Nine Stories vs What We Talk About When We Talk About Love: Which Should You Read?

Both live on shelves: Manners and customs, Short Stories, Fiction

Nine Stories J. D. Salinger · 1948 ★★★★☆ 4.2 204 pages · ≈ 3 h 47 m · Challenging

First published short story volume by the author of Catcher In The Rye.

Runaway teenagers Vida social y costumbres English Short stories Art

Cover of What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love Raymond Carver · 1981 ★★★★☆ 4.0 159 pages · ≈ 2 h 57 m · Moderate

In his second collection of stories, as in his first, Carver's characters are peripheral people--people without education, insight or prospects, people too unimaginative to even give up. Carver celebrates these men and…

Chinese language materials American Short stories

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Side by side

The verdict

Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
Nine Stories has the widest readership — 150284 ratings behind its score.
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love runs the darker storyline; Nine Stories stays the lighter read.

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How to choose

New to the genre? What We Talk About When We Talk About Love Moderate vs Challenging for Nine Stories In the mood for something dark? What We Talk About When We Talk About Love a darker storyline than Nine Stories Want something lighter? Nine Stories an easier tone than What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

Scores by source

	Nine Stories	What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
Goodreads	4.2 (150284)	4.0 (81529)
Hardcover	4.1 (211)	4.0 (145)
Google Books	—	4.0 (1)
Apple Books	4.0 (47)	4.0 (77)
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Reception

	Nine Stories	What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
Ratings	150284	81529
Editions	82	33
Citations	—	108
Film adaptations	1	1
Want to read	251	132609
Reading it now	—	4800
Written reviews	6	8028
Wikipedia attention	3325	6054
Pages	204	159
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Questions readers ask

Which is rated higher: Nine Stories or What We Talk About When We Talk About Love?

Nine Stories has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Nine Stories 4.2/5, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love 4.0/5).

Which is shorter to read: Nine Stories or What We Talk About When We Talk About Love?

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (159 pages, ≈ 2 h 57 m); Nine Stories (204 pages, ≈ 3 h 47 m).

Which is harder to read: Nine Stories or What We Talk About When We Talk About Love?

Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Nine Stories: Challenging; What We Talk About When We Talk About Love: Moderate.