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The World's Best Classic Short Stories  By  cover art

The World's Best Classic Short Stories

By: O. Henry,Edgar Allan Poe,Oscar Wilde,Saki,Kate Chopin,Thomas Hardy,Rudyard Kipling
Narrated by: Cathy Dobson
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Publisher's summary

A glittering collection of some of the world's finest short stories, including:

  • 'The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe
  • 'The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant
  • 'The Mezzotint' by M. R. James
  • 'The Phantom Rickshaw' by Rudyard Kipling
  • 'The Withered Arm' by Thomas Hardy
  • 'The Model Millionaire' by Oscar Wilde
  • 'The Monkey’s Paw' by W. W. Jacobs
  • 'An Uncomfortable Bed' by Guy de Maupassant
  • 'The Mortal Immortal' by Mary Shelley
  • 'The Black Cat' by Edgar Allan Poe
  • 'Sredni Vashtar' by Saki
  • 'The Nose' by Nicolai Gogol
  • 'Regret' by Kate Chopin
  • 'One Thousand Dollars' by O. Henry
  • 'The Fly' by Katherine Mansfield
  • 'A Descent into the Maelström' by Edgar Allan Poe
  • 'The Sphinx Without a Secret' by Oscar Wilde
  • 'The Inconsiderate' Waiter by J. M. Barrie
  • 'The Black Poodle' by F. Anstey
  • 'The Quest' by Saki
  • 'The Three Strangers' by Thomas Hardy
  • 'Oil of Dog' by Ambrose Bierce
  • 'The Oval Portrait' by Edgar Allan Poe
  • 'Markheim' by Robert Louis Stevenson
  • 'Fear' by Guy de Maupassant
  • 'The Belated Russian Passport' by Mark Twain
  • 'The Changeling' by W. W. Jacobs
  • 'The Pit and the Pendulum' by Edgar Allan Poe
  • 'The Eyes of the Panther' by Ambrose Bierce
  • 'The Dead' by James Joyce
  • 'The Secret Sharer' by Joseph Conrad
  • 'The Story of an Hour' by Kate Chopin
  • 'The Telltale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe
  • 'My Favorite Murder' by Ambrose Bierce
  • 'The Premature Burial' by Edgar Allan Poe
  • 'Tobermory' by Saki
  • 'Memoirs of a Yellow Dog' by O. Henry.
  • Public Domain (P)2013 Red Door Audiobooks

    What listeners say about The World's Best Classic Short Stories

    Average customer ratings
    Overall
    • 3 out of 5 stars
    • 5 Stars
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    • 4 Stars
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    • 3 Stars
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    • 1 Stars
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    Performance
    • 3 out of 5 stars
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    • 2 Stars
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    • 1 Stars
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    Story
    • 3.5 out of 5 stars
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    • 4 Stars
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    • 3 Stars
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    • 2 Stars
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    • 1 Stars
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    Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

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    • Overall
      2 out of 5 stars
    • Performance
      1 out of 5 stars
    • Story
      5 out of 5 stars

    I just can't listen to this narrator

    I love these stories but just I could not bear this narrator. I tried - I really tried.

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    18 people found this helpful

    • Overall
      1 out of 5 stars
    • Performance
      1 out of 5 stars
    • Story
      1 out of 5 stars

    Annoying

    Annoying and melancholic narration. The accent drives me nuts. Worst purchase ever. Very monotone. Would like my money back.

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    17 people found this helpful

    • Overall
      5 out of 5 stars
    • Performance
      5 out of 5 stars
    • Story
      5 out of 5 stars

    Wonderful group of short stories

    A wonderful group of intriguing short stories, written by world class authors and performed with great enthusiasm which one can enjoy anytime.

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    12 people found this helpful

    • Overall
      3 out of 5 stars
    • Performance
      1 out of 5 stars
    • Story
      3 out of 5 stars

    Narration is annoying

    The sing-song voice of the British narrator was fine for the first story or so but was highly annoying in its sameness over time.

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    9 people found this helpful

    • Overall
      1 out of 5 stars
    • Performance
      1 out of 5 stars
    • Story
      1 out of 5 stars

    Terrible Narration . . .

    I wish I had read the other reviews before purchasing this as I love short stories. Also there are no chapter titles and the narrator does not announce the author's name for each story either.

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    4 people found this helpful

    • Overall
      2 out of 5 stars
    • Performance
      2 out of 5 stars
    • Story
      5 out of 5 stars

    Tough listen

    The content appeals to me greatly. I just didn't like listening to the reader. It didn't seem genuine to me.

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    3 people found this helpful

    • Overall
      5 out of 5 stars
    • Performance
      1 out of 5 stars
    • Story
      5 out of 5 stars

    Fire this narrator!

    This narrator nearly ruined the whole thing. Her predictable and repetitive tone, especially over-emphasized sentence endings made this a chore rather than a pleasure to get through.

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    1 person found this helpful

    • Overall
      3 out of 5 stars
    • Performance
      3 out of 5 stars
    • Story
      3 out of 5 stars

    This is a collection of old and stodgy stories.

    To make matters worse, however, there are no titles listed on the player, so you need to sample 5 or 6 different stories before you find the one you're looking for, and only then, because you've managed to find the list of stories on the main order page. Some stories are told in one piece, others are told in as many as five separate "chapters." In other words, whoever put this together didn't care about the listener. Performances are often old and stodgy, as well. It's not something most people would enjoy these days, except perhaps by a few elitist snobs.

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    • Overall
      1 out of 5 stars
    • Performance
      1 out of 5 stars
    • Story
      1 out of 5 stars

    Horrible narration

    Worst narration I’ve ever heard. If you’re thinking about buying this one, pass on it. It’s really hard to get past the annoying narrator. It boggles the mind how someone could have possibly listened to this and said “sounds good” and then published it. Completely ruins “the world’s best short stories.”

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    • Overall
      1 out of 5 stars
    • Performance
      1 out of 5 stars
    • Story
      5 out of 5 stars

    she just drones on and on and on....

    I simply couldn't continue on. I stopped on Chapter 28. Maybe that is an err on my end. But it, to me was akin to finger nails dragging across a chalk board.

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