Book picks similar to
The Kite by W. Somerset Maugham


short-stories
classics
classic
british-literature

A Little Cloud (Dubliners)


James Joyce - 1914
    Joyce was also acclaimed for his poetry, journalism, and novels like A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.This edition of Joyce’s A Little Cloud includes a Table of Contents.

Lamb to the Slaughter


Roald Dahl - 1953
    It was initially rejected, along with four other stories, by The New Yorker, but was ultimately published in Harper's Magazine in September 1953. It was adapted for an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and starred Barbara Bel Geddes. Originally broadcast on April 13, 1958, it was one of only 17 AHP episodes directed by Hitchcock himself. The story was subsequently adapted for Dahl's British TV series Tales of the Unexpected. Dahl included it in his short story compilation Someone Like You."Lamb to the Slaughter" demonstrates Dahl's fascination with horror (with elements of black comedy), a theme that would influence both his in adult fiction as well as his children stories.

Homage to Switzerland


Ernest Hemingway - 1932
    "Homage to Switzerland" concerns various conversations at a Swiss railway-station restaurant.

Dalyrimple Goes Wrong


F. Scott Fitzgerald - 1920
    After serial publication in Spirou the complete story was published, along with the Marsupilami short story Touchez pas aux rouges-gorges, in a hardcover album in 1957.

The Door in the Wall


H.G. Wells - 1906
    This collection also includes The Star, A Dream of Armageddon, The Cone, A Moonlight Fable, The DiamondMaker, The Lord of the Dynamos, and The Country of the Blind. Newly designed and typeset in a modern 5.5-by-8.5-inch format by Waking Lion Press.

The Other Side of the Hedge; The Celestial Omnibus


E.M. Forster - 1904
    M. Forster, by E. M. Forster. To purchase the entire book, please order ISBN 1417908599.

Contents of the Dead Man's Pockets


Jack Finney - 1956
    If he lost, not even his wife would understand.places: New York, NY: Lexington Avenue, Wholesale Groceries, Public Library. Fifth Avenue, Loew's (theater), Fiftieth StreetOriginally published Collier's, October 26 1956

Shooting an Elephant


George Orwell - 1936
    The other masterly essays in this collection include classics such as "My Country Right or Left", "How the Poor Die" and "Such, Such were the Joys", his memoir of the horrors of public school, as well as discussions of Shakespeare, sleeping rough, boys' weeklies, and a spirited defence of English cooking. Opinionated, uncompromising, provocative, and hugely entertaining, all show Orwell's unique ability to get to the heart of any subject.

The Fisherman and His Soul


Oscar Wilde - 1896
    The fisherman here accidentally catches a mermaid in his net. He falls in love with the Mermaid and tells her that he wants to marry her. She tells him that he can only marry her if he sends away his soul. From a Witch, the Fisherman learns how to send his soul away. The Soul makes several attempts to persuade the Fisherman to take him back, eventually convincing him to do so with the tale of a beautiful dancer who lives nearby. Too late does the Fisherman discover that the soul which he sent out into the world without a heart has become evil. So be careful what you set your heart on. This story was first published in 1896 in the book A House of Pomegranates.

A Case of Identity - a Sherlock Holmes Short Story


Arthur Conan Doyle - 1891
    He disappeared on the very day they were to be married. It's a challenge Holmes can't turn down.This is #3 in Doyle's first collection of Holmes' short stories, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes."Librarian's note: this entry is for the story, "A Case of Identity." Collections of short stories by the author can be found elsewhere.

Young Zaphod Plays It Safe


Douglas Adams - 1986
    It doesn't appear as a standalone work, but is included with several collections. The story is a prequel to the events in The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy and has the young Zaphod Beeblebrox working as a salvage ship operator. He guides some bureaucrats to a crashed spaceship which may be leaking some hazardous materials. The bureaucrats are determined to "make it safe". The comic asides in the story include some of the time travel paradoxes which are a common running theme in Adams' SF work, and plenty of material about lobsters

Indian Summer of a Forsyte


John Galsworthy - 1918
    This attachment gives Old Jolyon pleasure, but exhausts his strength. He leaves Irene money in his will with Young Jolyon, his son, as trustee. In the end Old Jolyon dies under an ancient oak tree in the garden of the Robin Hill house.

Kew Gardens


Virginia Woolf - 1919
    The book's jacket design and page illustrations were by her sister, artist Vanessa Bell. More than sixty years later, The Hogarth Press at Chatto & Windus has published a lovely facsimile of that prized edition of 'Kew Gardens'. The lush and haunting story circles around Kew Gardens one hot day in July, as various odd and interesting couples walk by and talk, exchanging words but letting thoughts and memories float languorously above the glossy leaves and exotic blooms, while at their feet, a determined snail makes its way slowly across a mountainous flower bed. Elegantly produced, a precise replica of that 1927 special edition, with Vanessa Bell's jacket and decorative drawings, this is a rare treat for Bloomsbury devotees and all who love beautiful books.

Confido


Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - 2009
    In this series of perfectly rendered vignettes, written just as he was starting to find his comic voice, Kurt Vonnegut paints a warm, wise, and often funny portrait of life in post—World War II America–a world where squabbling couples, high school geniuses, misfit office workers, and small-town lotharios struggle to adapt to changing technology, moral ambiguity, and unprecedented affluence. In “Confido” a laboratory assistant’s magical invention promises to put his family on easy street at last. But is a machine that gives voice to our innermost thoughts and unspoken grievances really the key to happiness–or a direct line to despair? “Confido” and the thirteen other never-before-published pieces that comprise Look at the Birdie serve as an unexpected gift for devoted readers who thought that Kurt Vonnegut’s unique voice had been stilled forever–and provide a terrific introduction to his short fiction for anyone who has yet to experience his genius.

The Third and Final Continent


Jhumpa Lahiri