Short Stories Humor

Marcovaldo is an unskilled worker in a drab industrial city in northern Italy. He is an irrepressible dreamer and an inveterate schemer. Much to the puzzlement of his wife, his children, his boss, and his neighbors, he chases his dreams - but the results are never the expected ones.

Gogol's phantasmagorical tale about a man whose nose decides to abscond and begin living a life of its own is one of the earliest and most celebrated examples of absurdist literature. Apart from its recondite humor, it is remarkable for Gogol's skill in characterization and his ability to paint a picture of contemporary life in Russia in a few verbal brushstrokes.

From the award-winning author of Occupational Hazards come nine more tales of blue-collar fiction, including The Destroyer (sequel to Jar Baby) and the author's autobiographical Memoir of a Murderer, narrated by an all-star cast of performers. There's horror, there's humor, there's horrific humor. It slices, it dices, it makes julienne fries. Treat yourself. You deserve it.

A Jewish man works as a department-store Santa in this comic tale, a short story from Nathan Englander's collection For the Relief of Unbearable Urges.

In 'A Fault on the Line' you will meet a husband who values a televised Hibs v Hearts game more than his wife’s life.This short story features in the collection 'Reheated Cabbage' and is available unabridged on audio for the first time. Hilarious, shocking and hugely entertaining, it has all the classic Irvine Welsh ingredients.

Two guys fighting over a beautiful girl might agree – on reflection, and after a few pills and many pints of lager – that their friendship is actually more important than a woman. Hilarious, shocking and hugely entertaining, 'Victor Spoils' has all the classic Irvine Welsh ingredients.

In this short story from Nathan Englander's collection For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, a mental patient tries to get help from a rabbi to smooth over family problems his manic episodes cause.

In this short story from Nathan Englander's collection For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, an aging wigmaker becomes, for a single moment, beautiful.

In this short story from Nathan Englander's collection For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, a group of World War II-era Hasids, mistakenly put on a circus train instead of a transport to a death camp, are assumed to be acrobats. They perform a clumsy act, which their Nazi audience applauds as a parody of "Jewish ballet".

The Moron at the End of This Book is an insightful, self-scrutinizing memoir about the highs and woes of a life, perhaps not well-lived, but, well, lived. With a collection of short stories and love letters to the living and the dead, author Andrew Couch calls upon nearly 40 years of impulsive actions, unusual friendships, odd jobs, and a careworn moral compass to deliver a mercifully one of a kind account of a man in search of approval from his child self.

A chance to laugh is a way to enjoy the absurdities of life whenever they occur. It is the quick mind that is ever alert to those situations that are laughable. Come listen to this collection of stories.

For more than four decades, Thomas McGuane has been heralded as an unrivaled master of the short story. Now the arc of that achievement appears in one definitive volume. Set in the seedy corners of Key West, the remote shore towns of the Bahamas, and McGuane's hallmark Big Sky country, with its vast and unforgiving landscape, these are stories of people on the fringes of society, whose twisted pasts meddle with their chances for companionship.

This anthology consists of 50 stories, which are separated into four series, as well as independent stories.

A hard drinking, hard fighting builder has a nasty accident when in bed with his best-mate's sister. Little does he know what 'punishment' awaits him on the other side.... Hilarious, shocking and hugely entertaining, 'Catholic Guilt' has all the classic Irvine Welsh ingredients.

In this short story from Nathan Englander's collection For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, a clerical error lands earnest, unpublished Pinchas Pelovits in prison with 26 other writers.

In this short story from Nathan Englander's collection For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, a Protestant, after a religious awakening in the back of a New York taxi, realizes he has a Jewish soul.

This anthology contains 10 quirky and mostly humorous short stories. It contains the following stories: "Jared Pond and the Temper Complication", "Jared Pond's First Mission", "Jared Pond and the Yakuza Connection", "The Soccer Date", "The Pursuit of Dangerous Dave's Treasure", "Jared Pond and the Swedish Fish Factory", "The Disgruntled Soccer Terrorist", "Jared Pond and the Quirky Malaysian Agent", "Kingsley's Quest in India", and "Jared Pond and the Tamil Guru".

O. Henry's short stories are well known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings.

O. Henry's short stories are well known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings. Includes: "By Courier", "Jimmie Hayes and Muriel", "School and Schools", "Roads of Destiny", "A Blackjack Bargainer"," A Cosmopolite in a Café", "Christmas by Injunction", "Mammon and the Archer", "A Bird of Bagdad", "After 20 Years", "From The Cabby’s Seat", "Lost on Dress Parade", "Memoirs of a Yellow Dog", "Tobin’s Palm", "Transients in Arcadia", "The Trimmed Lamp", and more.

Bert has been dreaming of finding his own hidden treasure for years, and now he thinks he may just know where he can find it. If he can only convince his wife of his plan, he'll be set for life.