"The Dead," James Joyce's classic short story published in 1914. This story concerns a middle-aged man who discovers a secret about his wife's past which leads him to reflect on love and mortality. Set at a lively but haunted Christmas party in Dublin, Ireland, Joyce's story ends with a scene that contains striking similarities to the final scene in "The Lady with the Pet Dog."

"Learning from Chekhov," by Francine Prose, in The Pushcart Prizes, Vol. 13, (1990). This down to earth and amusing novelist and short story writer reflects on a semester of teaching writing students important rules only to see them broken again and again in the stories of Chekhov, which she is reading each night on the bus home. Provides very accessible insights into Chekhov's artistry.

Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy. One of Russia's best known novelists, this is the...