Speed Reader (or not)

I share with you today something that causes me great pain and suffering. I'm a slow reader. I don't know what happened in my early education back in Akron, Ohio at Fairlawn Elementary but whoever taught me to read did a piss poor job. There, I said it!

I'm good for about 30 pages an hour and in a model world, I try to read a book a week. If life interferes or I'm on a deadline it's more like ten days to two weeks. Now compare this to someone like  my brother-in-law who can breeze through about 50 pages an hour. He can devour a book in a couple of hours and he retains it all. I know this because we often read the same books.  I have a friend who reads even faster than this.

What's wrong with me!?  I read EVERY word. Not only that, I hear EVERY word inside my head. Thank god I don't move my lips! But think about it--you see a stop sign, you don't have to tell yourself "stop" to know you're supposed to hit the break. So again, I ask you, what is wrong with me?!!! 

Should I take a speed reading course? I would love to read faster, reader more. I can't keep up with all the books that I want to read, let alone the classics that I need to catch up on, not to mention the occasional magazine article. I don't know how agents and editors and fellow writers do it. They are constantly reading and I feel like I'm constantly reading, but just not fast enough. 

So here's the question? How many pages do read an hour? Do you hear the words inside your head? Do you retain what you've read? Are you a skimmer? Do you skim over italics?

Thanks to Fairlawn Elementary School I'm what I would consider a challenged reader. And please, don't even get me started on spelling and math skills! Oy! Happy readings everyone!