How long does it take you to read a book?

[Bill]

And I'm talking an average here. For an average-lengthed, fantasy/sci-fi novel that you read some of pretty much every day.

The reason I'm asking is I see a lot of readers finishing and reviewing a heck of a lot of books. I'm a pretty fast reader, but unless I'm on vacation and am reading all day long, it usually takes me a little over a week on average to finish a book. Are all these people faster readers, have more free time, or reading shorter books?

[Tamahome]

An adult book like by Peter F. Hamilton in mass paperback probably takes me 30 pages an hour.

[Sean]

Bill wrote: "The reason I'm asking is I see a lot of readers finishing and reviewing a heck of a lot of books. I'm a pretty fast reader..."

I read a lot of books, but I don't read very fast. The keys are:

* Read multiple books at once, that way even if I'm reading a giant doorstopper, I can continue to polish off shorter books.

* Listen to audiobooks, that way I can "read" even in situations where I can't read.

* Short books. Hard Case Crime mysteries, Star Trek books, Japanese light novels, and old sci-fi pulps are short enough that I can finish one in a single weekend or over the course of two or three evenings.

[Sandi]

I read pretty fast, but I have a life too. I follow Sean's first two tips for reading a lot of books. I always have a minimum of one going on my Nook, one paper book, and one audio book in process at all times.

[David]

There is also an element of doing a review for a book you read a while ago, but forgot about until you see it again.

I haven't read sixty books since I signed up for GoodReads, but I as I run across books that i have read in the past I give them a star rating and put them in my Read shelf.

[Eric]

I can easily get through 2 books a day...

[Leighann]

I average about three books a week, but I go through periods where it goes slower and periods where I tear through almost a book and a half a day. But, of course, I don't have a job, so I have a lot of free time on my hands.

[George]

I've been know to, when on a glom, read two or three books in a day. A 250 page genre book takes me about 2 hours on average. I've recently gone through all 18 of the Navajo mysteries by Tony Hillerman over the course of my vacation break.

It's a curse, in a way. The habit requires a constant supply of books that I can't easily afford and L.A. has cut back library hours to the point where it's inconvenient to find time to get to the library.

[Nomad]

In my heyday I read about a 100 pages per hour, but old age has slowed me down considerably. Back then, I completed Battlefield: Earth in under a week...

What a wasted week.

[Brad Theado]

I average one every 3 days. My secret is always having an electronic copy available. Using the Kindle app. never get caught without something to read.

[Bonnie]

This is something I've been curious about, myself. I've always loved reading, learned at a very young age (3, I think) and am always in a couple of books. But I read slowly. My husband reads much faster and sometimes I am jealous that he can devour 3 or 4 books while I'm still on the same thing. He suggested that I might get more detail out of what I read; really sucking the marrow out, as it were. I do take the time to look up words I'm not familiar with while I'm reading. (LOVE the built in dictionary on my Sony Touch Reader!)

Could this be a possibility? Do some people read faster because they skim pages and not really get deeply engrossed? Is there a trick to learn how to read faster and still really enjoy a book?

[Paul]

You guys are fast readers - I am jealous. I am happy if I read a book a month (....am I the only person here with a familya and little spare time?).

[Joe]

I average anywhere between one book every two weeks and one a month. I am not the fastest reader and I also have other interests, such as movies and spending time with my wife. I try to read for at least an hour a day -- sometimes I'm successful and sometimes I'm not.

[terpkristin]

I average probably 2 a month. I usually "read" one book in audio and one in "print" (either dead tree format or Kindle). They have to be different genres for me, too.

Granted, when work is going nuts, or if I'm injured (and thus not going to the gym--where I do most of my audiobook listening), it drops off. Sometimes I just don't want to read.

[Jeff]

Paul wrote: "You guys are fast readers - I am jealous. I am happy if I read a book a month (....am I the only person here with a familya and little spare time?)."

You aren't the only one. I can only finish about 1 every month at best. A lot of that is due to a hectic work schedule though. My wife and child love to read but I am at work a lot while they are reading. I anticipate reading much more as I get older and my work schedule (hopefully) gets easier.

[Gordon]

If I'm really invested in a book and it's of an averageish length, I can finish in a day easily. Sometimes even on a work night if I start shortly after I get home and don't mind being a bit of a zombie the next day.
If it's a bit longer or I have other things going on, I can finish in 2 or 3 days no problem.
Much longer books can take more time, and I run the risk of getting distracted and not finishing at all, or of putting it off for months or years.

[[deleted user]]

Pretty much exactly what Gord said.

Are you me?

[Gordon]

Ala wrote: "Pretty much exactly what Gord said.

Are you me?"

I wasn't the last time I checked, no. :)

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I agree with a lot of what has been said. I often have several books going at once. Sometimes the denser music books, I read maybe a chapter every few days, and do some listening, and they can take me months to finish. Other books I'll zip through in a day. I read a bunch during my holiday because I had nothing planned (well, really I had planned to READ, yay). But I'll easily churn out 200 pages on a normal evening if I'm not spending too much time online. I don't watch much tv.

[Brad Theado]

I dont think reading speed is an indicator of reading retention. I read fast but I don't skim. I have always read fast, but then again I eat fast, walk fast, and fall asleep fast. People are just different.

[Mike]

I don't consider myself a fast reader and I only read about 30 minutes to an hour a day, sometimes less if I'm really busy, so most novels take me 2-3 weeks to get through. I'm always wishing I had more time to read, but I can't seem to make it happen.

[Eric]

here's my fast reading secret: http://www.nextup.com/TextAloud/

I get the books as textfiles and convert them to spoken mp3s. I also crank up the speech to about 460wpm (I guess? It might be syllables per minute) which is pretty fast but I can understand it. Then I listen to them while I work.

[[deleted user]]

Takes me about a day, maybe a little bit longer if it's a massive book. That's if I don't do anything but read non-stop (extremely hard for teenagers apparently). I mean, I still have Zero History half done since October.

[Tamahome]

Here's a Tim Ferriss post on speed reading. I haven't tried it. I did take a speed reading class a long time ago. I remember the #1 tip was: "try to read faster".

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/...

[[deleted user]]

I usually read somewhere between 25-40 pages an hour. The first chapters of any new book are slow for me (unless I'm continuing a series & everything's familiar). By the last chapters, I might be reading 50 pages an hour or so, but that usually involves near-skimming to get to the end.

[Amy]

I'm about 100 pages an hour, though of course there are variables. Very dense or complicated prose will slow me down (Oh, Infinite Jest, the book of the 5 minute paragraphs!). I read at every spare moment, and will usually fit an hour or two a day in, so a 500-page book will take around 3 days on average.

Depending on lengths, I usually manage 5-10 books a month. I'm on my second for January right now, but I barely read at all last week due to work stress. I don't tend to read more than one book at a time unless I have a "project book"; i.e. I have Volume one of the Mark Twain autobiography as a secondary book, but that will take me months to finish because I only read a couple of percent between other books. I have trouble with audiobooks because I read faster than most narrators speak, and even with my iPod on 2x, it can take way longer for an audiobook than it would for me to just read it.

Like Brad said above, it's not a skimming or retention thing, it's just how I am. :) Everyone's different. My boyfriend is lucky to get through a single book in a month, but he can kick my butt in any video game that requires hand-eye coordination. LOL.

[Trent]

I don't really know my reading speed on pages per hour, and it fluctuates wildly depending on how intrested I am in a book/series, or invested. For example, when Towers of Midnight came out, it probably took me a solid 2-3 hours of reading, with minimal breaks involved. On the flip side, I've been reading Bitter Seeds for the better part of a week now, since I probably only read it for about ten minutes a day.

[Will]

I'm a slow reader and I get distracted easily. Also, I don't have as much time to read as I would like. I read The Hunger Games and How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe in about a week or two, but I had time off from work in both cases. It'll probably take me several months to finish Towers of Midnight

[Al]

Combining multiple threads, I just re-read Skippyjon Jones in under 5 minute.

[Tom]

Reading this topic reminded me of an article I'd read on speed-reading a while back. Thank goodness for Professor Google.

After I read this I stopped worrying so much on my speed and have been working on increasing my vocabulary, which is something I definitely need to work on.

http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4229

[Matthew]

I am not a very fast reader and never have been. I have always been envious of people who can ready several books a month, my sister-in-law is one of those really fast readers polishing of a novel in a weekend. It usually takes me a month to read a 400 - 600 page book. I could probably cut that down by a week if I watched less TV but I love TV.

[Kris]

I average about 50-60 pages an hour just a question of how much time I have to read.

[Skip]

A new book that I like tends to last less than two days before I finish it. It's hard to be more exact because I read this stuff for fun so I am catching as catch can for time.

[Stephen]

It depends on family and work, but if I am reading real page-turners, I can easily read a couple books on a Saturday. Since I bought my kindle in August, I've been finishing an average of 3-4 books a week.

[Remy]

I get an hour for lunch at work, and can usually read about 80 pages reading slowly or up to 120 pages skimming through the slower parts. I have a tendency to want to get to the good parts, especially on books I've read before. I have to make an effort to take my time or I miss out on details.