I read these stories over and over. Even though you know the ending, it's still cool the way they twist!

Some touching moments (see the Leaf story), some very unusual settings, and some poignant twists. At other times, however, the reader can see his trademark twist coming a mile away. Maybe he's a victim of his posterity. Like when you go to watch Spaceballs because it was so awesome when you saw it 20-something years ago, but the humor has been redone so many times since then the movie is innefective. It's not Mel Brooks's fault! Or maybe Spaceballs is just lame, and you were only 12 so the lamen...

Best short story collection one could have, or rather needs. The thief was one story that I read in school and fell in love with O Henry, and his writing never disappointed me. I would like to believe he was the one who inspired all twists and turns of plots across Hollywood and Bollywood!

Prior to reading this collection, my only association with O. Henry was the famous 'Gift of the Magi' which has spawned innumerable replications, homages, references, and allusions. I was moved to explore the rest of his writing at the recommendation of a short story how-to book. It claimed O. Henry was an acknowledged master of the short story, creating interesting characters with a compelling hook, and then his trademark twist at the end.Yes, there's a twist at the end of every story. Every sh...

Dearest Reader, It is with the greatest pleasure I bring to your attention one of the most excellent writer of the nineteen and twentieth centuries, O. Henry. In his time, O. Henry wrote over six hundred short stories that continue to delight readers to this day. His work is entirely memorable, once you have read “The Ransom of Red Chief” or “Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen”, you will never forget them. The writing is generally humorous, with a profound awareness of social ills. Some may find t...

I love O. Henry. I've a collection of his stories, but I'm not sure if it's actually this edition or not. At any rate, my favorite of his short stories is "The Pride of the Cities". It's probably available as an e-text SOMEwhere. Give it a perusal, the ending is too perfect for words. (There's a bit of a pun in that last comment)

O’Henry’s short stories had become classic examples of American modernist literature. The book, The Best Short Stories of O’Henry, showcased 38 short stories by O’Henry. Every story there appeared didactic and good-humored, and the household morals came from often witty culminations. Classic settings from New York to Texas provided a mural of America. Themes such as love and greed pervaded the potpourri of American characters, yet each short story resulted in a fresh ramification based on the de...

Accused of embezzling money from a Texas bank, O Henry (1862-1910) bolted to SoAmerica in the late 1900s and only returned when his wife was dying of TB. There seems to be a murkiness about what actually happened, but I'm not keen enough to read a bio. OH's wife expired and he spent 3 years in prison. A gifted writer and a likeable chap, he had a venturesome life. The big question for me, still lacking an ending - twist or not - is, why did he bolt? Well, so much for that.Like most GRs, I read O...

077-Short Stories of O. Henry-O. Henry-Novel-1887Barack—— "The key point is not which path we choose. The kind of people we eventually become is determined by our inner nature.""Selected Stories of O. Henry" contains the representative works of O. Henry's short stories. A Novel book. The biggest feature of these short stories is that the plot is compact and the ending is amazing.O. Henry, born in Greensboro, North Carolina, the USA in 1862, died of cirrhosis in 1910. He dropped out of high schoo...

The collection of O. Henry's best short stories starts off with his most famous one , "The Gift of the Magi", which I have loved for many years. I really did not know what to expect from the rest of the collection, but for the most part they were similarly entertaining. I guess I really like more character and plot development than can be done in a short story so I often felt they were abruptly ended, but then I suppose that is the nature of the genre.Set in the late 18th and early 19th century,...

"Of course there are two sides to the question. Let us look at the other." The writers of short stories, the bar has been set. And it's really high. I've known it since I was about eight or nine, when my mother (bless the heart of the amazing literature teacher I have the privilege to be descended from!) slipped me a nondescript brown-cover book opened to the page with the title 'The Gift of the Magi'.I read the story, and then the rest of a hundred or so in that little brown book, and the im

Actually, the book is better than my expectations. Stories are so funny, fluent and a bit ironic. As summary; a love service, medicine and robbery, Jim's watch and Della's hairs, voluntarily to have a feud! Voluntarily to had beat up! If the love elixir given the wrong person, one police convict at the train, A loft, one meeting after 20 years at the same place, social triangle, farewell of robber, able to friend with burglar. I like it, the book recommended.

I'm sure these had a time and place but in the present(jaded, cynical) world the stories had a saccharine overload. I eventually needed to bail and toss this in the trash. (I was never a big fan of the O. Henry candy bar, either.)

And you thought O. Henry was just a witty name for a mediocre candy bar..."O" no!! This guy's another master of the English language, and I'm a sucker for a good short story. "Gift of the Magi" and "The Last Leaf" are unmatched. Its just a shame they couldn't have named a tasty Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor after him instead.

I discovered this book one day long ago on my parents bookshelf. It's kind of a smaller book and had been stuck between a huge atlas of the universe and the wall. Once I liberated it I decided to take my dad's advice (If you're bored go read O. Henry) and now I have my own copy sitting on my bookshelf gathering dust and waiting to be discovered by someone new.

O Henry is the king of English short story genre. While his works tend to be formulaic, that is one damn golden formula. 'The Gift of Magi' and 'The Last Leaf' are arguably among the best short stories ever written in any language. And O Henry surprisingly manages to keep up a decent threshold of quality across his large collection of short stories. I still consider going back and reading a random picking out of them a very enjoyable pastime.

O. Henry wasn't what I was expecting. Since the prestigious prize is named for him, I expected him to be the pinnacle of the genre of short stories. I know he's been a bit neglected by modern lit critics as light reading, but I wasn't prepared for how magazine-y these stories are. Not that they lack literary merit I guess... just that there are so many cheap, trick endings you begin to feel once you've read one, you've read them all. Also I don't think they've aged well... O. Henry loves to do d...

I read these thirty-eight stories with various degrees of engagement; some I finished following the plot with ease, others I felt I had just scanned without any ability to recall who did what to whom. O. Henry appeared to construct his stories with a similar plot device, a surprise hook at the very end of each tale. I enjoyed several, including The Gift of the Magi and The Ransom of Red Chief. As I was reading along, I thought all these stories are the right length to be recited aloud following

The twists at the end of the tale are always breath taking.

-full review to come soon-current notes: o. henry’s stories are pretty entertaining, and i liked their plot twist endings. HOWEVER. there are more than a few racist comments/stereotypes, most likely a product of the author’s time period (late 1800s), but nonetheless turned me off of some stories.