13 Short Stories That Will Blow Your Bind

December 3, 2017 books, quick reads, Watercooler

There are short stories, and then there are short stories that shake you to the core.

It could be the ending, or a twist halfway through, or just the entire story that makes you go “WTF?!” from start to finish. There are last lines that change the meaning of the entire story. There are stories that you don’t understand until you read them multiple times. There are moments that shock you, anger you, unsettle you, freak you out, or make you want to throw the book across the room and scream “WHAT?!”. Above all, these are stories that you won’t easily forget.

Dive into this list if you want to give your brain (and your pulse) a workout.

short stories

1. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

This is one of the most famous short stories in American literature with a memorable ending that’s sure to rock you. An American small town seems innocuous enough — but oh, it is not.

Image: Amazon Farrar, Straus and Giroux
2. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce

This story of a Civil War execution plays with time and has an ending that makes the story even more confusing, if that’s possible.

Image: Amazon Dover Publications
3. A Perfect Day for Bananafish by J.D. Salinger

This is the first appearance of Seymour Glass in the Salinger canon, and it’s safe to say you won’t truly understand the ending until you read every other Glass story. Maybe not even then.

Image: Amazon Back Bay Books
4. A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor

Another classic and unforgettable American short story in which a family road trip turns into something else. You can guess what’s going to happen, yet you’re still not prepared for it.

Image: Amazon Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
5. Child’s Play by Alice Munro

Alice Munro is the master of the disturbing, multi-layered short story, but when she turns her attention to the behavior of children, she truly outdoes herself.

Image: Amazon Vintage
6. The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell

This thriller inspired an episode of CBS Radio’s Suspense starring Orson Welles and a 1932 film.

Image: Amazon Waking Lion Press
7. The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe

Poe is famous for the macabre and supernatural, and this story is one of his most memorable.

Image: Amazon Penguin Classics
8. The Catbird Seat by James Thurber

The office frustrations of an unassuming middle-aged man quickly spiral out of control in this tale by the author who brought us the deceptive story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.”

Image: Amazon Library of America
9. The Aleph by Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Luis Borges is a master of magical realism, and this story will make you contemplate the universe.

Image: Amazon Penguin Classics
10. Zombie by Chuck Palahniuk

This story is just plain cerebral.

Image: Playboy
11. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

You slowly start to realize that something isn’t quite right in this story, although the monomania probably tipped you off.

Image: Amazon Dover Publications
12. The Semplica-Girl Diaries by George Saunders

George Saunders’ unsettling short story unfolds from the diary entries of an unreliable narrator.

Image: Amazon Random House
13. Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut’s jarring sci-fi short story will make you think.

Image: Amazon Dial Press