My favorite stories by Borges keep changing, but here’s a list of my top 10 at this moment (in chronological order):
- Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius
- The Circular Ruins
- The Garden of Forking Paths
- Death and the Compass
- The Secret Miracle
- The South
- The Zahir
- The Writing of the God
- The Aleph
- The Book of Sand
Many people know that I am a librarian and may be surprised that The Library of Babel is not on that list. It’s a great story, but it’s so well-known that I wanted to give it an honorary mention and make room for something else on the list. As I said, my favorites keep changing. Perhaps at the end of these thirty days I will have a new list.
In future postings I’m going to be writing about each of the stories I listed, as well as others.
May 23rd, 2006 at 8:43 am
I am absolutely ovewhelmed with El Aleph; it happens to me everytime I read it, this feeling of anxiety grabs me and takes me through the story in such a way that leaves me with nothing but admiration towards Borges.
I read The Circular Ruins when I was, I guess, too young, and didn’t quite like it. Perhaps I should re-read it now, who knows, huh?
Another story that caused extreme feelings in me was Emma Zunz, but these were of impotence and anger.
Very interesting blog, I’ll keep coming!
May 23rd, 2006 at 9:05 am
Romi – thanks for your comment! Do re-read Circular Ruins. I’m going to take another look at Emma Zunz myself. Borges certainly requires multiple readings.
October 25th, 2006 at 10:10 am
thanks for this list. i will attack these first.
best,
e
August 24th, 2009 at 10:46 am
[…] you’re not sure where to start, here’s my top 10 stories by Borges, part of a series of posts I wrote back in 2006: 30 Days with […]
August 25th, 2009 at 10:06 am
How about “The Babylonian Lottery,” his first story (I believe) to be published in English. “The Aleph” is integral to Tomas Eloy Martinez’s “El Cantor de Tango.”
August 25th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Great suggestion, Marc!
I remember back when I made this list that narrowing it down to 10 was really difficult. He had so many great stories.
July 17th, 2010 at 1:19 pm
What an amazing list you have put together. Superb work !
August 6th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
I very much liked both this post and the blog in general… However, I can’t help but be rather taken aback by the fact that The Congress is nowhere to be seen on the top ten list! It crowns my personal list of Borges favourites, closely followed by The Writing of the God and Undr.
August 6th, 2010 at 5:59 pm
@Luciano, thanks for the comment. It was definitely difficult to limit this list to 10. It’s great that the writings of Borges is so rich that there are so many possibilities for one’s favorite story.