Drawing from life vs Telling Tales: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Authorship, Biography & Memoir
Drawing from life
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Meet Jerry Mathers, who, though resembling the middle-aged “Beaver,” bears no other relation, having been born in the 1970s when that illusion of American life was almost a decade dead. His mother, widowed by the…
Telling Tales
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Young writers have historically played a pivotal role in shaping autobiographical genres and this continues into the graphic and digital texts which characterise contemporary life writing. This volume offers a selection…
Side by side
The verdict
- Readers rate Drawing from life highest: Drawing from life 3.9 · Telling Tales 3.6.
- Telling Tales is the quickest read — about 2 hours vs 5 for Drawing from life.
- Telling Tales has the widest readership — 560 ratings behind its score.
How to choose
Scores by source
| Drawing from life | Telling Tales | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.0 (46) | 3.6 (560) |
| Hardcover | 3.5 (2) | 4.0 (25) |
| Google Books | 3.0 (5) | — |
Reception
| Drawing from life | Telling Tales | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 46 | 560 |
| Editions | 8 | 6 |
| Want to read | 22 | — |
| Reading it now | 2 | — |
| Wikipedia attention | — | 18 |
| Pages | 300 | 156 |
Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: Drawing from life or Telling Tales?
Drawing from life has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Drawing from life 3.9/5, Telling Tales 3.6/5).
Which is shorter to read: Drawing from life or Telling Tales?
Telling Tales is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: Telling Tales (156 pages, ≈ 2 h 53 m); Drawing from life (300 pages, ≈ 5 h 33 m).
Which is harder to read: Drawing from life or Telling Tales?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Drawing from life: Light; Telling Tales: Moderate.