Introduction

How to formulate a list like this?

Lists are silly. Lists are stupid. Lists change with the weather and time of day.

Lists are fun.

This isn’t a list of the twelve best stories of all time. (Or is it?)

This is a list of twelve stories which have stuck with me for one reason or another for a lot of years. Stories which chewed their way into my brain and squatted there. They still poo out little jolts of delight or terror or sorrow or satori when I least expect it 

I have made no effort to balance this list in any way, though I could have come up with more than twelve tales to talk about. In the end, they are simply twelve stories I really like – some of them I also find useful for teaching.

Lists are fun? You tell me.