Fifty Favorite Stories

Several Rules: (1) I have listed these stories in alphabetical order by the author’s last name, rather than in order of preference—though I have marked each of my ten favorites with an asterisk. (2) I have chosen no more than one story (or in a few cases one novella) per author. (3) I have tried to be honest, which is why there are so many contemporary English-language stories on this list, as well as so many stories by science fiction writers, magic realists, and assorted other fantasists.    —Kevin Brockmeier, September 3, 2022

 

1. “Acts of Charity” by César Aira

2. “Tickets on Time (Extracts from the diary of Jules Flegmon)” by Marcel Aymé

3. “The Voices of Time” by J.G. Ballard (*)

4. “Gryphon” by Charles Baxter

5. “The Last Song of Sirit Byar” by Peter S. Beagle

6. “The Accordion Player” by John Berger (*)

7. “Three Versions of Judas” by Jorge Luis Borges

8. “The State of Grace” by Harold Brodkey (*)

9. “Bloodchild” by Octavia Butler

10. “The Light-Years” by Italo Calvino (*)

11. “Do You Love Me?” by Peter Carey

12. “Sins and Virtues” by Jim Crace

13. “White Angel” by Michael Cunningham

14. “Pet Milk” by Stuart Dybek

15. “The Prophet from Jupiter” by Tony Earley (*)

16. “The Twenty-seventh Man” by Nathan Englander

17. “From the Fifteenth District” by Mavis Gallant

18. “The Torturer’s Wife” by Thomas Glave (*)

19. “Professor Berkowitz Stands on the Threshold” by Theodora Goss (*)

20. “Two Gentle People” by Graham Greene

21. “Monday” by Mark Helprin

22. “It Didn’t Bother Me” by Jeremy Jackson

23. “Emergency” by Denis Johnson

24. “Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor” by Franz Kafka

25. “The Joy and Melancholy Baseball Trivia Quiz” by Ken Kalfus

26. “The Dark Princess” by Richard Kennedy

27. “Bobcat” by Rebecca Lee

28. “Catskin” by Kelly Link

29. “The Briefcase” by Rebecca Makkai

30. “Disquisition on the Difficulty of Communicating with the Dead” by Giorgio Manganelli

31. “Sandkings” by George R. R. Martin

32. “Singular Pleasures” by Harry Mathews

33. “The Thistles in Sweden” by William Maxwell (*)

34. “The Next Thing” by Steven Millhauser

35. “The Cage” by Barbara Molinard

36. “Faith and Mountains” by Augusto Monterroso

37. “Hob’s Hog” by Alan Moore

38. “A Window” by Haruki Murakami

39. “Sugar Among the Chickens” by Lewis Nordan

40. “Reeling for the Empire” by Karen Russell

41. “The Baby” by David Rutschman

42. “Akhnilo” by James Salter

43. “Offloading for Mrs. Schwartz” by George Saunders

44. “The Scalehunter’s Beautiful Daughter” by Lucius Shepard

45. “A Visit from Mother and Daddy” by Walter Tevis

46. “The Death of Ivan Ilych” by Leo Tolstoy (*)

47. “Extracts from Adam’s Diary and Eve’s Diary” by Mark Twain

48. “Escapes” by Joy Williams (*)

49. “The Dreamed” by Robert McLiam Wilson

50. “The Private Lives of Trees” by Alejandro Zambra


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