This short story delivers Wallace's wicked sense of humor and wild imagination in a much more convenient dose (though it's still the longest story on the list). 'Infinite Jest,' Wallace's best-known work of fiction, clocks in at 1,079 pages, complete with 388 endnotes. 'The Soul is Not a Smithy' by David Foster Wallace She didn't intend for the cat to be left alone in the house for three days because he would miss her too much and she was afraid he might brush against one of her gas burners and accidentally asphyxiate himself.' She had her big black valise that looked like the head of a hippopotamus in one corner, and underneath it she was hiding a basket with Pitty Sing, the cat, in it. 'The next morning the grandmother was the first one in the car, ready to go. When a grandmother tries to direct the family to her childhood home, she actually leads them right into the clutches of The Misfit, a dangerous character that will stick with you long after the last sentence. O'Connor delivers an unsettling, satirical story of a family road trip gone horribly awry. 'A Good Man is Hard to Find' by Flannery O'Connor 'What would you do if you knew this was the last night of the world?' In this short and bittersweet piece, which he wrote for Esquire in 1951, Bradbury lets a simple conversation grow into something more. 'The Last Night of the World' by Ray BradburyД«radbury mastered dystopia before it became the latest literary trend. Wallow says that we are going to use them to find our dead sister, Olivia.' They have scratchproof lenses and an adjustable band. They are pink, with a floral snorkel attached to the side. 'The diabolical goggles were designed for little girls.

In 'Haunting Olivia,' two young brothers think they've discovered scuba-diving goggles that will allow them to see the dead. Her novel 'Swamplandia' was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, though no book took home the prize that year. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised as Wolves' in 2006. Russell is a short story wunderkind who swept onto the scene with her dark and magical collection 'St. But long before that, she and her husband had puzzled it out for themselves.' 'The system of his delusions had been the subject of an elaborate paper in a scientific monthly, which the doctor at the sanitarium had given to them to read. In the tale, a family wrestles with a bittersweet birthday and unexplained phone calls. Whether you love Nabokov or have never read him before, this story proves how much punch the Russian master can pack into just four pages. Support MPR News Today Heart 'Symbols and Signs' by Vladimir Nabokov

Short stories in the long man reader