100 books like The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway

By Ernest Hemingway,

Here are 100 books that The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway fans have personally recommended if you like The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction

James Phelps Author Of Australia's Most Infamous Jail: Inside the walls of Pentridge Prison

From my list on getting any writer started in the industry.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am passionate about this book list because it helped me get where I am today, a multiple-times bestselling author and an award-winning senior reporter. I began working as an overnight police round reporter before moving into sports, where I became one of Australia's best news-breaking rugby league journalists. I was then appointed News Corp Australia's Chief National Motorsports Writer and traveled the world chasing Formula 1 story, as well as covering Australia's V8 Supercar races. Everyone has to start somewhere, and for me, this list of books helped me begin and continue to grow to reach the level of success that I have.

James' book list on getting any writer started in the industry

James Phelps Why did James love this book?

This one didn’t change my life, but it did provide me with a no-nonsense guide to pesky things like conjunctions and clauses, superlatives and synonyms, prepositions and pronouns, and, obviously, alliteration. Ha. 

What I liked most about this book is that it isn’t written like a textbook. I read what is widely considered to be the writer's bible, The Elements of Style by William Struck and E.B. White, and considered giving up on my dream of becoming a writer because the book made me feel as if only someone with an Einstein-like intellect could write. 

But, as Mr. King wrote, the story is what matters; everything else is just dressing. But in saying that, being able to string together sentences helps (I think my jokes are funny, but no one else does), and this book gives a simple explanation of how to make your copy sing.

By William Zinsser,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked On Writing Well as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

On Writing Well has been praised for its sound advice, its clarity and the warmth of its style. It is a book for everybody who wants to learn how to write or who needs to do some writing to get through the day, as almost everybody does in the age of e-mail and the Internet.

Whether you want to write about people or places, science and technology, business, sports, the arts or about yourself in the increasingly popular memoir genre, On Writing Well offers you fundamental priciples as well as the insights of a distinguished writer and teacher. With more…


Book cover of Sentences and Paragraphs

Natalie Canavor Author Of Business Writing for Dummies

From my list on writing persuasive messages that win what you want.

Why am I passionate about this?

Early in my career I landed a job as a magazine editor. Shazam! I could publish my own articles! But I discovered that I actually had no idea how to write anything interesting, English major though I’d been. So I began to figure out what makes writing work. Over decades as a journalist, corporate communicator, and consultant, I did learn. I also saw colleagues miss their best opportunities, even screw up their lives, by writing badly—unpersuasively. And a mission was born: to share the tools and techniques of powerful communication. I’ve created dozens of workshops for businesspeople and professionals, taught graduate students, and now happily author books jammed with practical advice. 

Natalie's book list on writing persuasive messages that win what you want

Natalie Canavor Why did Natalie love this book?

Where does persuasive writing start? Whether you’re writing fiction, journalism, or a business message, good sentences are the key. Write good sentences and you write well in all fields. Bad sentences doom your writing. This tight 76-page book shows how to achieve simple, clear sentences, and at the same time build in power and even drama. Euchner moves on to cover paragraphs: how to find the focus of each and create logical, one-idea units. This is the book I wish I’d been given somewhere along the line in school, or later—it would have saved me a lot of trial-and-error! Like Euchner, I believe you need not study grammar rules to write well—that route has always put me to sleep.

By Charles Euchner,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sentences and Paragraphs as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Ernest Hemingway one remarked that the ultimate challenge of writing is to produce "one true sentence." If you can write one great sentence, you can write two, three, and more great sentences. If you can write many great sentences, line after line, you can master any writing project from a school paper to a published book.

So: Can you craft “one true sentence,” again and again?

Sentences and Paragraphs, by Charles Euchner, is the completely updated best-selling and most authoritative book available on the essential two units of writing. Building on the foundation of The Golden Rule of Writing, Charles…


Book cover of Simply Speaking: How to Communicate Your Ideas with Style, Substance, and Clarity

Natalie Canavor Author Of Business Writing for Dummies

From my list on writing persuasive messages that win what you want.

Why am I passionate about this?

Early in my career I landed a job as a magazine editor. Shazam! I could publish my own articles! But I discovered that I actually had no idea how to write anything interesting, English major though I’d been. So I began to figure out what makes writing work. Over decades as a journalist, corporate communicator, and consultant, I did learn. I also saw colleagues miss their best opportunities, even screw up their lives, by writing badly—unpersuasively. And a mission was born: to share the tools and techniques of powerful communication. I’ve created dozens of workshops for businesspeople and professionals, taught graduate students, and now happily author books jammed with practical advice. 

Natalie's book list on writing persuasive messages that win what you want

Natalie Canavor Why did Natalie love this book?

Why do I recommend a book on speechwriting? For the same reasons my book covers spoken communication. Good speeches base on the written word and in turn, yield many lessons for all writers. For example, “sayability” is a hallmark of writing that works, and a good way to check yourself. Noonan’s book also reminds us of what matters most: Deciding what you want to say—the substance. Fancy language never camouflages empty thought. Rather than trying to manipulate people, reach them with sincerity and specific language that’s “simple, unadorned, direct, declarative.” Noonan recommends appealing to the brain with logic. Psychologists, meanwhile, stress that we make most decisions based on emotion—but I think both are right: Persuasive writing reaches both heart and mind. 

By Peggy Noonan,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Simply Speaking as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Advice from Peggy Noonan:"The most moving thing in a speech is its logic. It's not the flowery words or flourishes, it's not the sentimental exhortations, it's never the faux poetry we're all subjected to these days. It's the logic behind your case. A good case well argued and well said is inherently moving. It shows respect for the brains of the listeners. There is an implicit compliment in it. It shows you're a serious person and understand that you are talking to other serious people.

No speech should last more than 20 minutes. Why? Because Ronald Reagan said so. Reagan…


Book cover of The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America

Natalie Canavor Author Of Business Writing for Dummies

From my list on writing persuasive messages that win what you want.

Why am I passionate about this?

Early in my career I landed a job as a magazine editor. Shazam! I could publish my own articles! But I discovered that I actually had no idea how to write anything interesting, English major though I’d been. So I began to figure out what makes writing work. Over decades as a journalist, corporate communicator, and consultant, I did learn. I also saw colleagues miss their best opportunities, even screw up their lives, by writing badly—unpersuasively. And a mission was born: to share the tools and techniques of powerful communication. I’ve created dozens of workshops for businesspeople and professionals, taught graduate students, and now happily author books jammed with practical advice. 

Natalie's book list on writing persuasive messages that win what you want

Natalie Canavor Why did Natalie love this book?

Warren Buffet, the famous investor, is also revered as a master communicator. His annual Letters to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders are models of clear, transparent writing. They are the best showcases I know for the impact of presenting difficult material in “plain English.” Buffet makes financial information accessible and even interesting to the layperson with an unassuming colloquial tone, humor, anecdotes, and language based on the concrete short words of natural speech. He always delivers substance, even acknowledging his own poor decisions.

The enviable result: he generates trust, the critical ingredient of persuasion. I love introducing students to Buffet’s writing and seeing them analyze what works so well. The letters are available online, but this book usefully collects them along with other Buffet writings and commentary.

By Lawrence A. Cunningham, Warren Buffett,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Essays of Warren Buffett as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The fifth edition of The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America continues a 25-year tradition of collating Warren Buffett's philosophy in a historic collaboration between Mr. Buffett and Prof. Lawrence Cunningham. As the book Buffett autographs most, its popularity and longevity attest to the widespread appetite for this unique compilation of Mr. Buffett’s thoughts that is at once comprehensive, non-repetitive, and digestible. New and experienced readers alike will gain an invaluable informal education by perusing this classic arrangement of Mr. Buffett's best writings.


“Larry Cunningham has done a great job at collating our philosophy.”—Warren Buffett


"Larry Cunningham takes…


Book cover of To Have and Have Another: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion

Michael P. Foley Author Of Drinking with the Saints: The Sinner's Guide to a Holy Happy Hour

From my list on culture and booze.

Why am I passionate about this?

One of my fondest childhood memories is the holiday parties that my parents threw. Lying in bed I could hear roars of laughter crash the silence and gently ebb as the grownups shared stories and made merry. Later in life, I came to realize how different that kind of drinking is from the frat-boy binging of college and the anxious bracers at singles’ bars. As an adult, I became a Catholic theologian, got married, and had a family of my own. My wife Alexandra and I have relished an evening cocktail together in order to unwind and catch up on each other’s day (Alexandra has homeschooled all six of our children, which is itself a compelling reason to drink daily).

Michael's book list on culture and booze

Michael P. Foley Why did Michael love this book?

Philip Greene is probably the world’s greatest living cocktail historian (how cool is that?). I am personally grateful to him for correcting and guiding my own work. Greene has written several excellent cocktail books. In To Have and Have Another, he canvases Hemingway’s personal preferences as well as the drinks featured in his writings. I hope that Greene one day does something similar with Evelyn Waugh and his novels, though it may fill several volumes.

By Philip Greene,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked To Have and Have Another as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Ernest Hemingway is nearly as famous for his drinking as he is for his writing. Throughout his collected works, Papa's sensuous explorations of the delights of imbibing engaged both his characters and his readers.

In To Have and Have Another: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion, Philip Greene, cocktail historian, spirits consultant, and cofounder of the Museum of the American Cocktail, offers us a view of Papa through the lens Papa himself preferred—the bottom of a glass.

A bartender’s manual for Hemingway enthusiasts, this revised and expanded volume offers a unique take on Hemingway’s oeuvre that privileges the tastes, smells, and colors…


Book cover of The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway

Norrin M. Ripsman Author Of Song Book

From my list on short stories for a cottage trip.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love a good short story that can convey character, emotion, and complexity. While a novel allows the writer (and the reader) to delve into the chaotic complexity of a single set of characters, a good short story collection can explore a range of humanity and a diversity of moods or feelings.  This was my motivation in writing my book. I believe a good short story collection on a well-grounded theme (such as the contributions to this list by Doerr, Kundera, and Munro) can often reveal more about human nature than an excellent novel.

Norrin's book list on short stories for a cottage trip

Norrin M. Ripsman Why did Norrin love this book?

This is the quintessential short story collection by a minimalist who doesn’t write just to write. I love the fact that the stories are not contrived. He doesn’t force anything.

The characters, the setting, and the story just interact and produce real, believable results. Hemingway doesn’t stretch credulity, the ridiculous, or the fantastic, yet transports you to his world with a few efficient lines.

By Ernest Hemingway,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The complete, authoritative collection of Ernest Hemingway's short fiction, including classic stories like "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," and "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber," along with seven previously unpublished stories.

In this definitive collection of the Nobel Prize-winning author’s short stories, readers will delight in Hemingway’s most beloved classics such as "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," "Hills Like White Elephants," and "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," and will discover seven new tales published for the first time in this collection, totaling in sixty stories. This collection demonstrates Hemingway’s ability to write beautiful prose for each distinct story,…


Book cover of Hemingway's Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost

Peter Guralnick Author Of Looking to Get Lost: Adventures in Music and Writing

From my list on biographical reading from a biographer.

Why am I passionate about this?

Peter Guralnick has been called "a national resource" by critic Nat Hentoff for work that has argued passionately and persuasively for the vitality of this country’s intertwined black and white musical traditions. His books include the prize-winning two-volume biography of Elvis Presley, Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love; Searching for Robert Johnson; Sweet Soul Music; and Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke. His 2015 biography, Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ‘n’ Roll, was a finalist for the Plutarch Award for Best Biography of the Year, awarded by the Biographers International Organization. His most recent book is Looking to Get Lost: Adventures in Music and Writing.

Peter's book list on biographical reading from a biographer

Peter Guralnick Why did Peter love this book?

It was Hemingway’s Boat, with its discursive Shandean style, that set the tone for my book. It was the only way I knew to tell a story that was so uniquely decentralized, so rollickingly exploratory, but I couldn’t begin to rival Paul Hendrickson, who remains the master of the tangential truth, digging deeper into the soul of the man than any Hemingway biography I have ever read – by focusing on his boat. At one point in my Phillips biography, after wandering off-course for 60 pages and finally coming back to the narrative moment I had abandoned, I wrote, “For all of my faith in extended digression I hope I haven’t stretched the limits of reader patience too much by now. Let me just pick up the thread.” But this is nothing compared to Paul Hendrickson’s masterful command of seemingly structureless story-telling, the non-fiction equivalent of some of Alice…

By Paul Hendrickson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Hemingway's Boat as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"A man who let who let his own insides get eaten out by the diseases of fame had dreamed new books on this boat. He'd taught his sons to reel in something that feels like Moby Dick on this boat. He'd accidentally shot himself in both legs on this boat. He'd fallen drunk from the flying bridge on this boat. He'd written achy, generous, uplifting, poetic letters on this boat. He'd propositioned women on this boat. He'd hunted German subs on this boat. He'd saved guests and family members from shark attack on this boat. He'd acted like a bully…


Book cover of Mrs. Hemingway

Caroline Lamond Author Of Well Behaved Women

From my list on inspired by the lives of real women.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a historical fiction writer, every time I learn about an amazing woman, I instinctively want to write about her, to understand her life and bring her – often forgotten – story to a wider audience. It’s a wonderful way to live vicariously, and it’s a privilege to spend time in these women’s worlds for a brief period. There’s a Sylvia Plath quote that strongly resonates with me, beginning: ‘I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want…’. Reading and writing historical fiction allows me a glimpse into the worlds of different people living different lives in different eras, and for that I’m extremely grateful.

Caroline's book list on inspired by the lives of real women

Caroline Lamond Why did Caroline love this book?

I knew very little about Ernest Hemingway before I read the book, so didn’t approach it as a fan of him wanting to know more.

The book came highly recommended, and I was intrigued by the women that surrounded this controversial figure. Mrs Hemingway covers parts of the lives of each of his four wives, each so differently and wonderfully told. We see Hadley, Fife, Martha, and Mary in relation to Hemingway, but there’s no doubt that this novel is all about them, their thoughts and emotions. It’s brilliantly written and masterfully conveys a sense of the time period too.

By Naomi Wood,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Mrs. Hemingway as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In the dazzling summer of 1926, Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley travel from their home in Paris to a villa in the south of France. They swim, play bridge and drink gin. But wherever they go they are accompanied by the glamorous and irrepressible Fife. Fife is Hadley's best friend. She is also Ernest's lover.

Hadley is the first Mrs. Hemingway, but neither she nor Fife will be the last. Over the ensuing decades, Ernest's literary career will blaze a trail, but his marriages will be ignited by passion and deceit. Four extraordinary women will learn what it means…


Book cover of A Moveable Feast

Stephen Rowley Author Of The Lost Coin: A Memoir of Adoption and Destiny

From my list on memoirs that will ignite your soul.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am captivated by memoirs that shed light on the deeper life experiences of their authors. My curiosity about inner life compelled me to learn about the psychological essence of memoir writers, resulting in my writing a memoir from an in-depth psychological perspective. My curiosity also led me to become a psychotherapist, which helped me better navigate dark and uncertain waters with my clients. By probing the inner psychological dynamics of such memoirs, I learned more about myself and became a writer with rare psychological insight. Such illumination served to ignite my very soul. My passion is fueled by tapping the mysteries of what lies within us all. 

Stephen's book list on memoirs that will ignite your soul

Stephen Rowley Why did Stephen love this book?

At age 15, I was captivated by Ernest Hemingway and his depiction of Paris in the 1920s. This book today reignites the enchantment of those years. Hemingway's profound influence shaped my aspirations as a writer. Through his eyes, I can vividly see Paris's cafés, salons, and vibrant social scenes, which ultimately became the backdrop of my dreams.

This book, rich with lovemaking, drinking, writing, betting at the track, and the bohemian lifestyle of so many young artists in Paris, reawakens my desire to immerse myself in that world. Hemingway's narrative voice and his novels continue to speak to me in a language that feels intimately mine, reminding me of the undying impact of his work on my life and aspirations.

By Ernest Hemingway,

Why should I read it?

13 authors picked A Moveable Feast as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Published posthumously in 1964, A Moveable Feast remains one of Ernest Hemingway's most beloved works. Since Hemingway's personal papers were released in 1979, scholars have examined and debated the changes made to the text before publication. Now this new special restored edition presents the original manuscript as the author prepared it to be published.

Featuring a personal foreword by Patrick Hemingway, Ernest's sole surviving son, and an introduction by the editor and grandson of the author, Sean Hemingway, this new edition also includes a number of unfinished, never-before-published Paris sketches revealing experiences that Hemingway had with his son Jack and…


Book cover of Nancy Cunard

Anne De Courcy Author Of Magnificent Rebel: Nancy Cunard in Jazz Age Paris

From my list on the social history of the inter-war years.

Why am I passionate about this?

Social history has always been my passion: unless you know how people thought, felt and lived, even down to how they dressed and ate, it is often impossible to understand why they acted as they did. And no period is as fascinating to me as the inter-war years; after WW1, the greatest conflict the world had ever seen, the upcoming generations determined to break barriers, discard the last vestiges of what they saw as hidebound custom, to invent new, freer ways of writing, painting, dancing - and to have fun. And for most of this post-war generation, there was nowhere like Paris.

Anne's book list on the social history of the inter-war years

Anne De Courcy Why did Anne love this book?

This elegantly written biography helped me to know my subject.

It was especially vivid on what it was like to be the child of an Edwardian hostess, the minimal effect of WW1 on the day-to-day life of Great Britain and the effect of this on later life. It is a model of what a biography should be: thoughtful, clear, interesting, and perceptive.

By Anne Chisholm,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Nancy Cunard as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From Wikipedia: Nancy Clara Cunard (10 March 1896 – 17 March 1965) was a writer, heiress and political activist. She was born into the British upper class but strongly rejected her family's values, devoting much of her life to fighting racism and fascism. She became a muse to some of the 20th century's most distinguished writers and artists, including Wyndham Lewis, Aldous Huxley, Tristan Tzara, Ezra Pound and Louis Aragon, who were among her lovers, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Constantin Brâncuşi, Langston Hughes, Man Ray, and William Carlos Williams. MI5 documents reveal that she was involved with Indian socialist leader…


Book cover of On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
Book cover of Sentences and Paragraphs
Book cover of Simply Speaking: How to Communicate Your Ideas with Style, Substance, and Clarity

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Interested in Ernest Hemingway, masculinity, and persuasion?

Ernest Hemingway 51 books
Masculinity 36 books
Persuasion 21 books