Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules vs South Sea Tales: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: American Short stories, Short Stories
Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules
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From the internationally bestselling author of Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris, comes a collection of his favorite short stories from acclaimed authors such as Flannery O'Connor, Jhumpa Lahiri, Tobias Wolff, and…
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
- Readers rate South Sea Tales highest: South Sea Tales 3.8 · Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules 3.6.
- South Sea Tales is the quickest read — about 2 hours vs 6 for Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules.
- South Sea Tales has the widest readership — 2682 ratings behind its score.
How to choose
Scores by source
| Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules | South Sea Tales | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | — | 3.8 (2682) |
| Hardcover | 3.7 (15) | 2.0 (3) |
| Apple Books | 3.5 (61) | 4.5 (104) |
Reception
| Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules | South Sea Tales | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 61 | 2682 |
| Editions | 6 | 70 |
| Citations | — | 5 |
| Film adaptations | — | 1 |
| Want to read | — | 2086 |
| Reading it now | — | 344 |
| Written reviews | — | 206 |
| Wikipedia attention | 147 | 212 |
| Pages | 344 | 157 |
Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules or South Sea Tales?
South Sea Tales has the higher combined reader rating across sources (South Sea Tales 3.8/5, Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules 3.6/5).
Which is shorter to read: Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules 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); Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules (344 pages, ≈ 6 h 22 m).
Which is harder to read: Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules or South Sea Tales?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules: Moderate; South Sea Tales: Challenging.