10 Best Short Stories I Read in 2023

Last year was a great year of reading short stories for me, and below are ten best short stories I read in 2023. I have to confess that I never used to read short stories, preferring lengthy novels and huge tomes of “substance” over short stories, but all this changed a couple of years ago when I discovered some great gems in this genre and my enthusiasm for short fiction has since only deepened. In 2023, I was particularly impressed by stories of James Baldwin, Anton Chekhov and Edith Wharton.

I. Sonny’s Blues [1957] by James Baldwin – ★★★★★

Baldwin’s Go Tell It On The Mountain was one of the last year’s novel highlights for me, but I also found this story by the author equally compelling. It tells of two brothers: our unnamed narrator, a conservative teacher, and his younger brother – free-spirited musician Sonny. The setting is the 1950s Harlem, and the unnamed narrator has just discovered that Sonny was arrested on drug charges. It is incredible how much power, emotion and thought Baldwin could compress into one single short story. Sonny’s Blues is about taking a nostalgic look at one’s life choices, dealing with loss, regret and the inescapability of one’s home environment, and copying with life dreams slipping away daily. It is also about the healing, transcendental power of music. Sonny’s Blues is not only the best short story I read in 2023, but one of the best I have ever read.

II. The House with the Mezzanine [1896] by Anton Chekhov – ★★★★★

This evocative, immersive story tells of a travelling landscape painter who, while staying at a friend’s house, gets acquainted with two sisters living in a neighbouring estate (the house with the mezzanine). One sister, strict and practical Lydia, works as a teacher and is engaged in her community’s political affairs, while the younger one, Zhenya, spends her time reading and day-dreaming. Our artist’s disagreement with Lydia’s world-view has long-term consequences when he realises that he has fallen in love with Zhenya. There are many themes that can be glimpsed in Chekhov’s delicate story, and one of them is spiritual, lofty ambitions, views and dreams clashing with daily realities and practicalities.

III. Diagnosis [1930] by Edith Wharton – ★★★★★

Edith Wharton’s short stories were a real revelation for me last year, and I kept thinking about them long after I read them. Diagnosis is one of these highlights, and definitely one of the best stories I read in 2023. It tells of one wealthy man, Paul Dorrance, who receives a very frightening medical diagnosis one day, and this leads to his hasty marriage given the unfortunate turn of events. While Dorrance is trying to make sense of what little time he still has on this earth, other events happen, culminating in an unexpected twist ending. As usual, Wharton evokes the atmosphere of old New York with the skill of a first-class writer, and Diagnosis is one of her stories that has a masterful, unforgettable finish to it.

IV. Buchmendel [1929] by Stefan Zweig – ★★★★★

Another best short story of 2023 for me was this one by Stefan Zweig (The Post Office Girl). It concerns our narrator recalling dimly a man who once helped him with his research on animal magnetism at Cafe Gluck in Vienna. The man who helped him was Jacob Mendel – a curious book-dealer, a bibliophile, a walking encyclopaedia of a man with prodigious memory, who had always lived in his own bookish world, venerating and memorizing every book he read or saw. Apparently, Mendel had quite a rude awakening one day when some officers asked for him at the café. This is one touching story of a human spirit, passion and boundless intellect thwarted by the war and indifference, a high intellect getting misused, damaged and wasted. The story can also be read symbolically as showing the devastation caused to the innocent by the war.

V. The Fierce and Beautiful World [1979] by Andrei Platonov – ★★★★★

In this story, Malzev, one of the best and most intuitive train drivers around St. Petersburg, loses his sight when a bolt of lightening strikes his train one evening. His sight is restored after a while, but he is charged as his train nearly caused a catastrophe because of his actions. There is only one way to save the man from a conviction, but it is fraught with much risk. With its emphasis on one’s job dedication and the irony of fate, Platonov’s story left a deep impression on me – definitely one of the best short stories of 2023 for me.

VI. Seven Floors [1965] by Dino Buzzati – ★★★★★

This short story is perfect for fans of absurdist, Kafkaesque stories. Giuseppe Corte enters one unusual sanatorium and desperately wants to remain on its top floor – the seventh, where patients’ symptoms are mild. However, the lower floors have better doctors and equipment, and when he is moved, his anger and fright also come with a renewed hope. Buzzati’s story is clever, with much symbolism, and can also be viewed as a satire on illness, diagnosis, hypochondria, and medical establishment.

VII. Mrs. Manstey’s View [1891] by Edith Wharton – ★★★★★

At least in spirit and atmosphere, this story appeared to me a cross between E.T.A. Hoffmann’s My Cousin’s Corner Window and O. Henry’s The Last Leaf. Mrs. Manstey’s View is one of the best short stories in The New York Stories of Edith Wharton collection published by NYRB, and tells of sensitive, highly observant widow Mrs. Manstey, who takes an immense pleasure everyday just looking at a garden outside her window. When local developers start a construction site nearby, permanently obscuring Mrs. Manstey’s view, she is determined to go to any length to preserve one remaining joy in her life.

VIII. Christmas [1925/75] by Vladimir Nabokov – ★★★★1/2

This story by Nabokov deals primarily with grief and memory, employing the symbolism of a caterpillar’s transformation and butterflies. Sleptsov finds himself at Christmas recalling the image of his son, who has passed away. The happy images of his youngster morph into reveries of his son’s happy future and the pain at their lost relationship. The objects left by the son become keys, clues, and sacred artefacts to overcome grief. It is a very well-written story handled with much delicacy and restraint.

IX. On The Last Day of the Year [1894] by Higuchi Ichiyō – ★★★★

Higuchi Ichiyō was one of the most distinguished female writers of modern Japanese literature, whose later stories addressed the plight of the poor living in Japan in the latter half of the Meiji period. On the Last Day of the Year tells of a maid in desperate need of money to help her family. She finally decides to steal the money from her well-to-do employer. Ichiyō generates much interest in this story, and the ending is surprising.

X. Green Thoughts [1932] by John Collier – ★★★★

I had a lot of fun reading this short story by Collier about Mr. Mannering receiving a strange-looking orchid root that grows exponentially. However, not all is well, and Mannering soon notices that disappearances occur around the new plant, including the vanishing of his Cousin Jane. Can the plant be responsible? It is a morbid little story that is also rather psychological.

Have you read any short stories last year, and if yes, what was/were your highlight(s)? Or, do you plan to read any short stories (collections) this year?