How fast do you read through books??
 

I know it depends on length of book and whether it is good or not, but on average how long?? My wife is like some kind of machine or something she can get through a novel is 2 days usually. Me...I am moving fast if I get through a book in a week. Now I just recently got through "Into Thin Air" by John Krakaur(sp?) in 3 days --that was a FANTASTIC book. What are your thoughts??



wlj

I guess if I average it out, probably 3 days to a week. You're right though, that it really depends on how much I get into it. For example, I think I read The Da Vinci Code twice in a span of five days. I read all 4 Harry Potter books released at the time in one week. However, It took me almost a year to slog through Fellowship.

wow Da Vinci code twice in 5 days.....I am trying to read it now...I am just not in the mood so it is taking me a while.


wlj

I am really only in the mood to read alot maybe on quarter of a year. I will read alot for about 3 months then won't read again till next year. Weird.


wlj

Maybe 1-3 days for most books (stuff like Da Vinci Code, The Historian, most Thrillers, a Harry Potter book, etc). Something like an Erikson 'Malazan' book about a week.

Honestly, I listen to more books than I read them just because of my schedule. But a good book will make me sit on the porch at night and listen for hours.

I'm usually a very, very slow reader. I can read somewhat fast if I really want to, but I don't usually have the, uh, ambition? I get sidetracked a lot, and sometimes I'm just not in the mood.

I have little time so I read books slowly and often get distracted. I also read large books with occasionally a short book concurently so it often takes me 3 months to read a book. I also download books and read them at work during my lunch break so it can get really confusing.

My recent estimated reading times of every book I've read in the past year:
Neal Stephenson - Quicksilver - 4 months
Neal Stephenson - The Confusion - 2 months
George R.R. Martin - Game of Thrones - 1 month
Stephen King - Entire Dark Tower series - 5 months
Stephen King - Everything's Eventual - 2 months
Stephen King - Black House - 3 weeks
James Clavell - Gai-Jin - working on 3rd month but will probably finish in the next two weeks
Lone Wolf and Cub Vol 1 and 2 - 1 month

From looking at that you'd have no idea that I'm a very fast reader.

For those of you that read a book in 1-3 days, how many hours a day do you spend reading?

Takes me a couple weeks - month to read a book, and I'm down to only a few a year.

At my peak I was hitting 3-4 books a week at 200pp per hour. I think that is why I'm at a low now, I read so much (300 books in 3-4 years?), that I'm pooped. Not to mention other hobbies, wife & kid, etc.

I can read a regular novel in about 2-3 hours... :D

I typically read 2 books a week.

I can read a 300 page novel in a few hours; I tend to read books in one sitting.

I guess I'm the turtle here, I get exhausted trying to speed-read, so I usually take my time, and average about a page/minute nowadays. I can skim and get through books faster, but that lessens the retention and enjoyment for me.

For me I'd say anywhere from 0-4 hours. Generally not all at once though. Sometimes longer. At a minimum I try to get in a half hour before bed. I read The Historian in 2 days & spent more time per day on that I kind of got into it & was doing some travel over a weekend otherwise it would have probably been 3 or 4 days for a little bit longer book like that. Sometimes I'll go days without picking a new book up, other times I'll hit 6 or 10 one after another. Something like Koontz's Velocity was about 4 hours total to read. It's short & just flowed perfectly for me. I don't consider 1-3 days speed reading either. When in school speed reading was an entire book in 3 or 4 hours


A friend got me to keep track of what I read over the course of the year. So far this year here's the list...

Angels & Demons - Dan Brown
Rise To Rebellion - Jeff Shaara
Archer's Tale - Bernard Cornwell
Vagabond - Bernard Cornwell
Heretic - Bernard Cornwell
Gardens of the Moon - Steven Erikson
Dead House Gates - Steven Erikson
Angels & Demons (2nd time) - Dan Brown
Da Vinci Code (2nd Time) - Dan Brown
Tombs of Atuan - Ursula K. Le Guin
Start Late, Finish Rich - David Bach
The Wealthy Barber - David Chilton
Garden of Beasts - Jeffery Deaver
Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Michael Chabon
Walking Money - James O. Born
Company Man - Joseph Finder
Memories of Ice - Steven Erikson
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
Shockwave - James O. Born
Along Came A Spider - James Patterson
The Kill Artist - Daniel Silva
Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone (Re-Read) - JK Rowling
Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets (Re-Read) JK Rowling
Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban (Re-Read) JK Rowling
Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire (Re-Read) JK Rowling
Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix (Re-Read) JK Rowling
Op-Center War of Eagles - Jeff Rovin
House of Chains - Steven Erikson
The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova
Velocity - Dean Koontz
The Farthest Shore - Ursula K. Le Guin
Across the Nightingale Floor (Otori Book 1) - Lian Hearn


There's a lot of stuff I'd like to read yet this year, but since I tend to read a fair amount of 700-1000 page books I'm not sure how much I'll get through.

I've always been a slow reader reading something like a page (or worse) a minute. If a book really grabs me by the balls I tend to read faster though. Like I read Da Vinci Code in one sitting (maybe 5-6 hours?) and Angels & Demons in two. I polished off two of the Harry Potter books in two different one sittings as well. I also read Robert Asprin's MYTH books really quick. The thing about those books is that they are fun and easy reads with familiar characters and locales. The tougher the book & the denser the narrative ramps up the time it takes me to get through a book. Also mood plays a big part in things too.

I would say on average it takes me about 1-2 weeks to get through a book.

I am a slow reader too...I think it is mainly because I have been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder I. It can be hard for me to concentrate and I have to have almost complete silence when I read or I keep having to re-read passages over and over. I can't imagine reading a book in one sitting, I just could not stay comfortable that long. Thanks for all the replies.

wlj

Another slow reader here. Depending on the content, a page a minute, or slower. The funny thing is, my kids zip through books so fast, I didn't think they were actually reading them all. But quizzing my daughter on Harry Potter books, it's apparent that she does read the whole thing. I also get easily distracted and end up re-reading sections if there's a lot of ambient noise. I think that's why the 'fortress of solitude' is a perfect reading location, if you know what I mean. :D2:

the bathroom is a good place to read :).


wlj

Amen to that.

I don't know what it is...I can just concentrate very well in there. I just have a problem with my legs going numb. ;)

wlj

It takes me several weeks to finish a book.

Ever seen the movie "Short Circuit"? Well, I make Johnny 5 look like an overpriced can opener with my reading skills.

I've always read a lot faster than my friends, but I only read about 2-3 pages per minute or so (double that for harry potter due to so few words actually existing on each page :) ). You guys blow me out of the water with your speed. I only have about 30-60 min per day to read (more on the weekends) so it takes me longer than it used to to get through a book (when I had 3-4 hours to read each day). I would say I still average about 40-50 books per year, depending on the genre (epic fantasies tend to have so many characters and tend to be so lengthy that it lowers my average). Really it's all about enjoyment; it's not a race. Books have always been my friends, and I've been reading since I was 3, so I've had a LOT of enjoyment from this hobby. My dad always marvels at the sheer number of books that I have and the fact that I have read most of them. :D

Interestingly enough, I know I read subtitles faster than most movie-goers because I'm almost always the first one to laugh at the punchline of a film with subtitles.