Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share LitReading - Short Stories and Timeless Tales
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
LitReading - Short Stories and Timeless Tales
Based on Podcast App listening data
LitReading - Short Stories and Timeless Tales episodes
- The Great American Pie Company by Ellis Parker Butler — A Pie Company Finds a Recipe for Endless ProfitPeople dream of success. Those ambitions can often be prodigious. Rarely, however, do our future business strategies develop as quickly as do those in this story that encapsulates the economic concerns of the early 20th Century.
For a full-time banker and part-time author Ellis Parker Butler was prolific writing more than 2,000 stories that were published in well over 200 magazines in the early 20th Century. His most famous story is "Pigs is Pigs" which a narrated in 2019.If you enjoyed this story, buy me an e-book!
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/donmcdonald
or click FOLLOW
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
28 min - An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce — A Condemned Man Escapes—or Thinks He DoesPrepare to be moved by one of the most unusual short stories ever written, which tells a chilling tale of the simple life and complex death of a slave-owning planter in Union-occupied Alabama during the Civil War.
If you enjoyed this story, buy me an e-book!
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/donmcdonald
or click FOLLOW
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
24 min - The Million Pound Bank Note by Mark Twain — A Penniless Man Is Handed a Million-Pound NoteThis classic Mark Twain tale is a witty commentary on poverty and wealth. There is much of Twain’s personal circumstance reflected in the story, as Twain had himself recently gone from riches to bankruptcy.
If you enjoyed this story, buy me an e-book!
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/donmcdonald
or click FOLLOW
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
48 min - The Way the World Is by Zona Gale — A Woman Falls for the Last Man She ExpectedFalling in love is one of humanities most common events and biggest mysteries. What is it that ignites one person's passion for another. This poignant tale of surprisingly falling for someone was penned by the first woman playwright to win a Pulitzer Prize.
A brilliant author author of novels, short stories and plays, Zona Gale was the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prie for Drama for the stage adaptation of her novel, Miss Lulu Bett. She sold her first story at age 16 for $3.If you enjoyed this story, buy me an e-book!
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/donmcdonald
or click FOLLOW
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
22 min - The Interlopers by Saki — Two Enemies Trapped Together Await Rescue
A long-running feud leads two men to face each other and the ravages of nature in this powerful classic story by one the best short story authors of all time.
One of listeners most requested authors is Saki, the pen name of British write H.H. Munro. His incredible short stories run the gamut from biting satire to shockingly macabre.
At age 43, Munro insisted on enlisting as a mere trooper to fight for the British in World War One and was killed by a German sniper in 1916.
If you enjoyed this story, buy me an e-book!
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/donmcdonald
or click FOLLOW
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
15 min - Memoirs of a Yellow Dog by O. Henry — A Dog and His Master Escape an Unhappy Home
I am a big fan of dogs and am fascinated with their non-verbal communication skills. I also enjoy dog stories and the writing of O. Henry, so what could be better to end season two of Litreading than a dog story written by O. Henry.
If you enjoyed this story, buy me an e-book!
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/donmcdonald
or click FOLLOW
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
13 min - My Financial Career by Stephen Leacock — A Nervous Man Tries to Open a Bank AccountWe all have our particular foibles and phobias. Today’s humorous short story focuses on one whose greatest fear is of banks. Would that be ripiaphobia?
If you enjoyed this story, buy me an e-book!
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/donmcdonald
or click FOLLOW
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
7 min - Jimmy Rose by Herman Melville — A Once-Wealthy Man Keeps Giving After Fortune Leaves HimLife can deal any of us some terrible blows. In this semi-auto biographical tale we explore the life of a once wealthy merchant, Jimmy Rose
If you enjoyed this story, buy me an e-book!
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/donmcdonald
or click FOLLOW
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
28 min - The Enchanted Bluff by Willa Cather — Six Young Men Dream of a Journey None Will MakeHere is a wonderfully nostalgic tale of a time when boys could enjoy a taste of freedom, share ideas, and let’s their imaginations run wild, before the responsibilities of life overrode such fancies. You're invited to get lost at the foot of "The Enchanted Bluff."
Willa Cather published "The Enchanted Bluff" in "Harper's Magazine" in 1909 during a period when her writing skills were blossoming in stories about her experiences living on the Nebraska prairie. Her efforts culminated in a Pulitzer Prize for her book, "One of Ours." Her work was loved by some of the best authors of her day. In fact, after he won the Nobel Prize for Literature, Sinclair Lewis stated that the prize should have gone to Willa Cather.If you enjoyed this story, buy me an e-book!
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/donmcdonald
or click FOLLOW
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
23 min - Scotty Briggs and the Clergyman by Mark Twain — A Frontier Funeral Goes Spectacularly Off ScriptIn the 19th century, the United States was as diverse from region to region as were the country’s of Europe, except for the fact that we spoke some semblance of the same language. However, the language divide between proper Easern American English and that of the the inhabitants of the West could, at times be vast.
Samuel Clemens was born in Florida in 1835, but it wasn’t until 27 years later that his alter ego, Mark Twain, came into being in Carson City, Nevada. He credited the many extreme characters of Nevada’s early mining days with jump starting his literary career.If you enjoyed this story, buy me an e-book!
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/donmcdonald
or click FOLLOW
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
12 min
About LitReading - Short Stories and Timeless Tales
From the publisher's feed
LitReading: Great Short Stories Read Aloud
Great stories deserve to be heard.
LitReading brings you a complete short stories, unabridged and narrated by veteran…
broadcaster and voice actor Don McDonald. Hear the masters of the form, including Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, O. Henry, Edith Wharton, Anton Chekhov, Kate Chopin, William Faulkner, Katherine Mansfield, Stephen Crane, Saki, Bret Harte and Virginia Woolf. Along with them come overlooked gems from the golden age of American, British and Russian literature that deserve a second hearing.
Each episode is one full story, from a few minutes to a deeply immersive hour. Think of it as a free audiobook of short fiction, performed with warmth and clarity and just enough character to bring every voice to life. Play it on a commute, a walk or a quiet evening. It also makes good bedtime listening for grown-ups.
Come for a story. Leave with a world.
Help a good story travel. If LitReading has kept you company, tap Follow in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast app. It's free, and new stories arrive automatically. A quick 5-star rating or a one-line review helps more than you'd guess, because that's how new listeners find us. And if a story stayed with you, send this episode to one friend who loves to read. That's how this show grows.
LitReading is part of Short Storyverses (shortstoryverses.com), a family of podcasts for people who love great storytelling:
- New Tales Told: original stories in the spirit of the classics
- FRIGHTLY!: tales of terror and the uncanny
- Sci-Finds: science fiction and speculative stories
- HumorUs: comic fiction
- Season's Readings: holiday stories for any time of year
- Readastorus: stories for younger listeners
Search for any of them wherever you get your podcasts.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Best of LitReading - Short Stories and Timeless Tales
Ranked by our users in the last 21 days
More shows like LitReading - Short Stories and Timeless Tales
This American Life
90,783 Listeners
TED Radio Hour
21,768 Listeners
Criminal
37,606 Listeners
The Moth
26,799 Listeners
The New Yorker: Fiction
3,339 Listeners
The Classic Tales Podcast
2,501 Listeners
Selected Shorts
2,852 Listeners
the memory palace
6,869 Listeners
1001 Classic Short Stories & Tales
1,103 Listeners
Ideas
397 Listeners
The New Yorker: The Writer's Voice - New Fiction from The New Yorker
2,118 Listeners
Throughline
16,318 Listeners
Phoebe Reads a Mystery
5,456 Listeners
Readastorus - Classic Children's Stories
13 Listeners
Season's Readings – Christmas Stories and Holiday Tales
77 Listeners
FRIGHTLY! Scary Stories and Tales of Terror
1 Listeners