A page is a page is a page...

[MJ]

Things I ponder. Maybe it's just me. It crossed my mind today how the number of pages don't really reflect how much you've read. I'm currently reading Andy Weir's The Martian, and I will probably finish it tomorrow. I started it yesterday evening. Its 435 pages are definitely not equivalent to the same number of pages written by Tolstoy (I read his Kreutzer Sonata over Christmas. It's short. It didn't feel like it though).

It would be neat if there was a tool or app where you could input the book you're reading and the app would give you an adjusted pages estimate. Then, you could look at the how much you've actually read based on the number of words per page in that volume (compared to other books. OR there could be a baseline book that all books are measured against), and maybe there could be an adjustment on how much your brain has to work to process what you've read.

I am probably alone in feeling this way. To nerdy? Anyone?

[Rachel]

That's a cool idea. I definitely agree that a page is not necessarily the same. I'm currently reading What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal , which is only about 250 pages but quite dense!

I think the same goes for something like a graphic novel. I can easily read a 400 page graphic novel in a day, but it doesn't "feel" the same as reading a 400 page novel.

[°~Amy~°]

Have you tried looking up the lexile number for a book? A book with a higher lexile is more difficult to read than a book with a lower lexile. It doesn't give you the page equivalent but it gives you an idea of how difficult a book is to read. For instance, war and peace has a lexile of 1470, but the Maritian is just 680. You can find info on many books on lexile.com

[Zaz]

I'm with Amy here, I read faster books with a low level of language and slower more complicated books. I'm on Strange & Norrel, the pages are dense but the language is also at a high level.

[Silvia]

I know what you mean! . In 2015 I read more books than graphic novels, but the number of pages reported for the year is so low compared to other years when I read more graphic novels and just a few books :(

[MJ]

Amy wrote: "Have you tried looking up the lexile number for a book? A book with a higher lexile is more difficult to read than a book with a lower lexile. It doesn't give you the page equivalent but it gives y..."

I ran into the lexile number when I was looking at a reference Webpage for school-aged children, so I thought it existed as something related to school curricula, and not outside of that. I never thought to look! Thanks!

[Jody]

I remember seeing something about lexile numbers a while back - I might have to add these to my spreadsheets for my own interest!