2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion
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People who read quite a lot -
I think most people don't have the time to read that regularly. I know that is what happens to me. If I have a couple hours I can knock out 300 - ,400 pages but I don't have that time everyday. So, at best I can probably polish off 10 to 15 books a month. Also, how invested I am impacts my reading speed. If it ends up being an overly depressing book where I feel like I don't care about the characters that speed reduces to maybe 50 - 100 pages an hour because it is more effort to focus. That's just me though. In the end, I think everyone reads at their own speed. No one is a freak of nature but I would say that from my experience people don't quite read as fast I do, generally speaking. I am super impressed with 300 books a year. No way I could get that many done.
I agree about everyone reading at their own speed. Its funny sometimes to me when people say they don't have time to read, but will tell me about the 2-3 hrs a day they are watching TV. My thought is we both have the same amount of time. We just choose to use our time different. I read books 1.0 , ebooks and listen to audiobooks. Audiobooks will be listened to at work so I get in more reading than most people. I completed a total of 90 books last year. This year I am tracking my books by material type, just so I have an idea of how many books of each type I am completing. So for the month of january i have completed 5 audiobook, 3 books 1.0 and 1 ebook.
You are in great company Sarah, welcome!:)
I am working on book 20 and we have only gone through 24 days of the month. I don't see anything wrong with doing what you enjoy I indulge both my Netflix habit with a friend and my reading habit when I see fit. its more about doing what you enjoy then worrying what people think I say happy reading!
I, personally, couldn't ever read that much or unterstand how it's done... In my world, I am reading pretty much, although I never read more than 70 books a year (and that was my all-time high, normally it evolves around 50)I enjoy it and that in fact is the most important... sometimes I feel envious of those who read much more than I and I try to achieve the same, but the truth is, I then feel forced to read and have no fun doing it...
I've met a couple of people online who read a book a day and I don't think it's odd or something... it's just not for me ;)
I must admit that since I've joined this group my brain has really been amazed at how fast people read. Not to point fingers but just the other day I read that someone read 300-400 pages an hour. My brain was just like ???????? whaaaat? In one hour I think I'd be lucky to even get 50 pages read. I'm an incredibly slow reader, but I don't think its a bad trait. Plus I always think to myself if I was a really quick reader I would run out of things to read very quickly.
I think everyone reads at different rates, but I've also experienced where people think I'm crazy because I read quickly and pretty much daily. I agree with someone else's comment though, if I find the book dreary my page count drops low! On average I read for an hour a day at least (Lunch Break). But often more, I can read around 300 an hour on a book I'm enjoying. I've started a book club with my work friends and they won't let me have until two days before the meeting so I can't read too far before!
Before I had my first child, I probably read about 1100 books- full length novels or works of non-fiction- a year. Which is not that much- an average of 3 a day. And up until I started college, I probably read about 4-7 books a day (I read during most of my classes or didn't go to class). My mom loved reading as well, so we often went to the library 2-3 times a week. And other relatives would take me more often in the summer, sometimes daily.
In a year, I read between 70 (a l"lazy year") to 130 books. 300 I probably can't.But it always bugs me and bothers me a bit when people say they have no time to read more or when they think 5 books a month is a lot. I think 5 books a month is great, it's a lot more than most people read. But I also know that for example, I could read 300 - but that would mean stopping to watch silly TV series or stay in on a Saturday night instead of going out. I could definitely do it. I just don't feel like it. So whenever someone tells me they read x amount of book a year because they have no time to read more, I feel like telling them they just choose not to. It sounds harsh but I think it's true - in my experience at least. The years I read 60 books or 70 rather than 130 like the previous year, it's because I probably spent that year watching GoT or Doctor Who rather than reading. It's fine and it doesn't make anyone less interesting or less intelligent.
But it's not because they have not enough time. Unless they have a crazy job, I assume most people in Europe (not quite sure about the US, I get that you guys work longer hours usually) work between 35 to 40 hours a week like I do, have 4 weeks off a year like I do, and get 24 hours a day like I do. In a "good" day for reading, I'd read 40 minutes on my way to work, 30 minutes at lunch (I get one hour; I take 30 minutes to eat and talk to my colleagues; 30 minutes to read alone), then I read another 40 minutes on the way home in the train and the tube; then finally I get home around 6:15pm and I read usually from 8pm to 11pm, once I've had dinner while watching some TV series. On a weekend, I typically spend the day going out, meeting friends, doing chores, watching TV shows, but then I read from maybe 6pm to 2 or 3am. I don't read quickly - I checked my stats on my Kindle and I'm an average reader, which offends me a bit because I thought I'd be fast given I read a lot -, but I spend many hours reading. In a month I probably read around 10-15 books and I don't think it's extraordinary given I don't dedicate every minute of my day reading.
Everyone reads at their own pace and trying to read faster usually means that you miss something, get confused and have to re-read. Well, that happens to me anyway. In my mind, 100 pages a day is a good reading day. I know I'm not a very fast reader, but I think I may actually be slow compared to some people on here lol.
I'm not a super-fast reader, but it depends on the book and how tired I am. I spend maybe an hour reading per day, but that can vary wildly. I'll soon have more weekend time for reading though. My quantity of books (I'm shooting for 101 this year) has only been achievable because I read several graphic novels & comic book trade collections every year. I'm more dedicated this year, though, so I may surprise myself. I definitely don't fit into the "freak of nature" category though! :)
I'm loving the term "books 1.0" by the way.
I also read quite a bit. I read between 15-20 books a month. I have read 16 books this month so far and I'm currently reading 5 books. Some days, I'm just not in the mood to read a particular book so I switch it up. I am also a quick reader, but it mostly helps that I read at least two hours a day, if not more. My goal for this year is 250. I read more than 250 last year, so I should have no problem with this goal. I'm sure you find a lot of people that love to read in this particular group.
I think speed also depends on type of book- I can read lighter books, like mysteries, pretty quickly. Non-fiction and literature take longer. But even at almost 500 books a year, I'm not reading all day. Just a few hours.
I'm the same way. If I have time I can read A LOT of books very fast. I have friends who are the same. They were complaining about how their chapters were extremely long (they were like 12 pages) and they would brag about how large their books were (380 pages).
I didn't say anything because I didn't want to insult them but I know that them reading a 380 page book in a month is not fast or heavy reading.
I on the other hand read over 900 paged books on average they are about 600 in the span of a few days.
Everyone reads at their own pace but I can admit when I'm reading slow or small books.
(now that I read over that it sounded completely obnoxious but I just meant that as people have said before, we all read at different paces, but there is definitely a difference between a slow reader and a fast reader)
This is really interesting. Most of my friends think I read an insane amount, but it's nowhere near some of you! Last year I read 160 books, but I think that was probably the best year I've ever had. I have only been tracking for the last few years, since I started using Goodreads. This year my goal is 120, which means I need to finish an average of 10 books a month. I think this is pretty obtainable for me. I would say I read about 50 pages an hour on average, depending on the size of the book and font size, etc. I agree about depressing books taking longer! Definitely!
Holy smokes, the amount of books you all read amazes me :O I'm happy if I can reach about 3 to 4 books a month.
I'm not a slow reader at all, I just can't bring myself to read after a day of teaching. When I get home I take my time to cook dinner and then I sit back and usually close my eyes or prepare stuff for the next day haha. (Insert bunch of excuses)
Big kudos to all of you who manage to read so much! :)
You should get kudos for teaching I always applaud teachers when I went to school I always felt like they were under paid and unappreciated.
I read between 10-20 books per month. It varies greatly depending on how busy I am in real life. If my husband and I are in the middle of a remodel my book reading dwindles. Same thing if I am spending a lot of time with my grandkids…"my" reading becomes nil…but it is worth it:)It also depends on the content of the book. Books that are light and enjoyable or what I call fluff I can finish in a day. Books that are heavy or non fiction take me much longer. It is harder to absorb the facts "and" remember them.
I find when I read a Lot of books I am less likely to remember the details of each book.
Blagica wrote: "You should get kudos for teaching I always applaud teachers when I went to school I always felt like they were under paid and unappreciated."Thank you so much for saying that :)
Hi.... I am that reader as well. When I pick up a book/series I have trouble putting it down so I usually finish a 5-6 book series in a day or two. My problem is I usually reread my sets because I don't know of anything new that I might like to read.
OP here - I had switched to using MoonReader as my reading app on my Androids last summer, and it has statistics! Note the exclamation mark. I now know on that on my phone, I read 0.4 hours per day, with an average rate of 816 words per minutes. On my tablet, I read 1.3 hours a day, with an average rate of 861 words per minute. I vary due to the text, so some recent books: The Widower's Tale, Julia Glass - 724 wpm
1632, Eric Flint - 891 wpm
Lafayette in the Somewhat United States, Sarah Vowell - 452 wpm (probably because I love some of her turns of phrase, and go back over them several time)
Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires, Molly Harper - 1042 wpm
There are some websites to test reading speed and comprehension around, and my comprehension tests well even at my normal reading speed.
I have to say that I get a lot of my reading time in the bath, before bed, and a large ziploc bag fits very reassuringly over my "book 2.0". ;)
^sarah - I am glad i am not the only one who uses the Ziploc gallon bag to protect my kindle while in the bath.
Sarah wrote: "Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires, Molly Harper - 1042 wpm"Holy Hades, you read quickly (I also have The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires on my TBR pile. How is/was it?)!
I read fairly quickly, though nowhere near as quickly as you do. Once upon a time, I probably averaged about 200 a year. My mom probably read 300-400 a year before my little brother was born. Now that he's in school, she's reading a lot more, but having a second grader still doesn't allow the same amount of time.
I was one of those people who'd say they had no time, but was surprised to realize how many books I could read once I put my mind to it. But I'm very competitive, so it's a challenge for me to keep the focus on quality rather than quantity. One of my favorite parts of this group is that the challenges get me out of my comfort zone, which does slow me down but has been very rewarding. I recently finished my first graphic novel (Johnny Cash)! I used to avoid this genre, but now I feel as if I door has been opened.I am considering joining the 21st century and getting an e-reader ... the library books I'm lugging around are hard to fit in my bag ... would appreciate any recommendations -- thanks very much --
:-) Jules
Bobbi, Molly Harper's vampire books were great popcorn reading - they don't take themselves seriously, and are fun. :)
Jules, it would probably depend. do you already have a tablet? how geeky are you? do you prefer drm-free books? where would you get your ebooks from, do you think?I happen to like having a library with me at all times. go and Google a library in my pocket Jo Walton, actually - great article.
I think the term read a lot means different things to different people. I read faster when I was younger, but I also don't remember what most of the books were, and sometimes have started reading a book only to realize I read it in high school. There was no internet back then and I never thought of keeping track of what I read. I can still read faster, but many times I don't want to since I'm relaxing and slowing down or something. When my kids were little I couldn't read any fiction other than what I was reading to them due to time constraints. You could argue that I could have watched no TV, but that wasn't the problem; the problem is that if I was engrossed in a good book and one of my of my young children needed me, I'd have been very cranky with them, etc. Plus, I'd fall asleep reading but not with TV.
Now I figure a book a week or more is fine. Not a LOT, but enough. I could just stop online book groups, but I like the social aspect of talking about reading with others and enjoy games such as reading challenges.
All good points, Karin. And I do watch a lot of TV, but that's how I choose to unwind on weeknights. Although tonight I did read for a few hours after work and finished a book! Now it's TV time. I might have a little time to read more before bed.
Slow or fast doesn't bother me, each to their own. I would agree with it taking me longer to read certain books though, whilst others I fly through. I tend to read a book a day, I read for at least 1.5 hours everyday generally. What I don't understand is people who don't read AT ALL, often they say oh I don't know how you have the time to read anything, I make time, I also take a book everywhere with me, 5 minutes waiting at the Doctors is 5 minutes reading time!
I read more than most of my friends. I think "a lot" is totally a relative term. But if you look at the Goodreads Challenge Average Books pledged it's only 47 - that's less than a book a week.Now, I am a marathon reader - I prefer to get a good book and start it Friday night and marathon all day Saturday/Sunday. I also listen to audiobooks. So I average about 2.5 books a week. Some people have more time than I do (I work a 40hr + week job) so they can increase their reading volume.
Do you like podcasts? the All The Books! podcast from Book Riot has a host who reads something like 500-600 books a year. :)
Hi Sarah,You are not alone but may I ask if you are employed full-time (whether it be a SAHM or career-woman)? I think this is a HUGE factor in how many books people read.
Good for you for reading that much!
Congrats,
QA
Warren I like your idea of tracking by type. I think I will start that as well. It should be interesting to see where we lie.QA
I agree that work is a factor here. I work full-time and truly wish I could retire and spend all my time reading. Someday I will do that!
QueenAmidala28 wrote: "Hi Sarah,You are not alone but may I ask if you are employed full-time (whether it be a SAHM or career-woman)? I think this is a HUGE factor in how many books people read.
Good for you for readin..."
I still read 1000+ books a year when I had a full time job. (I was co-owner of a business, so I worked more like 60-80 hours a week.) What really made my reading go down was having kids. I like to read, but I love spending time with my kids.
I loved reading this thread. There are so many good points. I read about a book a week, which I think is enough to meet my intellectual goals. I do watch some TV, but the thing that steals most of my time away from reading is my love for Podcasts and Crocheting. On top of that, my eyes cannot handle reading for longer then an hour without blurring (stupid astigmatism), and I believe I'm a pretty slow reader. I will sit and think at the end of the page for so long that I often lose track of time unless I'm reading a popcorn read, then I fly through 500 pages in 3 days.I think one thing we can all agree on is it is great to read.
Isn't that the best when you start reading a book that is so good or goes so fast that you read it in 3 days, or over a weekend? I love it when that happens!
I can sit down and read a good novel in a day. I can read a novel i dont love of the dame length in like 3 days. It depends on how "into" it i am. I have always read fast. When i was in high school, i was reading a book and didnt realize my uncle was watching me. After a while, he said my eyes were going over the pages too fast and i wasnt really reading the book. We argued and he took the book and quizzed me from it. He was amazed when i could answer all of his questions. No matter how people read, everyone should read.
I think it helps that i "see" the book in my head. I become "friends" with the characters and am sad when the book ends and i have to let them go. Hard to explain.
QueenAmidala28, I'm employed full time, have 2 kids, and have a volunteer commitment that takes up a lot of my time. I do save time by not watching TV (will watch some netflix or downloaded episodes of things, occasionally), and also by not cleaning my house. ;) On the rare occasion I have a day just devoted to reading, I can go through a number of shorter books, or, there was one day when I read the Lord of the Rings (but didn't do anything else that day).
It's reassuring that there's others out there!
Lilyn G. (Scifi and Scary) wrote: "I work full-time, and have a 6 year old. I still easily can plow through a book a night. (Started and finished Alice in Zombieland (403 pages) yesterday, for example.) 'Course, I'm an insomniac, so..."The insomnia definitely helps :). Think of all the great reading that gets done! I admire the ability to be able to do that and would love that, but without enough sleep I become very, very cranky and depressed. Prioritizing reading with a family comes with many models, and we were so successful that with one daughter we had to limit her to one novel per day so that she'd play, exercise, do her school reading and work, etc. (she was quite young). There were some interesting discussions on that on my homeschooling forum, but it's possible to go to either extreme. But I still wasn't able to read novels for fun on a regular basis at that time, and I don't regret it now.
I think it really depends on the book. I'm participating in 2 reading challenges this year, and I calculated out that in order to finish both within the 12 months, I would need to read 7.75 books per month on average. Of course, that could also include "quicker" reads like children's books, short stories, graphic novels, etc.So far this year, I've read 12 books, and averaged 2 per week except when the books were really huge (ie. The Once and Future King). I think it comes down to choosing the right books to actually motivate you to read, and also making the time to read. When I was in school, I had no time or interest in reading anything after finishing my work. Now I work full-time, and even though I'm pretty tired by the time I get home, I've carved out some time to read each evening instead of watching TV or Youtube videos.
I think how long it takes really comes down mostly to your interest in the book and the amount of time you have free. For example, I'm currently reading The Time Machine, which is only about 100 pages and it's taking me three days to finish because I've had so little time. But I read Rebecca, which is about 4 times the length in 4 days because I was really into it.
I love to read, and I thought I read a lot. And when I came here and saw all these people reading so many books I wondered how they did that. But then I found a test on internet, and it turned out I am a very slow reader (I’m really fast when I read 50 pages an hour). Also, my speed is dependent on many factors like writing style and how much I’m enjoying the story, but also things like background noise, lighting and the printing of the book.Last year I set my reading goal to 100 books, and I could have managed to read that. But then I would have had to skip books like Les Misérables and The Count of Monte Cristo because these books are large, and the writing style of these is slowing me down considerably. But I read for pleasure, and I don’t care that it takes me forever to finish a book. This year I set my reading goal to 75 books, a bit less than last year. I set it, because I do like to have a target, but I set it a bit lower so I don’t get frustrated when I read a big fat book with a difficult writing style in poor lighting and I see my books ahead/behind schedule drop.
I still think I read a lot. There are a lot of folk out there who hardly ever pick up a book for whatever reason, and there are a lot of folk who read lots more than me. As long as I enjoy myself, I don’t worry about my speed.
I think the important part is that you're reading for pleasure, so it doesn't really matter how many books or how many pages you read. If you enjoy the book, that's all that matters. I read 160 books last year, which I think is the most I've ever done, but I think I've already forgotten half of what I read! I was so focused on the goal, I don't think I enjoyed the books as much as I could have.
Catherine wrote: "I think the important part is that you're reading for pleasure, so it doesn't really matter how many books or how many pages you read. If you enjoy the book, that's all that matters. I read 160 boo..."Well said! With some books I really enjoy, I actually find myself slowing down, depending on the book. I speed up if there is danger or pursuit.
Rachel wrote: "I think it really depends on the book. I'm participating in 2 reading challenges this year, and I calculated out that in order to finish both within the 12 months, I would need to read 7.75 books p..."Exactly. Plus, some books have more words per page than others, or more complex writing, language, etc.
But it's not really a contest unless you choose to participate in one.
Ultimately "a lot" is a relative term, as I've seen many of us mention. I also wonder, for people who read hundreds of books per year, how much they are able to remember. Not that you need to remember everything you read for fun, but I've found that while I could remember a fair bit about every book I'd ever read when I was 18 or 25, that's not true now. Too many things have happened that seem to be more important to remember now, and not everything I read was really worth remembering.
I tend to choose what I want to remember. If I don't like a book or don't enjoy it I cam pretty much expel it from my memory. My harder thing is buying books I've already read, with covers changing and sometimes titles, as well as some titles being really similar. I often have to read the first page to see if I've read. Illll it. I can remember the story from a glance at the first page.
I have had a lot of trouble in the past remembering which books I had already bought or already read. Goodreads is really helpful for that! It's especially hard for me since I read a lot of series books and the titles and storylines are sometimes very similar from book to book.
This year I'm doing a breakneck reading marathon. I'm in a zillion challenges. What this is coming down to is a little bit of stress where none is needed, but not a TON of stress, because I'm also having fun with it. I don't expect that I will actually succeed at every single challenge, and my inner perfectionist is just going to have to accept that. It's not like my livelihood or prestige or money or, well, ANYTHING is riding on it! I'm learning that certain challenges create limits for me that make the process of reading (particularly the choosing of which books to read) to be less enjoyable, so in the future I won't commit to those sorts of challenges. But I plan to always join the general Good Reads challenge each year, even if I only commit to one book a year, because at the end I get a nice page with all the books I read that I can look at and share with others, and that's like a yearbook or something for me.I will say that being in so many challenges has encouraged me to read a lot more than before, and it's been for the most part a lot of fun. So just need to remove the pressure I put on myself and focus on the fun. This is my hobby, not my career.
Andrew, I find myself doing the same thing as you. I am also a perfectionist but have to remind myself often that this is not my job. It will be okay if my challenge is not met on time or at all. To just have fun with it. I find that because of the challenges I join (which happens to be almost everything out there), I read not only a lot more but a lot of books I normally wouldn't read. I have found new genres I enjoy and at the end of the day, as long as I have fun that's all that matters.
2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (other topics)Les Misérables (other topics)
The Count of Monte Cristo (other topics)
The Time Machine (other topics)
Rebecca (other topics)
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I've decided that this year I'll log all the books I read on Goodreads, as I've only intermittently added books before. I'm not positive how many books I finish a year, but I put in 300 books in the challenge and am currently one book ahead, to date.
I was chatting with someone the other day who said his wife read a LOT - she reads 5 books a month.
I wasn't sure quite what to say to that.
But then I thought - hey! possibly someone on here might also read like me, and be able to comment... I love reading, I read fast, I read for 1-2 hours a day.
All reading is good, I'm enthusiastic about anyone reading, but that comment made me feel rather like a freak of nature. ;)
There must be others out there?
Sarah