Reading list
Short stories in English: 13 famous ones, easiest first
The short stories people still read a century later, from The Gift of the Magi to The Necklace, chosen so that each one is worth finishing and none is too hard to start. They run from the easiest to read to the hardest.
13 stories, all free to read
Each has its reading level for learners of English: Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced, worked out from its sentences and words. Tap Read free and the story opens in Doomreader at its first line.
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1. The Cat That Walked by Himself
by Rudyard Kipling · from Just So Stories
How the dog, the horse and the cow came to live with people, and why the cat never quite did. Kipling repeats his lines, which helps.
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2. How Much Land Does a Man Need?
by Leo Tolstoy · from Short Fiction
A peasant is offered all the land he can walk round in a day. Tolstoy's parable about greed, and its last line.
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3. The Happy Prince
by Oscar Wilde · from Children’s Stories
A golden statue and a swallow give everything away to the poor of the city. Wilde's most loved story, and a sad one.
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4. After Twenty Years
by O. Henry · from Short Fiction
Two friends promised to meet in New York twenty years later, and one of them is a policeman. O. Henry's neatest twist.
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5. The Selfish Giant
by Oscar Wilde · from Children’s Stories
A giant walls up his garden and winter never leaves it, until a small boy comes in. Oscar Wilde's gentlest fairy tale.
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6. Three Questions
by Leo Tolstoy · from Short Fiction
A king wants to know the right time, the right person and the right thing to do. Tolstoy's answer, in a few pages.
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7. A Scandal in Bohemia
by Arthur Conan Doyle · from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
A king, a photograph and Irene Adler, the woman who beat Sherlock Holmes. The first of the short Holmes stories.
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8. The Monkey’s Paw
by W. W. Jacobs · from The Lady of the Barge
A dried paw grants three wishes, and each is worse than the last. A horror story often read in schools, for older readers.
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9. The Last Leaf
by O. Henry · from Short Fiction
A sick young painter believes she will die when the last leaf falls from the vine. O. Henry's most moving story.
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10. The Gift of the Magi
by O. Henry · from Short Fiction
A poor young couple each sell their dearest thing to buy the other a Christmas present. The most famous short story in English.
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11. The Necklace
by Guy de Maupassant · from Short Fiction
A woman borrows a diamond necklace for a ball, loses it and spends ten years paying for it. Maupassant's famous ending.
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12. The Bet
by Anton Chekhov · from Short Fiction
A banker bets a lawyer two million that he cannot stay locked in a room for fifteen years. Chekhov's story about what life is worth.
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13. The Cop and the Anthem
by O. Henry · from Short Fiction
A homeless man tries to get arrested so he can spend the winter in prison. O. Henry's rich vocabulary, and a twist.
Want a longer list of the classics, with the hard ones too? See famous short stories.
More lists
Read them free
Every book on this list is free in Doomreader: open one and it reads as short posts you scroll, with your place kept and its best pages a tap away. You can listen to any of them free too, read aloud by your device.