories which are very important to culture in the English-speaking world.

In this list, you’ll discover 20 classic English books that are perfect for intermediate learners , now available in e-book format.

20 Classic Books Now Available as Free English E-books

1. the story of doctor dolittle by hugh lofting.

• 2. The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne
• 3. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• 4. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
• 5. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

6. Heidi by Johana Spyri

• 7. My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
• 8. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
• 9. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle
• 10. The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
• 11. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
• 12. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
• 13. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
• 14. The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
• 15. Emma by Jane Austen
• 16. Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
• 17. The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton
• 18. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

19. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

• 20. Dracula by Bram Stoker

What’s a Classic Book?

Why classic books are perfect for english learners.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Doctor Dolittle loves animals. He loves them so much that when his many pets scare away his human patients, he learns how to talk to animals and becomes a veterinarian instead.

He then travels the world to help animals with his unique ability to speak their language.

2.  The Red House Mystery by A.A. Milne

Does the name Winnie the Pooh sound familiar? Author A.A. Milne is best remembered for creating the fluffy, yellow teddy bear.

But before he became a famous children’s book author Milne wrote a few adult fiction books. “The Red House Mystery” is one of these.

In this mystery novel, the guests in a man’s home become detectives as they try to find a killer—who is one of them!

3.  The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

“The Secret Garden” is a touching story about the power of friendship.

Mary Lennox is a spoiled and rude little girl sent by her parents to live at her uncle’s huge home. One day while exploring outside the home, she discovers a secret: a locked garden.

The secret garden helps her make a friend, and thanks to the love of their friendship she learns to be a better person.

4.  Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Everything you know about pirates probably came from this one book: wooden legs, parrots on the shoulder and treasure maps.

“Treasure Island” is the story of a boy who sails on a ship searching for treasure, but instead finds himself surrounded by terrible pirates. It’s also a story about growing up, full of action and adventure.

5.  Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

“Black Beauty” is one the best-selling books of all time, and for a good reason—this story about a horse teaches kindness towards animals and people.

The story is told by the horse. It describes his life and the many cruel people and difficult times he had to live through before finding peace.

It’s a great read even if you’re not a fan of horses.

“Heidi” is a book often described as being “for children and for people who love children.”

It does a great job of showing the world through a little girl’s eyes as she explores the mountains in Switzerland. She makes many friends along the way, but also deals with the kinds of fears that a child would have, like being alone and away from the people who love you.

It’s a long book, but one that’s easy to fall in love with.

7.  My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

These days not many of us have butlers (servants hired to care for you and your house) but whenever people talk about a butler, his name sometimes comes up as Jeeves.

That name comes from Wodehouse’s series of books featuring the perfect butler Jeeves, and the many humorous adventures he and his employer had.

8.  Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Jealousy and revenge are the main themes of “Wuthering Heights,” which is the name of the farmhouse where the story takes place.

This book can be hard to get through, and it’s not because of the vocabulary. It’s a hard book to read because of all the cruelty in it. Still, this is a good book if you’re interested in dramas and passions.

9.  The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle

Robin Hood is a special kind of thief: he steals from the rich and gives to the poor. This book is a collection of stories about the legendary, kindhearted thief and his group of outlaw friends.

Be prepared for many fun and funny moments, and some with a more serious tone. This book is perfect for reading little by little, since the stories are only connected by their characters.

10.  The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

There are many war books that show how terrible war is physically—all the violence and death. “The Red Badge of Courage” talks instead about the psychological terrors of war.

It’s told from the point of view of a soldier in the Civil War who’s actually running away from the battlefield. It uses many symbols and metaphors to discuss the important themes.

If you can handle the advanced vocabulary, you can find much more meaning hidden in this book.

11.  The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

What if you could stay young forever? Dorian Gray makes a deal to stay young forever—while a painted portrait of him shows all the signs of aging.

Of course, it turns out this deal he made might not have been such a good idea after all…

12.  The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas

After being thrown into jail for a crime he didn’t commit, Edmond manages to escape and become rich. With his new money, he tries to get revenge on the people who put him in prison, but his plans don’t quite go like he hopes.

“The Count of Monte Cristo” is about betrayal, love and letting go.

13.  The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Tom Sawyer is a troublemaking little boy who’s always causing problems, having fun and enjoying many crazy adventures. In this classic tale by Mark Twain, Tom visits his own funeral, stops a crime and tries very hard to get a girl to like him.

Tom Sawyer is a well-known name in American literature and his stories of adventure are very fun to read.

14.  The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells

Being invisible sounds like fun, but is it really?

When a man learns how to make himself invisible, all he gets in return is problems and people betraying him. Maybe he should have just stayed normal…

15.  Emma  by Jane Austen

Jane Austen is perhaps best known for her novel “Pride and Prejudice,” which is about life and love for rich, upper-class people in the early 1800s.

“Emma” takes place in the same time period, focusing on the character of Emma who is “handsome, clever and rich.”

Emma thinks that she’s great at matching people up to get married, but she soon learns that maybe she shouldn’t interfere with (get involved in) people’s lives so much.

16.  Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Tarzan is a wild man, raised by apes in the middle of the jungle. This book tells about his life among the apes and other animals, and what happens when a wild monkey man meets other humans for the first time.

17.  The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton

If you met Father Brown, you wouldn’t realize that he’s a great detective. He’s a small Catholic priest who always carries an umbrella—the kind of person who’s easy to forget.

He’s a great thinker, though, and he can see people for who they really are. “The Innocence of Father Brown” has 12 short stories where the little priest uses his knowledge of human nature to solve mysteries.

18.  Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Creating life from death is Dr. Frankenstein’s dream. When he finally brings a dead man to life, things don’t work out the way he wants.

If you know the Frankenstein monster, you might think he’s a terrible creature.

But this book tells the real story of Dr. Frankenstein’s creation, named only “the monster.” It turns out that the monster might not be such a monster after all.

If you love detective books, you’ll love “The Moonstone,” which might be the first detective novel in the English language!

It has everything that a good mystery needs—a precious jewel is stolen during a young woman’s 18th birthday party.

Who stole the jewel and where is it now? Follow the trail of the thief in this book.

20.  Dracula by Bram Stoker

Dracula is one of the best known vampires of all time. If you’ve watched any movies about Dracula, you might be surprised at what the actual book is like.

It’s an epistolary novel, which means it’s written completely in the form of letters, and the story of Dracula is told through other people’s points of view.

It’s an interesting look at the first “modern” vampire, and it’s really a great read.

“Classic books” are books that have “stood the test of time.” This expression means that a lot of time has passed and these books have still survived as important pieces of culture.

People have enjoyed these books for a long time, and they still enjoy them today.

One thing that all classic literature has in common is that it’s universal. That means that these books contain themes and topics that are relevant to every human being.

No matter where you live in the world, no matter what year you were born, you’ll be able to read and understand the main ideas these books talk about. A classic book will explore things every human knows and cares about, like love, hate, life and death. These are things all  humans have experienced for hundreds and thousands of years.

There are a few different ways to tell if a book is the right reading level for you. One of these is the lexile range . The books in the list above are in the lexile range that’s perfect for intermediate English learners.

They’re also listed in order of their reading difficulty, from the easier books to the more difficult ones.

To find the perfect difficulty for you, start from the first book and move down through the list until you find a book that you can understand, but that still gives you a little challenge and has some words you don’t know.

Also, keep in mind that some of these books are old. If you have trouble understanding the language of the book, try something different ! You could start with modern fiction books , which are often in more relatable language.

A digital option would be FluentU , where you can practice both your reading and listening through hundreds of English media clips. All of these have interactive subtitles for English learners, with clear explanations for each word:

As you keep watching, you can improve your vocabulary and gradually learn more advanced words through post-video quizzes and flashcards.

The key is to build up your level. English speakers typically work their way up from children’s books to young adult (YA) novels and then eventually classics and adult literature.

With enough reading and practice, you’ll be able to tackle more complex stories.

All of the books listed above became classics because people have read and loved them again and again over many years. Hopefully you’ll enjoy these stories too as you explore English literature!

Do you wish you had a better way to learn new English phrases?

Try FluentU! .

Our language learning program is designed to teach you English phrases the natural way—using authentic videos like TV clips, movie trailers and music videos.

Every FluentU video comes with interactive subtitles. Just click or tap on any unfamiliar word or phrase in the captions to get an instant definition, example sentences and native pronunciation audio.

You can search the FluentU video library for any words or phrases to instantly find authentic English videos that use them. Videos can be sorted by subject, format and difficulty level, so you can discover phrases that fit your learning needs and interests.

FluentU comes with built-in learning tools like vocabulary lists and personalized quizzes. There are also multimedia flashcards with video clips, audio and images to help you remember words.

You can access FluentU on your browser or by downloading the iOS or Android app.

By combining engaging clips with tools to help you understand them, you'll remember the context phrases are used in and the terms will stick better in your mind.

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• Listen and watch

Short stories

Do you like listening to and reading stories? Reading stories is a great way to improve your vocabulary and we have lots of great stories for you to watch. Watch stories, print activities and post comments!

A dog's life

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Ali and the magic carpet

Angel! Look out!

Beatrix Potter

Buzz and Bob's big adventure

Circus escape

Dark, dark wood

Dick Whittington

Dinosaur Dig

Elizabeth I

Emmeline Pankhurst

Eric the engine

Florence Nightingale

George and the dragon

Goldilocks and the three bears

I couldn't believe my eyes

I'm too ill

Isaac Newton

Jack and the beanstalk

Little Red Riding Hood

Monster shopping trip

Much Ado About Nothing

My favourite clothes

My favourite day - Chinese New Year

My favourite day - Christmas

My favourite day - Diwali

My favourite day - Eid al-Fitr

My secret team

Nessie - the Loch Ness Monster

One moment around the world

Our colourful world

Planet Earth

Pyramids in Paris

Ratty robs a bank

Record breakers

Romeo and Juliet

Santa's little helper

Superhero High

Teddy's adventure

The animal shelter

The bird king

The clever monkey

The cold planet

The first marathon

The great race

The greedy hippo

The haunted house

The hungry dragon

The lazy bear

The lion and the mouse

The lucky envelope

The lucky seed

The lump of gold

The magic fish

The magic paintbrush

The magic spell

The princess and the dragon

The Ramadan lantern story

The sneaky rabbit

The snowman

The story of quinine

The treasure map

The ugly duckling

The voyage of the animal orchestra

Twelfth Night

Twins' week

What will I be when I grow up?

What's that noise?

Why Anansi has thin legs!

William Shakespeare

English courses for children aged 6-17

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20 Incredible Short Books You Can Read in a Day

Most of our childhood favorites can be considered short novels or novellas, so no wonder it’s comforting to have a handful of thinner books on our TBR pile. As a loose guide, short novels are 200 pages or fewer, novellas are 60 to 120 pages, and  short stories  average 4,000 words. Consider this collection our grateful nod to brevity: short stories, novellas, and novels—all 200 pages or less—that we can consume in one sitting.

We Love Anderson Cooper

By r. l. maizes.

The characters in this collection of short stories all mean well, but their actions often fall short of their intentions, leading to some sad and funny twists.  In an interview , the author says, “I selected stories about outsiders because it’s a theme most people can relate to, especially these days.”

The Uncommon Reader

By alan bennett.

Once upon a time, the Queen of England went for a walk with her corgis and encountered a bookmobile. A palace kitchen worker happened along, and much to his surprise, the Queen loved his book recommendations. This short and sweet novel confirms the power of literature to bring joy to everyone, even a Queen.

God Help the Child

By toni morrison.

Morrison passed away in August 2019, leaving a legacy of beautiful and difficult truths. In this, her final novel, Bride was so desperate for love when she was young that she lied about something big. Years later, her lie is exposed. But Bride’s story is a one of redemption, and of arriving safe at the other end of tragedy.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

By neil gaiman.

A boy is welcomed into his neighbors’ home—three generations of private women—and taught hard lessons about life, death, and the supernatural space in between. Now a grown man, he second-guesses every mystical thing he saw when he was young. Typical of Gaiman,  Ocean  makes you want to run out and find the magic in your own life.

The Sense of an Ending

By julian barnes.

Winner of the Man Booker Prize, Barnes makes you question your life in 163 pages. Tony Webster is middle-aged, divorced, facing retirement, and not interested in grappling with past friendships. Yet here he is, forced to give a second glance at everything he once believed about himself.

An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good

By helene tursten.

Maud is 88 years old, lives alone on purpose, and her hobbies include ruining people’s lives online. When a corpse is found in her apartment, everyone assumes Maud has graduated to murder. Too bad she doesn’t have any friends left to vouch for her. Don’t miss this hilarious and twisted two-story collection.

Dept. of Speculation

By jenny offill.

A husband and wife get married with their eyes open to all of life’s inevitable challenges. But now, faltering careers and parenthood have pushed them close to the edge of failure. Here, the wife revisits the arc of their marriage and comes to a few uncomfortable conclusions about their love story.

Another Brooklyn

By jacqueline woodson.

A chance encounter stirs up the past, sending August to the Brooklyn of her mostly-happy childhood. It was a tight neighborhood with even tighter friends, but as an adult she’s able to see certain people for what they were: flawed, struggling, and even criminal.

By Paul Harding

In his last moments, a man is set free from life’s tangibles—the clothes, dishes, and mementos. Sliding backward in time, he reunites with his father and the untamed Maine of his childhood before consciousness takes him somewhere else.  Tinkers , Harding’s debut novel, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

By Stephen King

When Scott Carey becomes ill, old friends and new neighbors come to the rescue. You won’t find King’s usual gory storytelling here. In fact,  Elevation  is quite a tender story about friendship and the ways a community tends to circle the wagons around its own … with a supernatural twist, of course.

Beasts of No Nation

By uzodinma iweala.

The story of Agu, a barely-surviving child soldier, put Iweala’s debut novel on the bestseller list. With his family murdered and no good options in front of him, Agu finds a new family among the commanders and boys who are as lost as he. Despite the miserable events of his story, it’s an exhilarating read.

Of Love and Other Demons

By gabriel garcía márquez.

Young Sierva Maria is ignored by her cruel parents. When she’s bitten by a rabid dog, they arrange a proper exorcism at a local convent. Father Delaura, who once saw Sierva in a dream, takes charge of her care and—possible possession aside—becomes consumed by his fated love for her.

Last Night at the Lobster

By stewart o’nan.

The Red Lobster is going out of business and Manny has to keep a brave face as he and his staff close up one last time. This is a gem of a book with a main character so fully realized you'll swear you've met him somewhere. Also, if you've ever worked in a failing chain restaurant, you’ll appreciate it on an even deeper level.

By Sarah Moss

Silvie and her father are deep in the British woods at an Iron-Age reenactment village, hoping to evoke simpler times. The villagers build an authentic ghost wall to hold back invaders, but it’s supposed to be capped with enemy skulls. As the modern world rages outside, how far will they go to connect with the past?

The Vegetarian

By han kang.

Another Man Booker Prize winner, Kang introduces Yeong-hye, an unforgettable woman whose small rebellion—renouncing meat—leads to a bleak spiral of self-discovery. In all ways, this is a novel about bodily consent—with food, appearances, sex—and the consequences of demanding it.

By Amy Hempel

Her first collection in a decade, Hempel returns with 15 beautiful and heartbreaking stories. Her characters wrestle with the regret of being childless, the pain of caring for the unloved, the betrayal of infidelity … and they often do it alone, with only us, the reader, to witness it all.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles

By agatha christie.

Most of Christie’s mystery novels are on the short side, and they all deserve a read. Start with her first novel which also introduces fabled Inspector Hercule Poirot. Poirot solves a murder, Christie begins her legendary career, and the mystery genre is never the same.

The Final Solution

By michael chabon.

Nine-year-old Linus has just escaped Nazi Germany with an African grey parrot. He runs all the way to rural England where he meets an old man, a former detective, who reluctantly takes him in and realizes he has one last mystery to solve. The parrot keeps repeating sets of numbers in German. What do they mean?

Breakfast at Tiffany's

By truman capote.

Set against gleaming Manhattan skyscrapers and the Tiffany & Co. storefront, Holly Golightly has left small-town Texas and is charming her way into the swankiest parties in town. The name “Holly Golightly” immediately brings Audrey Hepburn’s iconic movie role to mind, but if you haven’t read Capote’s novella, it’s time.

The Alchemist

By paulo coelho.

Thirty years ago,  The Alchemist  hit the shelves and showed us all how to follow our dreams. It’s the story of young Santiago, who leaves home in search of worldly treasures. His actual journey, however, yields life lessons and friendships more valuable than anything he can hold in his hands.

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20 Short Novels To Stay Up All Night Reading

Unputdownable books you can finish in bed tonight.

Yesterday saw the release of Samanta’s Schweblin’s terrifying Fever Dream . I know this is one of those things people who write about books say, but I actually mean it: this is a book that will keep you up at night—at least one night, anyway, because once you start, you’ll have to finish. You’ll be too disturbed not to. Luckily, it’s short, so you’ll only be captive for a few hours. Inspired by Schweblin’s new book, here is a list of novels you can read overnight—compelling enough that you won’t be lured by sleep, but short enough that once you finish, you’ll still have enough time to clock some hours before you have to go to work. If you can sleep, that is.

Samanta Schweblin, Fever Dream

This is a weird hallucination of a book—reading it feels like an experience, like something that happens to you, as infectious and mysterious and unstoppable and possibly magical as the disease that powers its plot. There is absolutely no way to put it down without breaking the spell, so make sure you’re comfy.

Jenny Erpenbeck, Visitation

A lovely, slim novel that tells the stories of the various inhabitants of a house on a wooded bit of land near a lake outside Berlin, before, during and after WWII—but like Woolf’s To the Lighthouse , it is not really about the inhabitants, but rather very pointedly about time, and the pull of place. The overlapping narratives and use of time even within narratives give the sense of colored transparencies laid over one another—though perhaps this occurs to me only because of the colored glass of the house’s windows. All this doesn’t sound particularly gripping, I know, but while I did find it a bit slow at the beginning, after page 50 I really couldn’t stop watching these lives unfold. Some brutality, some elegiac passages, some electrifying ones; much obvious intelligence at work.

Katie Kitamura, A Separation

This one’s a cheat, because it doesn’t actually come out until February, but mark your calendar for sleeplessness, because if you’re anything like me, you’ll read it straight through without stopping. The plot is, essentially, this: a woman follows her estranged (and unresponsive) husband to Greece, where she proceeds to look for him (and discover the mysteries he’s left in his wake). Kitamura’s spare language somehow seems barely able to control the emotion it signifies. In some ways, this is a meditation on the stories we paint onto other people, and how little we can really know them—which, honestly, keeps me up at night as much or more than any missing person.

Han Kang, The Vegetarian

Yes, like everyone else, I was obsessed with this novel—the story of a South Korean woman who gradually, and dramatically, removes herself from reality—this year. Reading it is as compulsive as its subject’s vegetarianism—except unlike her, you’ll want more, more, more, instead of less, less, less.

Richard Hughes, A High Wind in Jamaica

A surprisingly terrifying short novel about children kidnapped by pirates, elevated from its silliness by surprising moments of violence and introspection, as well as repeated flourishes of literary brilliance. Also, it’s funny . Take for instance, this passage: “Being nearly four years old, she was certainly a child: and children are human (if one allows the term “human” a wide sense): but she had not altogether ceased to be a baby: and babies are of course not human—they are animals, and have a very ancient and ramified culture, as cats have, and fishes, and even snakes: the same in kind as these, but much more complicated and vivid, since babies are, after all, one of the most developed species of the lower vertebrates.”

Paula Fox, Desperate Characters

At this beginning of this novel, Sophie Bentwood is bitten by a cat that may or may not have rabies. The ensuing domestic drama—wonderful and terrible in its own right—is then overlaid with this crazed, manic specter of disease that had me turning pages like a madwoman.

Donald Antrim, Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World

For my money one of the best novels ever written, of any length. Something bad is happening in Pete Robinson’s town—something that has his neighbors building moats around their homes and all the members of the Rotary Club finding their inner animals (his wife is, apparently, the prehistoric coelacanth). Oh, and the mayor has been drawn and quartered. Even if you don’t want to know what happens next, this novel will have you flipping pages just to get to each new delicious surrealist detail.

Jeff VanderMeer, Annihilation

An eco-horror novel that is a study in tension and unanswered questions. Who are they, the Psychologist, the Surveyor, the Anthropologist, and the Biologist? What is Area X? Where are the other expeditions (eleven in all)? What has happened here? Will it happen again? Now?

Joyce Carol Oates, Black Water

You’d think that the structure of this novel, a sort of mythologized retelling of the Chappaquiddick incident, would strip it of any of its tension—after all, it begins with the car going off the road. But as Oates goes over and over the event and everything that led up to it—from different angles, from different moments, from different points of view—the reader keeps hoping that that repeated phrase (“As the black water filled her lungs, and she died.”) will somehow be made untrue. And yet, we know it will not be. And yet, we keep reading, more horrified by the moment.

Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Jackson’s incredible, dark novel tells the story of the Blackwood family—the recently-depleted Blackwood family, who were mostly poisoned, via arsenic, not too long ago. But who is the culprit? And what will the town do to the family members who are left? And why is Shirley Jackson no longer around to give us such beautifully creepy books?

Jenny Offill, Dept. of Speculation

A psychological portrait of a woman in distress that manages to feel packed with feeling despite its airy presentation—but more than that, this is an angry book, and the shimmer off the character/narrator/Offill’s rage is gripping all on its own.

Sara Levine, Treasure Island!!!

If you’d like to stay up all night alternating between laughter and groans (hey, I don’t know your life), this is the book for you. Its protagonist is a terrible person who decides to change her boring, wretched life by adhering to the values as extolled in the eponymous Robert Louis Stevenson novel. Yes, the one about pirates. Things do not go well. But at least they go.

Toni Morrison, Sula

I’m always surprised when I remember how short this book is—it holds so much in so few pages. Morrison’s gripping classic tells the story of an intense, dangerous friendship filled with secrets, betrayal, and yes, love. There’s something about Sula (the character, I mean, though the book too) that’s instantly unshakeable.

Franz Kafka, The Trial

In the category of classics that you forgot were actually super short is Kafka’s best-known novel, a harrowing, tense story of unfounded persecution. Yes, it’s unfinished (Kafka, I’m afraid, was not a natural novelist), but that doesn’t stop it from creeping up the back of your neck. After all, someone could be watching you at this very moment.

Adolfo Bioy Casares, The Invention of Morel

This novel is the diary of a fugitive, hiding on a strange island, who falls in love with one of the mysterious tourists that appear on his shores. A hallucinatory examination of the nature of reality, with a romantic twist, which won high praise from Jorge Luis Borges and Octavio Paz, among others.

Clarice Lispector, Near to the Wild Heart

I’ve always thought of Lispector’s first novel as a pulsing, beating thing—not just near, but the wild heart itself. It’s not a plot-heavy book, but the internal life of the amoral, incendiary Joana—and what she will do, and what she will think, and what she will say—is endlessly fascinating.

Anne Carson, Autobiography of Red

Anne Carson is likely the only writer who could ever have me wondering if, in the end, the winged monster (that’d be Geryon) is going to get the Greek Hero he loves (that’d be Herakles). As a novel in verse, this book frankly skips by—most of the time it will take you to read will be spent lingering over the lines, wanting to live in them a little longer.

Jeanette Winterson, The Passion

In this mesmerizing, sexy weirdo of a book (webbed toes are involved), a young French soldier falls in love with a Venetian cardsharp—except that she is no longer in possession of her heart. It’s in a palace somewhere, locked away, and he has to go get it. A sharp adventure that also asks the question: what can we lose in a single gamble? And what can we gain?

Justin Torres, We the Animals

I was sold on this book—a coming of age story told in luminous prose—from the very first paragraph, which by itself might keep me up for a few extra hours, looking for some of that more :

“We wanted more. We knocked the butt ends of our forks against the table, tapped our spoons against our empty bowls; we were hungry. We wanted more volume, more riots. We turned up the knob on the TV until our ears ached with the shouts of angry men. We wanted more music on the radio; we wanted beats; we wanted rock. We wanted muscles on our skinny arms. We had bird bones, hollow and light, and we wanted more density, more weight. We were six snatching hands, six stomping feet; we were brothers, boys, three little kings locked in a feud for more.”

Rachel Ingalls, Mrs. Caliban

The story of a disaffected housewife with a cheating husband, who starts an affair with—wait for it—a 6-foot-7 amphibious monster man named Larry. So.

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100 Uplifting Short Stories for Seniors: Funny and True Easy to Read Short Stories to Stimulate the Mind (Perfect Gift for Elderly Women and Men) Paperback – Large Print, November 19, 2022

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Packed with 100 uplifting short stories in large print font size, this book is perfect for the elderly and senior citizens.

The primary goal of this collection is to engage the reader with delightful and stimulating stories.

Many stories herein may cause people to laugh out loud. And that’s precisely the point—because a laugh a day keeps the doctor away!

Research has shown that reminiscing and good storytelling have many positive effects on seniors, in particular, elevating their moods and sense of well-being while also reducing their agitation.

In this book you’ll find:

• 100 heart-warming true stories on a variety of subjects like altruism, heroism and justice in the world.
• Stories specifically written to keep the reader’s mind engaged and even crack up a laugh!
• Large print font size and short paragraphs to make it easy to read.

All 100 uplifting stories here for the elderly are told in a simple, humorous style. They’re fun and informative at the same time, making this book the perfect present for an exceptional senior or two in your life. Be inspired, enjoy, and lighten up!

• Print length 284 pages
• Language English
• Publication date November 19, 2022
• Dimensions 7 x 0.64 x 10 inches
• ISBN-10 1648450938
• ISBN-13 978-1648450938
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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ LAK Publishing; Large type / Large print edition (November 19, 2022)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 284 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1648450938
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1648450938
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.1 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 0.64 x 10 inches
• #3 in Alzheimer's
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• #69 in Short Stories Anthologies

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Four impressive short-story collections

New work from kate doyle, jamel brinkley, alexandra chang and latoya watkins, ‘i meant it once,’ by kate doyle.

Kate Doyle’s lively debut collection, “ I Meant It Once ” (Algonquin Books, $17.99), focuses on the trials of young professionals, creative types and lonely urbanites. Most of them are women, many are writers — and even those who wouldn’t call themselves “writers” strive to find just the right words to convey their hurt feelings.

To that end, the collection’s opening story is provocatively titled “That Is Shocking,” and it poses the question: If your boyfriend brought you homemade scones to break up with you, would you eat them? What if the scones were heart-shaped? The story begins with a lover’s betrayal and ends with the revelation that our wronged protagonist is no saint herself. Doyle’s characters want our approval and sympathy, but more often than not, they are at least partially to blame for their circumstances, which gives these clever stories their sting.

Several of these stories are linked, centered on the character of Helen, an eldest sister suffering from a lost friendship. (All of Doyle’s characters seem like they know each other or could plausibly have a friend in common.) “Moments Earlier” is a highlight, the collection’s most devastating entry. It takes a kaleidoscopic look at an accident and how it shapes the lives of three friends. The light, wry inverse of “Moments Earlier” is the very brief “At the Time.” A postmodern account of everything that did or didn’t happen at the end of a relationship, it wrings pathos from an unwieldy string of hypotheticals. Here, Doyle’s prose reads like Lydia Davis at her most arch and pensive.

‘Witness,’ by Jamel Brinkley

Jamel Brinkley published his first short-story collection, “ A Lucky Man ,” to great acclaim in 2019; it won the Ernest J. Gaines Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award. His follow-up collection, “ Witness ” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $27), looks at individuals anchored by their kin — not just parents, children, siblings and cousins, but longer trajectories of African American ancestry, too. Mostly figurative specters motivate these characters and make them who they are, but “Arrows” does feature a literal ghost. In that story, an adult son, tasked with selling the family home, says to his dead mother, “So you want me to sell a haunted house.” She answers: “Don’t act brand-new, my dear. It would be far from the first time. What old house isn’t haunted?”

Throughout the collection, set pieces of private homes — haunted houses and stonily silent dining tables — are juxtaposed with sites of public meaning-making: hip art galleries, museum parties, lightly political murals. The past is the stuff of performance and possession. In the highly affecting “Bystander,” a mother looks at her angry, anorexic daughter, whose eyes reflect the “weary impatience” of the girl’s great-grandmother, and she sees “an ancestor and an evolvement all at once.”

“Witness” manages to be tonally coherent without the stories ever bleeding into one another; each is separate and memorable in its own right. In the standout title story, the narrator, an unemployed academic, gains a front-row seat to his sister’s troubles: her mysterious medical trauma, her quickie marriage to a slow-witted DJ and her growing obsession with African American history. From fiction to travel writing and colonial histories, his sister “collected as much information as she could, as furiously as she could, about the lives and trials, real and imagined, of Black people everywhere. … Whatever else it was, this new habit was a way to resist being crushed by the altered circumstances of her life.”

The characters in this collection are all witnesses, hesitant but perceptive, observant sometimes to the point of paralysis. By contrast, Brinkley’s prose is confident and dynamic, the details intensely rendered: in the aforementioned “Bystander”; in “The Let-Down,” about a young man’s sour flirtation with an older woman; and in “Blessed Deliverance,” a coming-of-age story about the opening of an animal shelter in the wake of gentrification.

‘Tomb Sweeping,’ by Alexandra Chang

Alexandra Chang follows her debut novel, “ Days of Distraction ” (2020), with “ Tomb Sweeping ” (Ecco, $18.99), a collection that spans nations (the United States, Korea, China), age and gender. She opens with “Unknown by Unknown,” the moody tale of a housesitter under the surveillance of a mysterious artist. “Here in the house, every moment contained meaning,” the narrator notes, an observation that grows even truer as the story progresses and the walls seem to creep closer. It is a weird, paranoid story, and it smartly sets up the unsettling tone that pervades the book.

The riveting “To Get Rich Is Glorious” follows FuFu, a dutiful daughter, wife and mother in Shanghai who comes alive as a gambler and a gangster. The story is playful and sinister, broken up into flash fictions with titles like “The Longer the Night Lasts, the More Dreams We’ll Have.” “To Get Rich” is shot through with seductive descriptions of a mah-jongg den (“The apartment vibrates with women’s voices. Pink and red nails tap rhythmically against clean white tabletops. It smells of shampoo, perfume, salty snacks, and warmth”) and of the luxury items that FuFu buys with her own money. The story caps off with a chilling final scene titled “Better a Diamond With a Flaw Than a Pebble Without.”

A worthy companion to “To Get Rich” is “She Will Be a Swimmer.” “Swimmer” is set stateside, but both of these stories examine the dream of wealth and success, as characters wrestle with conflicting desires of connection and independence. Other high points in Chang’s impressive range include “Cure for Life” and “Phenotype,” complex stories from the perspective of naive or willfully oblivious narrators.

‘Holler, Child,’ by LaToya Watkins

LaToya Watkins’s story “Cutting Horse” exemplifies many themes that run through her collection “ Holler, Child ” (Tiny Reparations Books, $28): the fragile bonds between husbands and wives, and parents and children; the way found or rescued animals reflect our humanity back to us; how the tone and movement of mass media and the police state can rob Black people of that same humanity. In “Cutting Horse,” two characters watch their marriage crumble in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, as a husband recoils from his wife’s respect for law enforcement, her blame of its victims and her relentless aspiration toward Whiteness.

Above all, “Holler, Child” is an engrossing showcase of ordinary people struggling to get by, carefully and compactly drawn. In “The Mother,” a self-described “junkie whore” must publicly answer for her cult-leader son’s crimes. In the title story, a woman keeps the circumstances of her son’s conception a secret, only to have her act of mercy repaid in more suffering: “He deserved to come from love, so I told him he did.” These twin tales of sexual violence and maternal birthrights are heavy, no question, but Watkins’s spare, evocative prose turns painful subject matter into thoughtful, transcendent art.

Watkins ends “Holler, Child” on a note of hope and love with “Time After,” a meditation on forgiveness that follows two older women on a hunt for their missing brother. “He should’ve always had a home in us,” one tells the other, as they reflect on their troubled childhoods, their relationships to the church and their tenuous bonds with each other. “Time After” is an uplifting, satisfying conclusion to an unforgettable collection.

Annie Berke is the film editor at the Los Angeles Review of Books. She lives in Maryland.

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David Nikki Crouse answers to either David or Nikki. They are a transgender/genderqueer writer interested in questions of identity and its relationship to the natural world. 

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Book Review: 'Holler, Child' is a profound short story collection about Black lives in America

LaToya Watkins has surpassed the high bar set by her debut novel in her latest book, a collection of short stories titled “Holler, Child.”

“Holler, Child” by LaToya Watkins (Tiny Reparations Books)

LaToya Watkins has surpassed the high bar set by her beautifully crushing debut novel, “Perish,” with a collection of short stories titled “Holler, Child.” Heavily rooted in west Texas where the author grew up, the 11 fictional pieces focus on Black lives — and the huge range of people and relationships within — to form a profound collection.

In the namesake short story, which includes some of the most brutal scenes in the book, the bloodied face of the narrator’s son reminds her of the day she was raped and beaten — “Holler, Child” being what she commanded her 17-year-old self to do way back then, but couldn’t. Now, confronted with the possibility that her son may have raped someone, she has a chance to handle things differently.

Its ending is completely unexpected — a battlefield of conflicting logic and emotion that’s hard to fathom, but also strangely sensical.

While many of the pages are about mothers and wives, some are from a male perspective, like “Dog Person.” The narrator convinces his girlfriend to accept his dog as a part of himself in a story that turns out to be absolutely heart-wrenching. Layers of betrayal and hurt and blame and sadness have nowhere to go, so they fester. What does the dog have to do with it? It's impossible to say, exactly, even though the dog is the keystone of the story.

Generations of trauma, sacrifice and striving make the characters complex and Watkins fits loads of information into just a handful of pages by skipping unnecessary context. Instead, she draws on societal truths and the reader’s empathy to form the solid foundation beneath each story.

Each voice brings something special, every narrative hard-hitting yet tender. Then, in the final short “Time After,” it all comes home.

And, really, all the stories are about coming home — wherever or whomever home may be, and regardless how the characters feel about it. In many cases, home is west Texas. In some, it’s a mother, or oneself.

An article by Watkins for Juneteenth this year — the first year it was officially recognized as a federal holiday despite over a century of celebrations — helps to frame the motif of gender roles and divisions between men and women throughout “Holler, Child.” It’s a messy, fluid thing that she explores in various forms: a wife completely fed up with her husband after decades of marriage; a husband who feels his wife has peeled away pieces of him over the years; two sisters in search of the brother who was disowned because of his identity.

Those male-female relationships go on to influence others, like the daughter who confronts her mother for her cold-heartedness; the mother who decides to love her kids out of spite for her husband; and the young woman who sees her parents in a new light after her baby’s father refuses to help.

The stories lay bare the death of a child, a partner, a sibling, a pet — topics that, in less careful hands, might be beyond ethical approach in a mere 20 pages. Watkins gives these momentous life changes the proper weight they deserve with the exact distance at which to feel them without being crushed.

In all of these stories, there’s tragedy at large and small scales. The fictional characters are in very real situations, each of them unique but carrying a feeling of familiarity.

“Holler, Child” is an excellent collection with true staying power. Every single story could stand on its own but works beautifully toward the whole.

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Book Review: ‘Holler, Child’ is a profound short story collection about Black lives in America

This cover image released by Tiny Reparations shows “Holler, Child” by LaToya Watkins (Tiny Reparations via AP)

• Copy Link copied

“Holler, Child” by LaToya Watkins (Tiny Reparations Books)

LaToya Watkins has surpassed the high bar set by her beautifully crushing debut novel , “Perish,” with a collection of short stories titled “Holler, Child.” Heavily rooted in west Texas where the author grew up, the 11 fictional pieces focus on Black lives — and the huge range of people and relationships within — to form a profound collection.

In the namesake short story, which includes some of the most brutal scenes in the book, the bloodied face of the narrator’s son reminds her of the day she was raped and beaten — “Holler, Child” being what she commanded her 17-year-old self to do way back then, but couldn’t. Now, confronted with the possibility that her son may have raped someone, she has a chance to handle things differently.

Its ending is completely unexpected — a battlefield of conflicting logic and emotion that’s hard to fathom, but also strangely sensical.

While many of the pages are about mothers and wives, some are from a male perspective, like “Dog Person.” The narrator convinces his girlfriend to accept his dog as a part of himself in a story that turns out to be absolutely heart-wrenching. Layers of betrayal and hurt and blame and sadness have nowhere to go, so they fester. What does the dog have to do with it? It’s impossible to say, exactly, even though the dog is the keystone of the story.

Generations of trauma, sacrifice and striving make the characters complex and Watkins fits loads of information into just a handful of pages by skipping unnecessary context. Instead, she draws on societal truths and the reader’s empathy to form the solid foundation beneath each story.

Each voice brings something special, every narrative hard-hitting yet tender. Then, in the final short “Time After,” it all comes home.

And, really, all the stories are about coming home — wherever or whomever home may be, and regardless how the characters feel about it. In many cases, home is west Texas. In some, it’s a mother, or oneself.

An article by Watkins for Juneteenth this year — the first year it was officially recognized as a federal holiday despite over a century of celebrations — helps to frame the motif of gender roles and divisions between men and women throughout “Holler, Child.” It’s a messy, fluid thing that she explores in various forms: a wife completely fed up with her husband after decades of marriage; a husband who feels his wife has peeled away pieces of him over the years; two sisters in search of the brother who was disowned because of his identity.

Those male-female relationships go on to influence others, like the daughter who confronts her mother for her cold-heartedness; the mother who decides to love her kids out of spite for her husband; and the young woman who sees her parents in a new light after her baby’s father refuses to help.

The stories lay bare the death of a child, a partner, a sibling, a pet — topics that, in less careful hands, might be beyond ethical approach in a mere 20 pages. Watkins gives these momentous life changes the proper weight they deserve with the exact distance at which to feel them without being crushed.

In all of these stories, there’s tragedy at large and small scales. The fictional characters are in very real situations, each of them unique but carrying a feeling of familiarity.

“Holler, Child” is an excellent collection with true staying power. Every single story could stand on its own but works beautifully toward the whole.