The Left Hand of Darkness vs The Tell-Tale Heart: Which Should You Read?
The Left Hand of Darkness
[Comment by Kim Stanley Robinson, on The Guardian's website][1]: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin (1969) One of my favorite novels is The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K Le Guin. For more than 40 years…
vs
The Tell-Tale Heart
A thrilling, macabre collection of Edgar Allan Poe’s greatest short stories and poems, as well as his only full-length novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym Edgar Allan Poe remains the unsurpassed master of works of…
1 film adaptation
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- The Tell-Tale Heart has the widest readership — 131059 ratings behind its score.
- The Tell-Tale Heart runs the darker storyline; The Left Hand of Darkness stays the lighter read.
How to choose
Scores by source
| The Left Hand of Darkness | The Tell-Tale Heart | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.3 (262) | 4.2 (131059) |
| Hardcover | 3.0 (2) | 4.1 (274) |
| Google Books | — | 5.0 (1) |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (576) | 4.5 (6) |
Reception
| The Left Hand of Darkness | The Tell-Tale Heart | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 576 | 131059 |
| Editions | 91 | — |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 502 | 54061 |
| Reading it now | 15 | 897 |
| Written reviews | 27 | 7221 |
| Wikipedia attention | 34258 | 14419 |
| Pages | 329 | 226 |