South Sea Tales vs The Bazaar of Bad Dreams: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: American Short stories, Short Stories, Fiction
South Sea Tales
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Despite the heavy clumsiness of her lines, the Aorai handled easily in the light breeze, and her captain ran her well in before he hove to just outside the suck of the surf. The atoll of Hikueru lay low on the water, a…
The Bazaar of Bad Dreams
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"A master storyteller at his best--the O. Henry Prize winner Stephen King delivers a generous collection of stories, several of them brand-new, featuring revelatory autobiographical comments on when, why, and how he…
Side by side
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- South Sea Tales is the quickest read — about 2 hours vs 9 for The Bazaar of Bad Dreams.
- The Bazaar of Bad Dreams has the widest readership — 69808 ratings behind its score.
How to choose
Scores by source
| South Sea Tales | The Bazaar of Bad Dreams | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 3.8 (2682) | 3.9 (69808) |
| Hardcover | 2.0 (3) | 3.7 (188) |
| Google Books | — | 4.0 (1) |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (104) | 4.5 (852) |
Reception
| South Sea Tales | The Bazaar of Bad Dreams | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 2682 | 69808 |
| Editions | 70 | 22 |
| Citations | 5 | — |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 2086 | — |
| Reading it now | 344 | — |
| Written reviews | 206 | — |
| Wikipedia attention | 212 | 3503 |
| Pages | 157 | 495 |
Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: South Sea Tales or The Bazaar of Bad Dreams?
The Bazaar of Bad Dreams has the higher combined reader rating across sources (The Bazaar of Bad Dreams 3.9/5, South Sea Tales 3.8/5).
Which is shorter to read: South Sea Tales or The Bazaar of Bad Dreams?
South Sea Tales is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: South Sea Tales (157 pages, ≈ 2 h 54 m); The Bazaar of Bad Dreams (495 pages, ≈ 9 h 10 m).
Which is harder to read: South Sea Tales or The Bazaar of Bad Dreams?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — South Sea Tales: Challenging; The Bazaar of Bad Dreams: Moderate.