Gone With the Wind vs Meditations: Which Should You Read?

Gone With the Wind Margaret Mitchell · 1936 ★★★★☆ 4.3 824 pages · ≈ 15 h 16 m · Challenging

“SCARLETT O'HARA was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were.”

Margaret Mitchell's monumental epic of the South won a Pulitzer Prize, gave rise to the most popular motion picture of our time, and inspired a sequel that became the fastest selling novel of the century. It is one of…

1 film adaptation

Pulitzer Prize Winner United States Civil War Slavery Historia

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Meditations Marcus Aurelius · 1626 ★★★★☆ 4.3 214 pages · ≈ 3 h 58 m · Demanding

Meditations is a collection of personal reflections and notes by the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (reigned 161 to 180 AD), offering a profound look into the philosophy of Stoicism. It was never intended for…

Stoics Life Ancient Philosophy Ethics

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Side by side

The verdict

Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
Meditations is the quickest read — about 3 hours vs 15 for Gone With the Wind.
Gone With the Wind has the widest readership — 1269875 ratings behind its score.

Gone With the Wind: Check price →Meditations: Check price →

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How to choose

Want a one-evening read? Meditations ≈ 3h vs 15h for Gone With the Wind Want the crowd-tested pick? Gone With the Wind 1269875 ratings vs 378526 for Meditations New to the genre? Gone With the Wind Challenging vs Demanding for Meditations

Scores by source

	Gone With the Wind	Meditations
Goodreads	4.3 (1269875)	4.3 (378526)
Hardcover	3.0 (40)	4.2 (741)
Google Books	4.5 (9)	4.5 (2)
Apple Books	5.0 (28)	4.5 (298)
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Reception

	Gone With the Wind	Meditations
Ratings	1269875	378526
Editions	362	643
Film adaptations	1	1
Want to read	952729	675230
Reading it now	—	122246
Written reviews	28126	22394
Wikipedia attention	25618	31655
Pages	824	214
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Questions readers ask

Which is rated higher: Gone With the Wind or Meditations?

Gone With the Wind has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Gone With the Wind 4.3/5, Meditations 4.3/5).

Which is shorter to read: Gone With the Wind or Meditations?

Meditations is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: Meditations (214 pages, ≈ 3 h 58 m); Gone With the Wind (824 pages, ≈ 15 h 16 m).

Which is harder to read: Gone With the Wind or Meditations?

Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Gone With the Wind: Challenging; Meditations: Demanding.

Have both books been made into films?

Gone With the Wind: 1 film adaptation; Meditations: no film adaptation on record.