Can Such Things Be? vs South Sea Tales: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: American Short stories, Short Stories
Can Such Things Be?
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Ambrose Bierce’s second major short story collection, Can Such Things Be? collected nearly all of Bierce’s supernatural horror stories. Bierce himself was a skeptic of the supernatural, having once written a satirical…
South Sea Tales
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Despite the heavy clumsiness of her lines, the Aorai handled easily in the light breeze, and her captain ran her well in before he hove to just outside the suck of the surf. The atoll of Hikueru lay low on the water, a…
Side by side
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- South Sea Tales has the widest readership — 2682 ratings behind its score.
Scores by source
| Can Such Things Be? | South Sea Tales | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | — | 3.8 (2682) |
| Hardcover | 3.8 (7) | 2.0 (3) |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (5) | 4.5 (104) |
Reception
| Can Such Things Be? | South Sea Tales | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 7 | 2682 |
| Editions | 46 | 70 |
| Citations | — | 5 |
| Film adaptations | — | 1 |
| Want to read | — | 2086 |
| Reading it now | — | 344 |
| Written reviews | — | 206 |
| Wikipedia attention | — | 212 |
| Pages | 200 | 157 |
Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: Can Such Things Be? or South Sea Tales?
Can Such Things Be? has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Can Such Things Be? 3.9/5, South Sea Tales 3.8/5).
Which is shorter to read: Can Such Things Be? or South Sea Tales?
South Sea Tales is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: South Sea Tales (157 pages, ≈ 2 h 54 m); Can Such Things Be? (200 pages, ≈ 3 h 42 m).
Which is harder to read: Can Such Things Be? or South Sea Tales?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Can Such Things Be?: Challenging; South Sea Tales: Challenging.