7 Short Stories You Can Read This Weekend

追加: 2026-05-15

[00:00:01]Most people think great literature means giant intimidating novels that take months to finish.

[00:00:07]But honestly, some of the greatest stories I've ever read can be read in a single sitting. Some of these are only five pages long, and all seven put together is still shorter than most novels. These tales range from the strange to the moving to the unsettling and the beautiful. But they're all unforgettable. So, here are seven unforgettable short stories that you should read this weekend.

[00:00:29]And if you enjoy this video or videos like this, subscribing with the bell icon or supporting the channel really does mean a lot.

[00:00:35]First up is Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang.

[00:00:39]This story really transports you, and it changes your perspective and perception of the world. I absolutely loved this when I read it for the first time. I actually ended up recommending it to a professor of mine afterwards, and she told me that she was surprised by how much she got out of it.

[00:00:56]This is also the story that inspired the film Arrival by Denis Villeneuve, which is an excellent film as well if you haven't seen it. It blends science fiction with memory, grief, language, and the experience of time.

[00:01:09]If you're interested in something like Project Hail Mary, this is a great place to start. My promise with this one is that it will change the way you look at the world. So, number one, Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang.

[00:01:21]Next up, we have A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor.

[00:01:26]Now, this story is an impactful one, to say the least. It's also quite funny with O'Connor's very dark sense of humor, but you won't leave this one the same after reading it. Flannery O'Connor is basically the queen of Southern Gothic fiction. She combines different themes like the dark humor with violence and religion and a sort of humanness that persists all the way out in a very unique way. I don't want to say too much about this one because I find the less you know about it, the better going into it. But even if you do kind of know what the idea is, this is a very short short story that I highly recommend. O'Connor has this incredible way with characters, making them feel both ridiculous and deeply human at the same time.

[00:02:05]So, set aside some time for this one and you won't regret it. A good man is hard to find.

[00:02:10]Third up, we have There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury.

[00:02:14]This is one of my personal favorite short stories of all time. Bradbury was one of the defining science fiction writers of the 20th century. Those stories often feel a lot more poetic and literary than say Asimov and Heinlein and Clark, though I love those guys, too. I love the timeless atmosphere and evocative imagery that he creates, very emotional in this story. I recommend reading this and then reading the 1918 poem that was the inspiration for it as well, setting a few sides after reading this to reflect, because you're really going to need that after reading this.

[00:02:46]It's a It's a hard one. So, you know, this story barely makes it more than a few pages long, but it creates one of the eeriest atmospheres of science fiction. And again, like I said, the better The less said, the better. This is a wonderful short story, the kind that will really linger with you. So, go ahead and read There Will Come Soft Rains by Bradbury.

[00:03:08]All right, next up, we have Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin.

[00:03:12]This is a great introduction to one of the greatest Russian poets and playwrights of all time. Writers like Dostoevsky and Tolstoy really emerge from the literary tradition he helped create.

[00:03:23]One of the things I love about Pushkin is how readable he still feels hundreds of years later, at least with his short fiction. The Queen of Spades is such a readable story and still feels so relevant in many ways. It's psychological, kind of this paranoid feeling, and the premise is that there might be a this secret card that guarantees fortune. The ending is super rewarding and you can really see the influence on later Russians, the ones we know and love. So, this is a great story, The Queen of Spades. Highly recommend. The fifth short story, Barn Burning by William Faulkner.

[00:03:57]>> [snorts] >> This is a little bit of a longer one, but if you're considering reading Faulkner, this will give you a taste of what you have in store. Faulkner wrote primarily in and about the American South, like Flannery O'Connor, and he's one of the most influential writers ever. His work can sometimes intimidate people because it's dense, it's got dense prose, shifting perspectives, but beneath all of that technical stuff, all that complexity, he's incredibly human and well worth reading.

[00:04:24]At its core, Barn Burning is really about loyalty, specifically a conflict between loyalty to one's family, to want what is right, when that collides. It's emotionally intense, so I really think Barn Burning is one of the best possible entry points to Faulkner's work. Highly recommend.

[00:04:41]Now we have The Golden Arm. This one's a little different because it's actually an American folk story, one that started as an oral tradition.

[00:04:49]I remember my father telling this story to me and my siblings when we were young, sitting around the campfire, which is probably why I still love this so much.

[00:04:58]The version I'd recommend reading, because as it's a folk story it's got many versions, is the one popularized by Mark Twain, who apparently loved to perform this out loud, so that just makes me sad that we didn't have video cameras back then, cuz that would have been amazing.

[00:05:12]But this is basically the perfect campfire story, creepy, strange, to build suspense until the final moments.

[00:05:19]I think reading this or something like The Golden Arm alongside these more literary stories we've talked about is a great reminder that storytelling is first and foremost an oral and auditory experience, and those origins still influence how we read today.

[00:05:33]And finally, the seventh short story you should read is The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket by Yasunari Kawabata.

[00:05:40]I absolutely adored this story, the imagery, and this is another super short one. I think it's four pages, maybe three pages long.

[00:05:47]For background, Kawabata was the first Japanese author to win the Nobel Prize in literature. And his writing really has this delicate, quiet, uh, beauty, very emotional, that's very difficult to describe until you you have to experience it, right? I'd love to do a whole video someday on Kawabata's best novels, which tend to be very short and approachable as well. Books like Snow Country or Thousand Cranes, they're fantastic reads if you end up liking this story. But The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket it really captures something about perception and beauty and the way that different people interpret the same thing differently.

[00:06:25]Kawabata can do more emotionally in four pages than many writers can do in 400.

[00:06:30]So, this is really a wonderful story to start with and a beautiful short story that proves that not all fiction has to be long and dense, but some of the most meaningful reads can be short.

[00:06:43]And that's the list. Honestly, one of the best things about short stories is they remind us, you know, that that great literature can be great at any length. Sometimes a story can completely change your mood, your perspective, or stay in your memory for you know, years and years just in a few pages. So, if you have a favorite short story that everyone should read, please leave it in the comments. I'm always looking for new recommendations, and that's one of the great things I really appreciate about this channel is all the recommendations. So, please do do leave that if you have anything that you'd like to add. And again, if you enjoy this type of content, liking videos, subscribing, or supporting the channel really helps more than you know.

[00:07:22]So, have a great reading weekend, and I'll see you on Monday.