Orlando vs Ulysses: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Men, Textual Criticism, Historical Fiction, History, Fiction
Orlando
In her most exuberant, most fanciful novel, Woolf has created a character liberated from the restraints of time and sex. Born in the Elizabethan Age to wealth and position, Orlando is a young nobleman at the beginning…
vs
Ulysses
Written over a seven-year period, from 1914 to 1921, this book has survived bowdlerization, legal action and controversy. The novel deals with the events of one day in Dublin, 16th June 1904, now known as "Bloomsday".…
1 film adaptationBanned book
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- Orlando is the quickest read — about 3 hours vs 14 for Ulysses.
- Ulysses has the widest readership — 141363 ratings behind its score.
- Ulysses reaches further in scholarship and criticism — cited 23 times.
How to choose
Scores by source
| Orlando | Ulysses | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 3.9 (122182) | 3.8 (141363) |
| Hardcover | 2.0 (1) | — |
| Google Books | — | 5.0 (2) |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (25) | 4.0 (8) |
Reception
| Orlando | Ulysses | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 122182 | 141363 |
| Editions | 452 | 612 |
| Citations | 22 | 23 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 217706 | 454032 |
| Reading it now | 10968 | 32942 |
| Written reviews | 12896 | 11831 |
| Wikipedia attention | 1731 | 119814 |
| Pages | 194 | 790 |