How Fast Do You Read?

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Kurben

The Fool on the Hill
Apr 12, 2014
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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?
No not really. Personally i follow just a few TV-shows so have time to read. Just finished Dr. Sleep and that took about 3 days which is neither fast nor slow for me. It means ca 150-200 pages a day. I dont know the number of books i read a year or month, never counted, but at least 10 a month, sometimes more.
 

booklover72

very strange person
Jan 12, 2014
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I read very fast unfortunately, the problem is reading so fast, you will miss something. I would like to be a slow reader and really enjoy the book. I have been known to read 6 hours a day if the book is excellent. i thing i read 11/22/63 in Three weeks. again reading so fast the little details don't sink in. As GNTLGNT says, it's not a race, read the book at your pace and enjoy the Journey. I read so much, I don't look at TV. Do housework and listen to music and read. I am useless when it comes to audiobooks. I guess i love the printed page.
 

RandallFlagg19

Well-Known Member
May 5, 2014
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A game of thrones: 1 week
Clash of Kings: 3 weeks
A storm of Swords: 3 weeks
A Feast of Crows: 2 weeks
A Dance of Dragons: 1 week
Hunger Game Trilogy: 1 week
Gung Slinger and Drawing of the three: 2 days
The Wastelands: 3 weeks
Wizard and Glass: 10 weeks
Wolves of the Calla: 4 days
Song of Susana: 3 days
The Dark Tower: 5 days
 

EMTP513

Well-Known Member
Oct 31, 2012
503
1,923
I use to be much faster without the kids. I am slower because I have to fit reading in now. I try to do something every day. If it's not print, it's audio. However, I have adopted a man's honored tradition. Take my book with me in the bathroom. With the kids, it's sometimes the only way to get some alone, reading time. The kids and husband just have to wait... :m_walk:
OMG. I'll never forget babysitting for my nephews and thinking I was going to be able to read at least a little bit during the 8 hours I had to watch them.
I literally read one single SENTENCE in the whole 8 hours. I never saw such demanding kids in my life. My own daughter was never like that. You could read while you were watching her because she was so good at entertaining herself.
 

Gerald

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2011
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The Netherlands
I can read very fast if the book gets ahold of me, you know, sinks its teeth right down to the marrow. I will fly through a book.

Exactly this for me too. If the story and/or character get ahold of me I just keep reading, otherwise it feels like a chore.
A lot of books feel predictable to me though. I suppose I can only get hooked on something that's really original, and really original is hard to do. What helps is if the characters are interesting and likeable as they often/always are with King.

I just find it hard to find originality in (horror)fiction. For example, when Barker's Books of Blood came out, it was really something else: stories that were truly original. But how often does something like that happen? Has there been something like Books of Blood in the meantime? I have not heard of it.

I think I have to be really stimulated by ideas in stories to keep me reading, otherwise it felt like 'just another story'. I need something 'new' from every book and that seldom happens.

Maybe it's just hard to do truly new things in horrorfiction. Sci-fi or fantasy often feels far less predictable to me.
 

booklover72

very strange person
Jan 12, 2014
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That's one thing I loved about the 'Game of Thrones' series. Martin names each chapter after the character involved instead of numbering each chapter. That really kept me interested.
Aha anothe book i have to try. i read very fast i have 3-5 on the go and it would probably take me about 8 days to read them all. The problem with reading fast(JFK was a speed reader) you get most of the story but not the little gritty details. my advice read at your own pace.
 

Lord Tyrion

Well-Known Member
Oct 24, 2013
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Aha anothe book i have to try. i read very fast i have 3-5 on the go and it would probably take me about 8 days to read them all. The problem with reading fast(JFK was a speed reader) you get most of the story but not the little gritty details. my advice read at your own pace.

I'm about to finish book two and then I'm going to start Mr. Mercedes. I agree that reading should be done at a pace where you can internalize what's going on.
 

VultureLvr45

Well-Known Member
Mar 15, 2012
2,650
13,707
Maryland
Love, Love, Love to read. Don't know if I'm a fast reader or a slow one, but started Rose Madder yesterday, and it grabbed me by the shirt collar and demands to be read. I put it down for a bit 'to process' and can't leave it down, despite this sinking feeling or maybe because of this ominous feeling. (on page 154 now)

Haven't kept a list of all of the books I've read since joining but it is a great idea.
 

Gerald

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2011
2,201
7,168
The Netherlands
Do most read faster or slower than when reading aloud like an audio book?

What sometimes amazes me is that even a book of about 200 pages can take a week to read (reading a couple of hours every day), but when you look at an audiobook of a book like that it can only be 7 or 8 hours. When you've read three hours a day for a week, that's already 21 hours.

I agree with Tyrion that you should internalize what's going on. I thought I couldn't do that with audiobooks, but it's not true really. I've listened to some recently and I can imagine it like when reading. The only disadvantage of an audiobook is that you sometimes can't quite hear what the name of a certain character or place is and then you keep wondering the whole time what it is.
 
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