Gone With the Wind vs To Kill a Mockingbird: Which Should You Read?

Both live on shelves: Fiction

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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To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee · 1960 ★★★★☆ 4.3 309 pages · ≈ 5 h 43 m · Challenging

“When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.”

One of the best-loved stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than 40 languages, sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, served as the basis for an enormously popular motion picture,…

1 film adaptationBanned book

Compassion Contemporary Fiction Fiction Classics Courage

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Side by side

The verdict

Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
To Kill a Mockingbird is the quickest read — about 5 hours vs 15 for Gone With the Wind.
Gone With the Wind has the widest readership — 1269875 ratings behind its score.

How to choose

Want a one-evening read? To Kill a Mockingbird ≈ 5h vs 15h for Gone With the Wind Want the crowd-tested pick? Gone With the Wind 1269875 ratings vs 139288 for To Kill a Mockingbird

Scores by source

	Gone With the Wind	To Kill a Mockingbird
Goodreads	4.3 (1269875)	4.3 (139288)
Hardcover	3.0 (40)	4.2 (4763)
Google Books	4.5 (9)	3.5 (5)
Apple Books	5.0 (28)	4.5 (5506)

Reception

	Gone With the Wind	To Kill a Mockingbird
Ratings	1269875	139288
Editions	362	213
Film adaptations	1	1
Want to read	952729	2964331
Written reviews	28126	139288
Wikipedia attention	25618	82737
Pages	824	309

Questions readers ask

Which is rated higher: Gone With the Wind or To Kill a Mockingbird?

Gone With the Wind has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Gone With the Wind 4.3/5, To Kill a Mockingbird 4.3/5).

Which is shorter to read: Gone With the Wind or To Kill a Mockingbird?

To Kill a Mockingbird is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: To Kill a Mockingbird (309 pages, ≈ 5 h 43 m); Gone With the Wind (824 pages, ≈ 15 h 16 m).

Which is harder to read: Gone With the Wind or To Kill a Mockingbird?

Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Gone With the Wind: Challenging; To Kill a Mockingbird: Challenging.

Have both books been made into films?

Gone With the Wind: 1 film adaptation; To Kill a Mockingbird: 5 film adaptations.