Is there a way to hide other people's stories from my view on facebook?

Sometimes I'll hop on fb for a few mins and a line of friends' stories line the top of my page. They usually have a thumbnail image.

There are a few friends who I don't want to necessarily block but their images are pretty graphic for my eyes and I'd rather not see them. Is there any way I can just hide the stories like I can hide other content I don't want to see?