Katherine Anne Porter (Papers of Katherine Anne Porter, U of Maryland Libraries Special Collections)
Each week, The nonprofit Library of America offers a free short story, readable online in PDF form. The current “Story of the Week” is “The Charmed Life”< by Katherine Anne Porter. Other recent features include “Charles” by Shirley Jackson (who—yes!—wrote more than just “The Lottery”), the early story “The Cut-Glass Bowl” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and The Wives of the Dead” by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Each story is also accompanied by some commentary that helps set the story in context. This seems like a great—and free—way to discover some lesser-known pieces by well-known American writers. See the current story and all archived pieces on the LOA website, sign up to have the stories sent to you, or follow The Library of America on Facebook to get updated when a new story is posted.
Many thanks to FWR contributor Erika Dreifus of Practing Writing for pointing us to this great resource.
