The Decameron
The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccioby Giovanni Boccaccio
Shares rank 4 of 13 short story collections by recommenders
People recommend it for its short, self-contained stories that suit dipping in and out. The most common caveat is that it is taxing to read in long stretches.
People recommend it for its short, self-contained stories that suit dipping in and out. The most common caveat is that it is taxing to read in long stretches.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 86%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Short, self-contained stories you can pick up anywhere
“A great feature of The Decameron is that it's easy to read and the chapters are short and largely self contained.”
Comment from 14 Aug 2026 in “Seven books I keep close because I love them” “because it's 100 short stories, you can pretty much pick it up anywhere, read a couple, then put it down again”
Comment from 27 Sep 2026 in “Seven books I keep close because I love them”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Adaptation shares little with the original
“It does not have much in common with the original book other than the setting and the names of some of the characters.”
Comment from 14 Aug 2026 in “Seven books I keep close because I love them” Taxing to read in long stretches
“It's incredibly taxing, enough so that I stopped after 70-ish stories”
Comment from 14 Aug 2026 in “Seven books I keep close because I love them”
Other short story collections people recommend
The four most recommended other short story collections, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exhalationby Ted Chiang | 21 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Stories of Your Life and Othersby Ted Chiang | 15 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Valuable Humans in Transitby qntm | 10 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | Approved |
| The Decameronby Giovanni BoccaccioThis page | 6 | 1 | 86% | 3 | — | — |
| Ficcionesby Jorge Luis Borges | 6 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
5 of the 8 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“because it's 100 short stories, you can pretty much pick it up anywhere, read a couple, then put it down again”
“It's incredibly taxing, enough so that I stopped after 70-ish stories”
“A great feature of The Decameron is that it's easy to read and the chapters are short and largely self contained.”
“It does not have much in common with the original book other than the setting and the names of some of the characters.”
“There's apparently a pretty amusing adaptation on Netflix as well.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.