Showing results by author "O. Henry" in All Categories

These treasured stories from the most influential authors of the 19th and early 20th centuries are selected for their literary importance as well as their dramatic, oral qualities. Listen to these 10 unabridged classics by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, O. Henry, and Willa Cather.

The Gentle Grafter contains 14 tales relating the questionable exploits of “Jeff Peters” (the gentle grafter) and his several “partners in graft”.

A wonderful collection of short stories" by some of the all-time great American writers: 1. "The Diamond Lens" by Fitz James O’Brien; 2. "Titbottom’s Spectacles" by George William Curtis; 3. "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe; 4. "The Eyes of the Panther" by Ambrose Bierce; 5. "The Lightning Rod Man" by Hermann Melville; 6. "Seeds" by Sherwood Anderson; 7. "Who Was She?" by Bayard Taylor; 8. "The Man who stole a Meeting House" by John Townsend Trowbridge; 9. "Memoirs of a Yellow Dog" by O. Henry

In this adaptation of The Gift of the Magi, Laura and David want to buy Christmas presents for each other, but they don't have the money. We follow Laura as figures out a way to buy David a present he'll truly love, and we learn how love and selflessness come to the forefront during the holidays.

"The Gift of the Magi" is a short story about love, selflessness, sacrifices and struggles. Della and James are a young married couple who want to surprise each other with a secret gift for Christmas. Unfortunately, neither of them has much money yet still they each hope they'll manage to buy something in time and that it will be appreciated. "The Last Leaf" tells us the story of poor Johnsy, who is so sick that her days are counted.

Narrator Glenn Hascall magnificently captures the characters of this O. Henry short story about a Southern gentleman who still maintains the manners of the antebellum South although he is now living in a boardinghouse in Washington, D.C. Henry Hopkins Hargraves, an actor who also lives at the boardinghouse, befriends Major Pendleton Talbot, is apparently entranced by the Major's stories, and is happy to sit and listen for hours as Maj. Talbot rambles on. Of course O. Henry adds a wonderful twist to this humorous short story.

"The Green Door" is one of O. Henry’s most popular short stories. By a strange coincidence, Rudolph is led to green door at the top of a dentist’s building. His knock is answered by a starving young woman; the one he had been searching for, and whom he saves.

The Trimmed Lamp and Other Stories of the Four Million by O. Henry includes "The Trimmed Lamp", "A Madison Square Arabian Night", "The Rubaiyat of a Scotch Highball", "The Pendulum", "Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen", "The Assessor of Success", "The Buyer from Cactus City", "The Badge of Policeman O'Roon", "Brickdust Row", "The Making of a New Yorker", "Vanity and Some Sables", "The Social Triangle", "The Purple Dress", "The Foreign Policy of Company 99", "The Lost Blend", "A Harlem Tragedy", "The Guilty Party—An East Side Tragedy", "According to Their Lights", and more.

O. Henry was the pen name of William Sydney Porter (1862-1910). He was a master of the short story with a surprise ending. In this story, part of the collection titled The Four Million, two old friends have made a promise to meet at a certain New York City corner after 20 years of separation. Will they each honor the agreement? What will they learn of their lives since they last saw each other?

We begin with a story published in McClure’s magazine, December 1899. This was the first story published under the pseudonym O. Henry. Let’s listen.

Narrator Glenn Hascall magnificently captures the characters of The Gift of the Magi, a short story written by O. Henry, about a young married couple and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money.

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. They can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. Human beings are, in the main, social animals, they like to gather, to herd together, to share experiences. But some do not. Either through choice or exclusion their way forward is difficult. In this volume our authors and their characters share their stories.

William Sydney Porter was born on 11th September 1862 in Greensboro, North Carolina. At age 3 his mother died from tuberculosis. From an early age it was clear Porter had a large appetite for reading as he absorbed the world around him. In December 1899, in McClure’s Magazine, he published a short story as O. Henry.

Based on O. Henry's endearing tale. Once three wise men came bearing gifts. Now a light dust of snow quiets the city streets. Christmas was upon a young couple whose sharing of lives together had just begun. A gift was needed and only a dollar and eighty-seven cents had been saved. Can the joy, the dreams, the hope for the future, the burning flame of love, be adequately expressed with only a dollar and eighty-seven cents?

Entertaining, sly, or poignant, the stories of O. Henry were - and remain - enormously popular. This collection, read by Frank Muller, contains the stories "The Gift of the Magi," "The Skylight Room," "The Cop and the Anthem," "The Last Leaf," "The Pimienta Pancakes," "The Furnished Room," "Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking," "The Sleuths," "The Passing of Black Eagle," "Memoirs of a Yellow Dog," and more.

The Last Leaf is an endearing story about many forms of love and our interdependency upon one another and most importantly ourselves. In it a young woman dying from pneumonia despite the best efforts of her loving roommate, a doctor, and a mature resident in the building who has appointed himself guardian to the young lady and her housemate, soon learns that she is the key to her own life or death and in that discovery she helps a friend rise to their true greatness.

Fifty of the world's greatest classic short stories: 1.The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant 2.The One Million Pound Banknote by Mark Twain 3.The Phantom Rickshaw by Rudyard Kipling 4.The Fly by Katherine Mansfield 5.The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe 6.My Favorite Murder by Ambrose Bierce 7.The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe 8.One Thousand Dollars by O. Henry 9.Regret by Kate Chopin 10.The Nose by Nikolai Gogol 11.The Mezzotint by M. R. James 12.The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry

>"The Cop and the Anthem" may be the third most widely read O. Henry story in grammar, middle, and high school. "The Ransom of Red Chief" rates number one, "The Gift of the Magi" number two, and "A Retrieved Reformation" number four. Young readers enjoy this story a lot because of the hilarious plot of Soapy, the only named character, trying to get arrested so he can spend the winter in jail. Adults tend to like the ironic approach of Soapy’s potential victims....

A creepy anthology of 25 of the most hauntingly scary ghost stories ever written. 1.Afterward by Edith Wharton 2. Bagnell Terrace by E. F. Benson 3.His Brother’s Keeper by W. W. Jacobs 4.A Coincidence by A. J. Alan 5.The Confession of Charles Linkworth by E. F. Benson 6.The Death Mask by H. D. Everett 7.The Room in the Tower by E. F. Benson 8.The Furnished Room by O. Henry 9.The Thing in the Hall by E. F. Benson 10.The Eyes by Edith Wharton 11. The Wind in the Portico by John Buchan.

A captivating collection of 60-minute classic stories by great writers.