LitReading - Classic Short Stories

By Short Storyverses

Litreading delivers classic short stories—carefully selected, beautifully narrated, and updated every week. From Poe to Twain, O. Henry to Wharton, each episode presents a com

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4.8

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FAQs about LitReading - Classic Short Stories:

How many episodes does LitReading - Classic Short Stories have?

The podcast currently has 154 episodes available.

LitReading - Classic Short Stories episodes:

September 18, 2025 The Rocking Horse Winner–a Classic Short Story by D.H. Lawrence
Note from Don: Listening back to this story before posting it, I have to say that it moved me more than most – and I spent a few days reading, narrating, and editing it.

"The Rocking Horse Winner" entered the public domain at the beginning of 2022 and is considered one of the all-time best stories. It’s about a young boy’s dysfunctional relationship with his parents, under stress for living well beyond their means.

Like most great short stories, The Rocking Horse winner has it's roots in the author's own childhood. His well-educated mother expressed similar frustrations with Lawrence’s blue collar father.

We are expanding our universe of short story podcasts on our new podcast channel, Short StoryVerses. Listen to some of Don's new, original short stories on the "New Tales Told" podcast. Look it up on your favorite podcast player.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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39min
September 17, 2025 Four Men In A Cave-a Classic Short Story by Stephen Crane
Mankind has always loved to explore sometimes crossing great wildernesses, but more often just poking around in our own backyards. This light-hearted tale is about a group of men who decide to investigate a local cave and literally stumble across a huge surprise.

Stephen Crane was born years after the US Civil War ended, but is best known for his stirring 1895 Civil War novel, The Red Badge of Courage. Crane was also a prolific writer of short stories, many of which ranged from actual war stories to the more personal battles of people against the wilderness or themselves.

We are expanding our universe of short story podcasts on our new podcast channel, Short StoryVerses. Listen to some of Don's new, original short stories on the "New Tales Told" podcast. Look it up on your favorite podcast player.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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13min
September 16, 2025 The Girl and the Photograph–a Classic Short Story by Lucy Maud Montgomery
A fleeting glimpse in the pines, a photograph stolen from a friend’s mantel, and a correspondence born from mistaken identity—The Girl and the Photograph by Lucy Maud Montgomery is no simple tale of memory. It’s about the way chance, error, and destiny conspire to test a heart’s fidelity. What begins as a love nurtured by letters and a photograph turns into a crisis of identity, and then, at the last moment, a revelation that love had been waiting patiently all along. This isn’t just about remembering a face—it’s about recognizing a soul when it finally stands before you.
We are expanding our universe of short story podcasts on our new podcast channel, Short StoryVerses. Listen to some of Don's new, original short stories on the "New Tales Told" podcast. Look it up on your favorite podcast player.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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24min
September 15, 2025 A Country Cottage-a Classic Short Story by Anton Chekhov
Life has a nasty habit of throwing us curves that we can either cause us long-term misery or force us to make the best of a bad situation as illustrated in this very short tale.

Anton Chekhov was undoubtedly brilliant. A physician by trade, his premier talent was writing. Chekhov had a unparalleled gift for understanding the depths of human emotions and sharing them first through his short stories and later, his plays. Chekhov once said “Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress.”

We are expanding our universe of short story podcasts on our new podcast channel, Short StoryVerses. Listen to some of Don's new, original short stories on the "New Tales Told" podcast. Look it up on your favorite podcast player.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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7min
September 14, 2025 The Mark on the Wall - a Classic Short Story by Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf demonstrates how simply focusing on one thing has the power to unleash torrents of thoughts and memories.

Born Adeline Virginia Stephen in 1882, British author Virginia Woolf went on to become an icon of modern 20th century literature.

We are expanding our universe of short story podcasts on our new podcast channel, Short StoryVerses. Listen to some of Don's new, original short stories on the "New Tales Told" podcast. Look it up on your favorite podcast player.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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22min
September 13, 2025 The Romance of a Busy Broker - a Classic Short Story by O. Henry
There are those for whom work becomes an obsession to the detriment of their personal lives. The businessman in our next story gives new meaning to the modern term “workaholic.”
William Henry Porter, better known as O. Henry led a short albeit intriguing life. Before he died in New York City in 1910 at age 47, Porter was a pharmacist, sheep ranch hand, draftsman, banker, and prolific author of short stories. Oh, and he was also a convicted embezzler who served time in federal prison.

We are expanding our universe of short story podcasts on our new podcast channel, Short StoryVerses. Listen to some of Don's new, original short stories on the "New Tales Told" podcast. Look it up on your favorite podcast player.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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11min
September 12, 2025 The McWilliamses And The Burglar Alarm - a Classic Short Story by Mark Twain
We aren't the first generation to be frustrated by advancing technology. More than a century ago, new fangled products were making people crazy like this gentleman who supposedly related our next hilarious tale Mark Twain.

Mark Twain (the pen name of Samuel Clemens) had an unmatched knack for taking a normal story and turning it into a hilariously funny tall tale.

We are expanding our universe of short story podcasts on our new podcast channel, Short StoryVerses. Listen to some of Don's new, original short stories on the "New Tales Told" podcast. Look it up on your favorite podcast player.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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17min
September 11, 2025 The Widow's Cruise–a Classic Short Story by Frank Stockton
We have been sharing stories with each other since the beginning of time. On occasion these tales have been known to grow a bit tall, as was the case when four elderly seamen spent an evening with a widow sharing a variety of yarns each one wilder than the next. Then the wood adds a tale of her own.

Frank Stockton was a 19th century author and humorist with an uncanny knack for poking fun a human failings. One of his most famous stories was "The Lady or the Tiger."

We are expanding our universe of short story podcasts on our new podcast channel, Short StoryVerses. Listen to some of Don's new, original short stories on the "New Tales Told" podcast. Look it up on your favorite podcast player.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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30min
September 11, 2025 Desiree's Baby–a Classic Short Story by Kate Chopin
Racism has always been an ugly part of the human condition. Yet, the horrors of racism in America are most undeniably illustrated by the treatment of African-Americans, particularly in the South. Here is just a small example of the pain caused by racial hatred in antebellum Louisiana.

I have presented the story exactly as written, as the author, Kate Chopin, lived during this terrible period in US history. Just five years after the end of the Civil War, Chopin married a French-American and lived with him for more than a decade in Louisiana. While Chopin’s brilliant writing is as powerful today as it was more than a century ago, it, like so many other tales of the time, focused on the suffering of white characters, ignoring the true cruelty suffered by their slaves.

We are expanding our universe of short story podcasts on our new podcast channel, Short StoryVerses. Listen to some of Don's new, original short stories on the "New Tales Told" podcast. Look it up on your favorite podcast player.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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16min
September 10, 2025 The Log - a Classic Short Story by Guy de Maupassant
The lure of an illicit affair is not a new facet of human nature. People have been both tempting and tempted throughout time. But for a sudden twist of fate, our next story might have ended badly for everyone involved.

Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a 19th-century French author considered one the era greatest short storyist spinning realistic tales of the human condition

We are expanding our universe of short story podcasts on our new podcast channel, Short StoryVerses. Listen to some of Don's new, original short stories on the "New Tales Told" podcast. Look it up on your favorite podcast player.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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13min

FAQs about LitReading - Classic Short Stories:

How many episodes does LitReading - Classic Short Stories have?

The podcast currently has 154 episodes available.

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