How Fast Do You Read?

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Ben.

Well-Known Member
But I have no idea how fast you read!

Standard 400 page novel takes me about 10 hours to read. There are so many variables, though - print size, density of the writing itself etc. I only read probably 30 novels in a year and that's because some are huge and some are small. I had to think hard about this I don't usually tally or measure. I just read.
 

Narvic

Well-Known Member
Oct 7, 2013
1,417
6,245
Chicago
I've seen people say that they read books at a very fast rate which blows my mind (80 a year? =O). By the end of the year, I will have read 8 books for 2013. 11/22/63 took about 2 months. Granted, I watch a lot of TV shows and played a lot of video games which I plan on scaling back.

How fast do you read books? Any tips for those of us trying to speed up?

Fun topic Lord Tyrion. I don't know how fast I read, but I do know that I prefer books that are written from the point of view that makes it seem like the story is happening in "real time". I'd have to get out some paper and make a chart using the books I like to narrow that down because I doubt they are all written in first person... I don't really read comic books well either, as the pictures seem to break the rhythm of my reading.

Lastly, if I start a book and put it down without finishing it for more than a week that is a book I will never finish. Have even gone back later thinking oh, I'll try that one again. Nope! Not referring to manuals or textbooks of course, those ya just have to plod through.
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
There are a number of locations on-line where one can maintain a record of what one reads...sites that have libraries of information about books and you can add a book if they don't have it listed, as I have done at one site. There one can also date a read and if you've been reading for a number of years, it is interesting to look back. Unfortunately, for some years, everything is a blank...while other years, the memory is as alive as yesterday. Last year I surprised myself by reading something like 180+ titles...the most of any year...and included in that 180+ are long reads like James Jones's, From Here to Eternity, that I read from 4-11 DEC, a solid week/828 pages...or The Woman Chaser, Charles Willeford, that I read in a day or less/192 pages...or Jonathan Franzen's, The Corrections, that I read 26-29 JAN, four days/610 pages.

This year I've read 92 (my goal is a hundred)...in 2010 I read 96...2011/125...but for some years, I can only remember reading 8 books for the year. Half the battle is knowing what to read...I wish I had access to the information I have access to now, back when I was lost in the library, pulling books at random from the shelf...few of them had snazzy dust-jackets...just a name and a title. I don't think it matters how fast you read, as I've also been rereading some of the titles I read way back when...Steinbeck's, East of Eden, his The Winter of Our Discontent...and heh! It's funny what one remembers from the first pass through...me, almost nothing...although in that last from Steinbeck, one of his characters writes the time on a block of wood (in his mind) and tosses it into the black water...the time he needs to get up and get going. I've been doing that ever since...and rereading it this past year was a hoot as I didn't recall reading that until I read it again in the story. Funny what the mind remembers.

“the thing about books is, there are quite a number you don't have to read.”
--Donald Barthelme, The King


"Steinbeck's, East of Eden, his The Winter of Our Discontent...and heh! It's funny what one remembers from the first pass through...":welcoming:
 

Matthew Courtney

New Member
Nov 18, 2013
1
7
46
I wish I could read as fast as I could when I was younger. Adult ADD I bet. lol. I was wondering a couple things. A. How to complete a whole new thread topic and B. Has anyone wondered what happened to Carrie after the first book/ movie. I don't mean Sissy Spacek or anything like that, but following Doctor Sleep and the return of little Dan from the Shining, we are entering an area never reached before. Life beyond the happily ever after concept. Cheers.
 

jacobtlong

Well-Known Member
Jun 13, 2008
3,646
4,879
33
Mobile, Alabama
I have completed 22 books so far this year. But I don't think that indicates how fast I read. It mostly indicates how little I have read this year. But this year is a large improvement compared to last year.

In terms of speed I know my Kindle knows how long it will take for me to read a book. I think I take about two minutes per page depending on font size. Or about thirteen and a half hours for a 400 page book.
 

FlakeNoir

Original Kiwi© SKMB®
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
44,082
175,641
New Zealand
I wish I could read as fast as I could when I was younger. Adult ADD I bet. lol. I was wondering a couple things. A. How to complete a whole new thread topic and B. Has anyone wondered what happened to Carrie after the first book/ movie. I don't mean Sissy Spacek or anything like that, but following Doctor Sleep and the return of little Dan from the Shining, we are entering an area never reached before. Life beyond the happily ever after concept. Cheers.

Hi Matthew, welcome to the site. :) Just checking if I'm reading your above message right, are you wanting to know how to post a new thread?
The Post New Thread button is situated: top right of page in each Forum.
 

goathunter

Well-Known Member
May 9, 2008
310
495
Like many of you, I used to read tons more---and much faster---than I do now. I used to read at least one book a week, and often two, depending on the size. These days, with limited reading time, it sometimes takes me a month to read a book I used to read in less than a week. Case in point: I flew through Doctor Sleep, reading it in about 5 days. But I'm in my second week of The Cuckoo's Calling, and I'm only on page 88. I'm enjoying it, it just hasn't captured my interest enough to make me want to read it, so I get distracted by reading the news, email, etc. (Getting an iPad was both good and bad: it's great to be able to run Kindle, NOOK, etc, apps on one device, but I also find myself not reading as much because it's so easy to do other things on the iPad (news, Facebook, Twitter, etc).)

Hunter
 

Lina

Committed member
Jun 24, 2009
3,356
6,024
Russia
I am a slow reader... But not because I am just so slow in the life, I simply do not have time... When I'm on vacations I can read a book in two weeks, and that's okay. But when I am working it takes me about three months to finish a 500-pages book... I would love to read more, I so much miss reading! But when I have only 3 hours of free time every day, that's hard to find time for everything...:big_tears:
 

skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
15,683
92,168
USA
Depends on the book. I'm a fast reader of pop fiction, especially if I can get uninterrupted time. Even pop non-fiction goes down pretty easy. Denser non-fiction takes longer, though. I have to stop every few pages and think about what I just read. And I've found that some fiction is like this, too--Salman Rushdie defeats me nearly every time.
 

Elijah Sattler

Well-Known Member
Nov 25, 2013
73
389
24
TX
If a books got me (like when I read Joyland, I read that within four days or so, staying up until five o' the clock to finish it) it can take a week. Thats rare for me, though, I have a lot of stress and it usually takes a while to get gripped into a book even though thats what I use to cope. Right now I can read a page in 3 minutes O_O I need to step my crap up xD even if I like to soke up everything in the novels I read, but I am just slo-ow!
 

Lisey Landon

Well-Known Member
May 20, 2009
754
3,966
Germany
I have never tested how fast I read, but in school I was the fastest reader.
However, for the last few years, I have had BIG problems reading more than a few pages at the time, then I get restless or sleepy. After I got kindle on my ipad, it is much better, because I can jump back and forth from book to internet without leaving my book somewhere. So, I actually manage to read more and more now, which is great, because I have missed getting lost in a good book. Hopefully, I will be back to "normal" soon!!
 
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Christine62

Well-Known Member
Nov 7, 2013
493
3,127
62
Oklahoma City
I've seen people say that they read books at a very fast rate which blows my mind (80 a year? =O). By the end of the year, I will have read 8 books for 2013. 11/22/63 took about 2 months. Granted, I watch a lot of TV shows and played a lot of video games which I plan on scaling back.

How fast do you read books? Any tips for those of us trying to speed up?

Why would you want to speed up? What is the rush? Maybe audio books are faster--they seem that way to me. My first grade teacher said it first, "Christine, you are the pokiest girl." And at 51, I still read slow--but with Mr. King it's a pleasure to wade slowly in his word pool. We are so used to watching a show with 8 screen cuts every three minutes--reading is a natural slow grazing animal who is on a journey 800 pages long. Relax and enjoy the trip. The library will still be there when you get back.
 

Lord Tyrion

Well-Known Member
Oct 24, 2013
1,582
6,257
Why would you want to speed up? What is the rush? Maybe audio books are faster--they seem that way to me. My first grade teacher said it first, "Christine, you are the pokiest girl." And at 51, I still read slow--but with Mr. King it's a pleasure to wade slowly in his word pool. We are so used to watching a show with 8 screen cuts every three minutes--reading is a natural slow grazing animal who is on a journey 800 pages long. Relax and enjoy the trip. The library will still be there when you get back.

In general, I would like to get through more books throughout the year. When I read 8 books a year and hear others going much faster, it motivates me to read more.