This collection gathers together the works by O. Henry in a single, convenient, high quality, and extremely low priced Kindle volume! This book contains now several HTML tables of contents that will make reading a real pleasure!
Contents :
Cabbages and Kings The Four Million The Trimmed Lamp Heart of the West The Voice of the City The Gentle Grafter Roads of Destiny Options Strictly Business Whirligigs Sixes and Sevens Rolling Stones Waifs and Strays O. Henryana Uncollected Stories and Poems
Such volumes as Cabbages and Kings (1904) and The Four Million (1906) collect short stories, noted for their often surprising endings, of American writer William Sydney Porter, who used the pen name O. Henry.
His biography shows where he found inspiration for his characters. His era produced their voices and his language.
Mother of three-year-old Porter died from tuberculosis. He left school at fifteen years of age and worked for five years in drugstore of his uncle and then for two years at a Texas sheep ranch.
In 1884, he went to Austin, where he worked in a real estate office and a church choir and spent four years as a draftsman in the general land office. His wife and firstborn died, but daughter Margaret survived him.
He failed to establish a small humorous weekly and afterward worked in poorly-run bank. When its accounts balanced not, people blamed and fired him.
In Houston, he worked for a few years until, ordered to stand trial for embezzlement, he fled to New Orleans and thence Honduras.
Two years later, he returned on account of illness of his wife. Apprehended, Porter served a few months more than three years in a penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio. During his incarceration, he composed ten short stories, including A Blackjack Bargainer, The Enchanted Kiss, and The Duplicity of Hargraves.
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he sent manuscripts to New York editors. In the spring of 1902, Ainslee's Magazine offered him a regular income if he moved to New York.
People rewarded other persons financially more. A Retrieved Reformation about the safe-cracker Jimmy Valentine got $250; six years later, $500 for dramatic rights, which gave over $100,000 royalties for playwright Paul Armstrong. Many stories have been made into films.
I have always enjoyed reading O.Henry's short stories. This book provides his complete works. It has taken me a long time to finish reading 1692 pages. Even holding this large volume was difficult. Not every story in the book is a gem. I really liked about 36 stories. The rest of the stories were still wonderful to read -- intriguing characters, often baffling plots, and rye humor. O.Henry's extensive vocabulary caused me to keep my dictionary handy. The last short story in the book, "The Snow Man," was very touching and compelling. It was the last story O.Henry wrote before his death.