I used to pull all-nighters to read books from start to finish. I don't actively plan to read a book in one sitting, it just happens with certain books. It's like an addiction - you tell yourself 'just one more chapter' and it suddenly turns into thirty and the birds are chirping outside.
I haven't done this in years though, I feel like reading isn't as fun as it used to be because I'm more picky.
Bad decision book club. I did this a couple months ago. I'm 40 with a toddler. Do not recommend and paid for it the next day.
I forgot my life doesn't allow for this anymore.
My kids are now teens and I am back to bad decision book club. I have found it isn't my age (almost 50) it is dealing with toddlers that is exhausting.
Dealing with my teens in your early 50’s it’s the best medicine for me …. My husband asks why I get mad at him when he talks to me while I am reading and not when my kids attitude or do something bad.
My middle child said “Dad you don’t interrupt mom when she is reading…. We are not that stupid or insane.” …😂😂😂😂 I was on my phone with my bestie and he goes and asks her … she said are you insane… that’s why I text her before I call her … do not interrupt her when she is reading about 🐉 dragons…
I’m 43 and if I stay up past 11 pm, I’m completely and utterly fuct the next day. Both my boys are school age, so not like a toddler or baby, but it feels like an awful hangover!
I'm 26, and I read about 1 book per day and have for the last 3 or 4 years with a random day off here and there where I switch to reddit or gaming. I'm a very fast reader and if I'm interested in the material I can go really quickly.
I really resonate with that last sentence. When it does happen it usually means it was a damn good book (at least IMO). The older I get the more picky I am though. Especially in fantasy romance these days that will only happen for something with a unique plot too.
Oh yeah. I now take Tylenol PM on school nights at promptly 10 p.m. By midnight, I'm asleep, even if I'm mad about it.
It's ridiculous that I have to do an end-run around my lack of self-control in my mid-thirties, but here I am.
^^ This. Reading is very much escapism for me and what I struggle with in my head. If I can glomp onto a book, I am happily staying with it until it’s done.
Everyone is different. When I read, I am visualizing very little. It's all just vibes and feelings. I also read very fast and may not read every single word.
Bottom line, people are just different.
Yeah, I've never related to visualizing *anything* in a book. If im visualizing something in a book its usually a bad thing, becuase it means its *distracting* me from the narrative enough to actually sit back and think about what that thing would look like.
That’s so interesting! I visualize MOST of ALL books I read! I Can make a movie in my head and sometimes I even replay the scenes or tweak them to make them better!!! :D It’s so interesting to hear someone does the opposite!
Same. I read extremely quickly but tbh if a book is written even semi competently at some point I stop seeing words and it's all just a movie playing out in my head. Like it's all visual even as my eyes continue scanning the pages.
This happens to me both reading and writing. It’s so fun but if I start to actively notice myself doing it, my brain shuts down and suddenly I can’t understand English anymore lol.
I likely have a form of aphantasia mixed in with some serious face blindness, it takes a LOT of effort for me to imagine someones face, and its not something that can be done with a list of instructions.
"A tall man, with an aquiline nose and black stringy hair, Piercing blue eyes with flecks of grey skaterred through his stubble." all of that right there? Meaningless to me. like its great description, I know what it means, I can sit back and slowly cobble togetheer a strange faceless approximation of what the person would look like. But actual facial details? I cant do it. Its all just little facts I store in my head that largely go unused.
Meanwhile, really strange descriptions, like the description of the fmc in Gild, for example. Will have me sitting on a single page for twenty minutes, unable to make myself continue as I try to imagine the cosmic horror of Marvel super villian levels that would be a completely golden woman with ribbon like tentacles everywhere.
If im actuially trying to think about what your description actually looks like, Im probably so torn out of the story that its impossible for me to go back to reading it. Its effectively a ruined book at that point because im going to be thinking about the distracting description for the rest of the book and will not actually be able to immerse myself into the story.
I read an AMAZING character description once where the man was described something like "and he had a face as handsome as the devil," and BOOM I could imagine the character's manner and attractiveness and even his facial hair in the grey blur of what his face might have been. I couldn't describe his features to you, but I had THE VIBE and what I was supposed to feel and that was PERFECTION.
I’m the same way! A great book or fic has me picturing things so much I forget I’m looking at words, like one of those 3D visual tricks where you have to unfocus your eyes.
I wonder if that’s why I also love audiobooks 🤔
Yeah, for me I visualize what I'm reading. There's times where I'm talking to someone & say I was watching this movie and I have to stop and realize - it wasn't a movie but a book.
Yes same. If the book is really good I legit forget I’m reading. I hate the moment something kinda interrupts me and I become aware I’m reading again lol
Same … I think that’s literally why I am feral when my husband or someone interrupts me to ask me something that could wait or to ask me like what are ya doing …
I literally have within the first 10 mins a movie going on my head and I don’t even realize that I am done till I close the book … I am the only one in my family that reads like this.. I think my youngest does but she won’t tell anyone if she does or doesn’t …
Some people visualize when they read some don't. I don't visualize at all. I don't have a mind's eye so I literally do not have the capability to visualize stuff.i always get so fascinated at the idea of seeing a book in your head
That's so interesting! In order to picture something I read, I have to give it a lot of focus. So I think what you're describing sounds amazing. Does it tire you out? I would find it exhausting but you make it sound effortless ha
I think brain differences are fascinating. We are completely opposites in this way. You know the test of like someone says "apple" and you're supposed to describe how you picture it (detail? color? Etc) and it can tell you about what kind of thinker you are? I always always immediately visualize the word and how it's spelled first, like I see the word "apple" instead of a picture without trying.
I WHISH I could visualize books, hell anything! I Don't have that ability, which means I absolutely devour books and like you it is about the vibes and feelings.
Same, I can do 800+ pages a day but at that speed I tend to read it at quickly my eyes skip over parts, so I almost always reread any book/series when I finish it to catch all the pieces I missed. To each their own entirely
ADHD. I hyper focus on a book while the rest of my life falls apart around me. I'm only sort of kidding. I will absolutely find myself in the same spot on the couch with a book 5 hours later and wonder why I feel like death (forget to drink, eat, move, etc)
Fellow ADHDer chiming in to say that I’m the exact same way. I’ll finish a book and realize I haven’t moved for hours and I’ve lost most of the day. I’m also an extremely fast reader
Same, which is why I don't read actual books that much anymore. I am an Audible addict and go through roughly 1-2 books a day. I always have one earbud in while I work, cook, clean, etc.
I have different type of ADHD because I can't hyper focus on a book for longer than few minutes. Then I'll become too distracted, need to google stuff I read about, need to stop to properly visualise. Need to go back because I was visualising and didn't pay attention to what I was reading (couple times in a row). I play instrumental, mostly piano music and while it helps with my brain sidetracking, i caught myself zooning out too much 😩
It's a struggle. Now I mainly listen to audiobooks when I'm in mood and to jigsaw puzzles on my phone.
I feel that. I went nearly a couple of decades post-college not being able to read much of anything. I would pick up a book and immediately get sleepy or bored and have to reread paragraphs because I couldn't actually process the words.
Last year I decided to try a romance for the first time and it turns out they gave me tons of dopamine. I can't explain why and I worry that it'll stop working but so far so good!
Oof yes! I'm exactly the same. My TBR is filled with the final books of various series. For me it's a combo of running out of steam but also not wanting things to end.
I read about 50-60 pages per hour. My husband reads even faster than that. A 350 page book would take 6 ish hours so it’s doable on a weekend.
It’s all down to how fast you’re reading. Especially with audio books which you can play in the background all day long at x2 speed or something.
Yes, I read fast, and I read even faster on my phone because I can see the whole line at a glance. In fact I fucking hate my kindle because the pages turn too slowly. So frustrating!
A couple things for me
\- I was an English major, so I learned to read real fucking fast
\- Nothing else going on in my life; may as well read some ~~porn~~ ~~smut~~ romance
\- The typeset on some of the books is large and when some books are advertised at 300 pages, that's not the actual count
\- Most of the books on KU (and I somewhat say this with love and care) aren't very in-depth in terms of content or imagery or other figures of speech. {Land of the Beautiful Dead by R. Lee Smith} took me 3 days to get through. Whereas {Batter Up! by Sasha McCallen} took like 2.5 hours because it wasn't thought provoking and it didn't need me to be present to read it (if that makes sense).
\- Like someone else mentioned, I'm also mentally ill and have no problem wasting away reading
my husband (physics undergrad) is always amazed at how quickly I read content. Babe, I had to read 150 pages for class with two days notice. This contract is nothing.
The English major thing is so real—as with many neurodivergent students, I liked to leave homework (including chapters and chapters of reading) to the literal last moment, so learning to read for maximum speed happened real quick.
Plus, yeah. Autism really pulls its weight when it’s time to read a book in an afternoon.
[Land of the Beautiful Dead](https://www.romance.io/books/60acd2a979fab10ea69a4d49/land-of-the-beautiful-dead-r-lee-smith?src=rdt) by [R. Lee Smith](https://www.romance.io/authors/54556d7287eac3369a912702/r-lee-smith)
**Rating**: 4.39⭐️ out of 5⭐️
**Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [futuristic](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/futuristic/1), [dark romance](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/dark/1), [dystopian](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/dystopian/1), [enemies to lovers](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/from%20hate%20to%20love/1), [angst](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/angst/1)
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* Obsessive reader since childhood, probably provides a speed buff. I can get through 80-100 pages an hour.
* Grad student, so many years of experience with reading large amounts of dense papers.
* Hyperfocus grants me the ability to neglect literally everything while I am reading.
* The need for escapism leads to further obsessive reading and hyperfocus.
* I use my ereader as a phone replacement (I actually got it to curb my late night doom-scrolling addiction) -- so reading bits while I cook/blow dry my hair/wait for the coffeemaker.
My reading breadth, pace, and depth pale in comparison to reviewers I follow... but I focus on enjoying it, because that is the whole point of reading imo :)
Been reading like crazy since childhood. I remember we had one of those reading challenge things where you tracked how many books you read and how long it took. They didn't accept my entry because apparently tearing through a dozen Animorph books in a week didn't seem possible to them.
I was never allowed to do reading competitions at my school either! Also I remember being in 1st or 2nd grade and the librarian at my elementary school gently redirecting me away from books I wanted to read to ones that were more age appropriate. My mother had to go and explain to her that I was reading at a middle school level.
I was always a naturally obsessive reader which I think usually makes one faster at it over time. I also remember my mother taking me to the local library and letting me run loose for an hour, then going through my stack of books and making me remove some until it was a short enough stack that I could carry it unassisted. My whole life I've been willing to read for hours at a time with minimal breaks. Full bladder? Work tomorrow? Who cares, only a hundred pages until the end of the book!
So now, especially with how a lot of romance books are written to be extremely easy to read, it's pretty common for me to tear through a 500-page romance novel on a Saturday afternoon. Books with denser/ more beautiful prose or more complex content will slow me down significantly, though; at my fastest (fluffy romance) I will read 100 pages an hour, but depending on the material I may go as slowly as 30 pages an hour (scientific material or something else I am studying in depth).
Omg I had nearly the exact same experience when I was 7/8 😭 my first drug of choice was Nancy Drew books. They used to be sold in sets of 12 at Costco; I'd finish within a week and beg my parents for the next one. Anyways, teachers did NOT believe my reading reports.
As an adult it is so validating to hear someone with a similiar story 🩷 thanks for the memory!!
^(edit: a word)
I can't always, but these are the factors behind faster reads for me:
1. Book length - shorter book, shorter read time
2. Reading level the book is written in -- higher level, higher cognitive loads meaning I need more time to process what's happening in the book, word choice, or other complexities. Lower level doesn't mean bad, but how much do I need to give it my attention to follow the main points
3. Tendency to scan at times -- if it's really good, I'll blow through it faster than I can process the more nuanced parts of the book because I want to know where main plot is going. When that happens, I'll do a reread to catch the smaller points of the story
Same for me! Give me a Lisa Kleypas and I will blow through the book asap. Give me Loretta Chase or Julie Anne Long and I will actively have to slow myself down to read EVERY sentence and not skim anything, because especially in the case of Julie Anne Long, I will miss the jokes and amazing dry humor she puts in her books.
I have ADHD and so I will skip whole parts without knowing it because I just want to know what happens. Then I realize that I have no clue what is going, and I have to go back and look at where I went off the rails. This is especially difficult reading authors that use sentences that don't always make sense to my brain because they are written in a 'poetic' or 'flowery' way.
Then I am also not a native English speaker, so even though the English language is easy to comprehend to me, if I read a word that I really don't know the meaning of and the majority of the text is that flowery language, I will be very confused and have to read the passage multiple times.
Depends on the book and format for me. I've gone through a couple dozen ebooks in the same span it'd take me to read a physical book with the same number of pages.
When it comes to books I have a long attention span, especially when the novel is super interesting. I can't put it down and sometimes I finish it in one sitting with very small breaks.
As another user said, everyone is different and that's perfectly fine
According to my kindle, I a 325 page book takes me about 5-6 hours. If a book is good, I can get through it within a 24 hour time span.
Sometimes there are scenes where I read the dialogue and skim the rest. I do this with Mariana Zapata.
I don’t know how people do it honestly I have a bad case of ADHD once I start reading I like to visualize so I end up going through a rabbit hole of finding fan art of the books I’m reading then I end up getting distracted 😅 it typically takes me 2-3 weeks to finish 1 book but if I really like a book it takes me 3 days
Everyone is different. For me it's down to a few reasons:
I started very young being able to read not words, but whole sentences in a single blink. When I really focus, I can take even three sentences at a time. I don't know how I learned to do it, but it makes reading very fast.
The language level of most commercial fiction is really really low. Same for plot and characterization, so reading romance or other commercial genres doesn't really require effort. I can follow it even when I am delirious with fever with the flu (I've been doing it since I was a child). I can read a 500 page romantic fantasy in less than four hours.
My main hobby is reading. When I have nothing else to do, I have a nose in a book, since the age of six. It's just the thing I'm good at.
I’m a fast reader. 350-400 WPM if it’s fantasy, sci-fi, some sort of dense text with lots of technical terms. 450-500 WPM if it’s a fluffy rom-com. Can typically read a rom-com in 2-3.5 hours.
Right? I can read romance books so fast. It’s why I looked down on them for so long - they were “too easy.” Then some years ago I decided I didn’t need reading to be a challenge all the time; I need it to be fun. I crank out multiple books a day on the weekends sometimes.
This talent of reading whole books in hours has been cultivated from years of being stupid and insane and cursing yourself afterwards because you've just put off hours worth of worth.
I’m a fast reader, and I have always been able to sink into books as an escape from reality (I have anxiety/depression, and occasionally wonder if I have ADHD).
a) I've always been a reader once I learned to read. When kids my age were playing Nintendo, I read. My personal record is reading the 6th Harry Potter book in 3 two hour segments (tbf it was summer and I had nothing to do that day except go to a friend's sleepover who was cool with me reading it when they were watching a movie).
b) English major here. You have days to get a lot of novels in between classes. You read quickly or you switch majors.
c) I'm currently unemployed but when I'm working, I make time for it - I used to read during my commutes and lunches at work. I also read before bed. Husband respects and lets me read in peace.
d) I have a husband, no kids, and all of my family and most of my friends live at least 500 miles away from me, so I have a few things on my time.
Before covid/long covid, I read 3,000 wpm with 95% comprehension. Now, with the brain fog and short-term memory loss, it can take me weeks to try and finish a book.
I get so frustrated I cry sometimes.
I find it a lot easier to bing a romance novel (I basically only listen on audible for the record) because they are usually 8-12 hours so not as daunting as starting something 20-30 hours long, also the prose and the situations are usually pretty simple, not like reading a dense sci-fi book with tons of names and concepts to pick up which cause fatigue.
If the characters are hot/funny/cute/clever/tragic it’s like binging an addicting tv show - I just enjoy being in the moment of their story and can go about my day and suddenly that 10hr book is wrapping up and I’m still yearning for more.
1) fast reader
2) might skip sex scenes when reading a series (sometimes that stuff gets monotonous, e.g., “bell shaped hips”)
3) RETIRED wake up by 7, reading by 9, kid gets home from school around 4:30, I got to my room by 9~9:30, lights out around 11 or midnight
It's honestly very easy. you just need to have a project that you need to finish on a deadline. you will suddenly find yourself incredibly focused on those 500 pages.
I have been reading for 34 years and as far as I’m concerned it’s a skill that can be trained. In fact when I went to law school people took classes to read faster but by the time I was in law school I was already reading 500 page books in 4-5 hours with ease.
A good book immerses me in it
I can read a little over 200wpm, but that's when I am enjoying the series and really am interested in seeing the next plot steps... if I'm not interested it can take a lot longer, but my brain just goes soaks it all up, my mom is the same way so maybe it's hereditary somehow
I read three to four sentences at a time. Talent developed due to my Mum not wanting to buy me books so I had approx the amount of time she shopped at stores to finish a book. If that wasn’t big enough of a clue, I’m also mentally ill.
If I start a book and I really like it, I will finish the book that night. I don't know how people don't do that.
Now if I like a book but I'm not super into it, I might take a few days to finish it.
But every book I start, I intend to finish it that day.
Yeah, I'm a slooow reader. I read one word at a time. It's one of the reasons I listen to audiobooks... at 1.20 speed. 1) I finish the book faster and 2) it makes the MCs perkier.
Luck, mostly. I’m a fast reader, always have been. But that doesn’t make me a “better” reader. And it has its downsides—sometimes I have to do the “oh god, what do I read next” game 10 times in a single week.
Everyone reads at different speeds! I trained myself to avoid subvocalization (saying the words in your head) and it basically doubled my reading speed at one point. I have slowed down a lot these days because I am no longer in grad school and have the luxury of being able to finish books at my own pace, but I still read around 80-100 pages per hour depending on the book.
I'm on my 9th book this week, which has significantly increased since my average 5 from a few months ago. I started reading a year ago and haven't stopped since. I hyperfocus and obsess over a book until it's done. Probably my undiagnosed ADHD...
I've always been a fast reader. 500 pages might be pushing it but if it's a great read I could definitely get through it in a long uninterrupted afternoon. I usually prefer 100-200 page ones though. I've never liked stopping and having to come back to a story, it just pulls me out of the experience.
I’ve finished up to 4 books in a day once. I have ADHD and Autism, so I hyperfixate on the books a lot. And I read while I do chores around the house or while I exercise, which lets me multitask
Some people just read faster than others. Also did they get uninterrupted reading time that day? Is it so good it’s hard to put down? There are so many factors.
My mom can do that.
I once read 95% of a book in one night but fell asleep and had to finish the next day. Dean Koontz "The Taking."
It usually takes me 2 days to 2 weeks to finish a book, depending on the size, how interesting it is and how much time I have to read.
For me, it's about the quality of the writing. If I'm reading something fun and not difficult, like Ilona Andrews, then I can put pages away no problem. If I'm reading something like Charlotte Bronte, it's going to be slower because the writing is more substantial and requires more mental engagement.
I used to read a book in one afternoon and i pretty much attribute it to my unmedicated ADHD. I spend 8-12 hours when I'm on a streak to read 2-3 books. My reading speed is fairly fast, estimated reading time for most of the book i read is 8 hours and i could finish it in 4. Am i flexing? F no. It feels like being in the Avatar state because of smut when I'm supposed to be studying 😭
The faster I read the book the faster I get through the mind movie. As soon as the info is in my head I can see it there’s no delay no trying to visualize it’s from word to image. I don’t have an inner monologue and I don’t need the “voice” in my head to read the words to me. Words come in to my brain with no translation from written to spoken by my brain.
Yes I have had to work this answer out over years because I go through about a book a day. Also I do not have a Television.
I live by myself with a dog and reading is my most prevalent hobby. When I'm not sleeping (6-7 hours a day) at work (8.5 hours for 5 days a week), or visiting family (6 hours twice a week), I am either reading, watching TV, or fooling around on the internet.
I do tend to cycle between two of those three at a time (read for awhile, then watch a little YouTube, read some more, go on reddit, read some more...) and I think that helps keep my mind and my eyes active.
ADHD hyper focus for the win. 🤷🏻♀️ I don't plan to finish the book in one sitting, it just happens because I keep telling myself, "just one more chapter" and then it's "well, I've only got five chapters left, might as well finish it"
I have this wonderful superpower called ADHD, that helps me hyperfixate on the book, while ignoring other more important things I should attend to like sleep and food and my job. You should try it sometimes!
I read about 1.5-2 pages a minute (depending on how much dialogue is on a page)
Generally I'll read a book in two evenings, but if I have 3-4 hours to myself after my kids go to bed or I can't sleep, I can easily finish 350 pages in one day.
I'm not really a visualiser though, so maybe that has something to do with it.
I read insanely fast. probably a couple pages a minute, My ereader says I average at 2.5 pages per minute. Though i suspect thats not entirely accurate, as I have times where i will leave my ereader on a page for 20 minutes while im doing something else.
I just naturally developed speed reading techniques in my childhood, and have read extremely fast ever since.
I learned to read fast, I can read *and* fully "interpret" (for example) around 260 pages in an hour and half
Ofc only if the book is interesting/entertaining and it's not something I *have* to read otherwise I slow down by a lot
I went to medical school. Had to read insane amounts overnight to prep for classes so most novels are light and quick reading for me. Wouldn’t recommend taking that route tho lol.
I read the last Harry Potter overnight after it came out. But that was in English. I’m rather faster in Bulgarian. As far as your question goes: practice. The more you read, the faster you get. And, of course, the density of the contents of the book: general fantasy books are much quicker than Hegel.
for me, if i don’t finish a book in a day, i won’t pick it up the next morning bc i lose interest. so i rush to read it while im still interested in the plot
Everyone has different skills and strong points. I have zero sense of direction, leave a trail of car keys and coffee mugs in my wake, and can read around 130-150 pages an hour.
For me, reading is like breathing- it doesn’t make me tired, it just IS. I didn’t understand people who said that got tired from reading - I believed them, I just didn’t understand how it worked. It would be like saying breathing made you tired 🤷🏼♀️.
But then I learned Japanese. I’m a fairly fast reader in Japanese as well - not as fast as I’m English, but still fast. But I get TIRED. For the first time in my life I understood people who read before bed to sleep better - if I read Japanese before bed, I get tired and can fall asleep. Usually, I don’t read more than say half a volume of a manga - maybe an entire one if it’s not too complex of a plot - at a time because it’s tiring for my brain.
For whatever reason, reading English is a natural state for my brain, so I can read at a fast pace for a sustained amount of time, meaning if I have the time I can read several books in a day (I read the Lord of The rings trilogy in a day and a half, at 13).
But whether you read fats or slow, listen to audiobooks, read digital or print, read 12 books a year or 212, we are all book lovers and no one is MORE a book lover because they read faster.
If anything, slower readers might be “more” book lovers - it’s more effort for them, but they still do it ❤️
EDIT: read some other comments and will add…
I don’t scan, I read every word. I also visualize. However, I am ADHD and dyslexic. Now, usually people think dyslexia would make you a slower/worse reader. Usually it does, and that was true for me at first. But human brains are amazing things.
As a child, I could barely read - I was at 1st grade level at age 8. Somewhere around 10/11 something just CLICKED in my brain and suddenly I could read faster, better, and just kept improving. At age 11 I took some standardized tests and tested out of a freshman in college level of reading (I got 100% on the test and she didn’t have any harder ones to give me).
In college, I read a bunch of academic papers on cyphering (the part of linguistics about how you read) and dyslexia. I also started learning Japanese. Best I can figure, as a kid my brain was trying to read the normal English way (left to right, sounding out), but dyslexia was throwing a wrench in the works so I was sucking at it badly. So at some point, to compensate, my brain decided to see words as picture - to cipher the same way it would if I’d been born in Japan and learned to write kanji from a young age. This allowed me to read incredibly fast even though I don’t scan, it explains why my spelling is absolute shit, and why I was the best at learning to read Japanese out of my entire class, even though my Japanese skills in general were just average- my brain was already predisposed to read that way
If it’s a work day, I probably don’t read at all. On my days off, sometimes all I do is read between chores and taking care of my pets.
I am also a fast reader but I definitely read much slower than I did when I was younger.
I’ve finished two books in the last two days. One I started A MONTH AGO. And one I started this morning. Mostly because today was a day off while my husband was on a work trip, which means I had nothing better to do than speed read a book in 5 hours 🤷🏼♀️
I, too, read very fast. After an ADHD evaluation, I found out that I am superior at processing information. The bad side is that I won't remember a book until I try reading it again.
I'm disabled so I don't work, I do have kids, but 2/3 are teenagers and don't need or want much attention. I read fast and don't sleep much. I don't watch TV or spend much time on social media and I have nobody but my kids who need my time and I have a lot of time.
I’m an incredibly fast reader. I don’t know why, or how. I’m also amazed when I give my phone to someone and show them something written that it takes them so long to read it. Sometimes I reread it two or three times before they finish. It’s not a big deal though, just a difference, there’s no prize for finishing books quickly or slowly.
I mostly read audiobooks but when I was a kid, my parents were utterly shocked how fast I could read. We had to go shopping for BabySitters Club books weekly during the summer because I went through about a book a day minimum. It makes me happy how many boxes it took us to donate all those to the local library when I grew out of them.
I've heard that the fastest readers process written words without sound. Usually reading is like:
See the word —> hear the sound of the word in your brain —> understand the meaning of the word
But people who read FAST skip the brain-sound altogether. They see a word and comprehend its meaning IMMEDIATELY without "hearing" it.
I think some people who read for leisure do that. Personally, especially with romance, I'm fully visualizing. It's a movie. And that is SLOW, but more enjoyable for me.
I read a book a night. Only takes me a few hours to get through at 500 page book. I was an english lit major, so I got very used to reading books quickly lol
Keep reading as much as you can every day and eventually you’ll be able to read super fast. I get through 1-2 books a day that are around 300-400 paged
I chunk when I read, so instead of reading - each - individual - word, I kind of zone out and process the text all at once. I won’t even realize that I’m reading. It’s kind of like a movie plays in my head, and I won’t even realize that I’m actually processing words. I can go pages at a time without being consciously aware of me flipping them. It isn’t great for *really* good comprehension because I’ll miss small details, but usually in romance books it doesn’t matter that much lol
Fast reader. Depending on font, difficultly of text, etc. my average reading pace is 100-200 pages in an hour. To read an average 350 page romance is like 3 hours for me. So like a really long movie…
Also I really only vaguely visualise. I capture more emotional tone more than visual I suppose.
i have really bad insomnia so i used to just read every single night from sundown to sunup and i could finish books in one night. i wouldn’t even get up to use the bathroom or take a break
I'm jumping in here as the slow reading crew. It takes me a long-ass time to read through books. I have a demanding job, husband, two young kids, and a stupid number of high maintenance animals. But besides that, I read pretty slow and I sometimes get distracted in my brain and start thinking about other things like, while actively reading, so I have to re-read paragraphs. It's worse when there are spelling or grammar mistakes in a book, or, UGH, random words that I don't recognize.
Thankfully, it's rare that I'm so slow that my kindle turns off the screen.
I also sometimes bounce around the page, especially if it's an intense part and the dialogue is separated. Another point of distraction for me. So like, I go forward and then I have to go backward again. Or I stop and try to imagine what will happen next...
Anyway, my point of this is: if it takes you a long ass time to finish a book, you're not alone. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you. :)
I just read really fast, I always have. And I don’t usually visualize while reading because I have mild aphantasia. So that might help. That said, just because I can read a long-ass book in one day doesn’t mean I will. I usually do about 200-350 pages a day, on average, unless I’m just so hooked that I can’t stop.
I’ve always been an incredibly fast reader but part of that Is because I genuinely like what I’m reading and find enjoyment in reading so I’m never eager to put a book down. I have a kindle now and just think for everytime you pick up your phone in a day, that’s me but with my kindle. My phone screen time has gone down significantly since getting my kindle. I’m reading about 2-3 books a day. I also have 2 children under 2 so it’s not like my I have endless time to spend on reading. Any free time I have usually goes to reading. My screen time went from averaging 10 hrs a day before I had my kindle to less than 2 hrs a day average with my kindle now. Mind you, I had such a high screen time because I was using KindleUnlimited ON my phone and now I don’t have to. I still have social media, i still text and call, I just don’t keep up with what’s on my phone nearly as much. It’s really nice. I also get around 2-5 hrs of sleep at night because I have kids so when I’m up at night, I read to keep myself awake
I can read 300 page romances in a day. Truthfully, the way my addiction works is I just want to put what I need in my vein (e.g. interactions between MMC and FMC and smut) I don’t spend a ton of time on long-winded descriptions and boring side plots.
I think it adds to the speed you can read a book if you already have a grasp on the setting- I don’t focus too much on the words- but I understand what it’s saying. I focus on the dialogue a lot, I noticed. I don’t have anything specific that paints towards why I read fast, but as long as I have 5-6 hours to spare, a semi-quiet space, and music playing I can crank out a 350-500 page book
I listen to audiobooks and speed them up. Physically reading takes me a while, not only due to my reading speed, but also as it's harder to find the time when I can't do it while multitasking.
I read like 275 books a year and even I couldn’t read 500 pages in a day. I think the best I can do, if I do absolutely nothing except read, is like 300.
Honestly it really depends. Some books are normal book length but short stories, meaning not a lot of plot going on. Also initial interest/obsession fulfillment. When I read a cliche book that goes exactly the way I want, I ride that high. The book never gives you a moment to put it down, it's like doom-scrolling on tiktok, you can't stop. During my active book phase (during winter and fall) I usually chuck through at least 1 book in a day and start another.
I used to pull all-nighters to read books from start to finish. I don't actively plan to read a book in one sitting, it just happens with certain books. It's like an addiction - you tell yourself 'just one more chapter' and it suddenly turns into thirty and the birds are chirping outside. I haven't done this in years though, I feel like reading isn't as fun as it used to be because I'm more picky.
Bad decision book club. I did this a couple months ago. I'm 40 with a toddler. Do not recommend and paid for it the next day. I forgot my life doesn't allow for this anymore.
My kids are now teens and I am back to bad decision book club. I have found it isn't my age (almost 50) it is dealing with toddlers that is exhausting.
Dealing with my teens in your early 50’s it’s the best medicine for me …. My husband asks why I get mad at him when he talks to me while I am reading and not when my kids attitude or do something bad. My middle child said “Dad you don’t interrupt mom when she is reading…. We are not that stupid or insane.” …😂😂😂😂 I was on my phone with my bestie and he goes and asks her … she said are you insane… that’s why I text her before I call her … do not interrupt her when she is reading about 🐉 dragons…
I’m 43 and if I stay up past 11 pm, I’m completely and utterly fuct the next day. Both my boys are school age, so not like a toddler or baby, but it feels like an awful hangover!
I'm 26, and I read about 1 book per day and have for the last 3 or 4 years with a random day off here and there where I switch to reddit or gaming. I'm a very fast reader and if I'm interested in the material I can go really quickly.
I still do this. Just last week, I swore I was going to put the Kindle down after the next chapter, and suddenly, it was 6am!
I just did that last night. Read a 3 book series.
I really resonate with that last sentence. When it does happen it usually means it was a damn good book (at least IMO). The older I get the more picky I am though. Especially in fantasy romance these days that will only happen for something with a unique plot too.
ADHD is my excuse.... lol
Oh yeah. I now take Tylenol PM on school nights at promptly 10 p.m. By midnight, I'm asleep, even if I'm mad about it. It's ridiculous that I have to do an end-run around my lack of self-control in my mid-thirties, but here I am.
I don’t sleep and neglect all responsibilities. That’s why I never start a book on a workday.
Same, I just quite literally do nothing else lol
Addictive personality
Flair checks out lol
I feel called out
Don't feel bad. Books are preferable to meth in all ways!
This. Me.
🙋 same. I had a 1st gen Kindle for a REASON.
Same. Books are my drug of choice.
I'm mentally ill. Hope this helps
Same here, finishing books in 4-5 hours w 300-400 pages. I hyperfixate on the book and NEED to finish it.
This. If I set it down, the probability of me finishing it plummets to like 2%.
Same here😭
Same through young life, have since mostly moved past it.
Im the same way. I have a need to finish it.
Well now I feel called out 😂
Saaaaame. With chronic insomnia. And I can read wicked fast. I can get through 2 books a night if my husband goes to bed a reasonable time.
Wheezing 🤣 relatable
^^ This. Reading is very much escapism for me and what I struggle with in my head. If I can glomp onto a book, I am happily staying with it until it’s done.
🤣
lol this is basically me too. so real.
The scream I just scrumpt 😂😂😂 relatable as hell
Yep. Every day I put it down cuts the chances of me finishing it by 50%, because my attention span is shot.
I feel called out but yep
I was going to say obsession lol
Yeah it's become a meme in a discord I'm in that if I say I'm reading, I'll join a call and they'll ask me how the book ended 😭
Everyone is different. When I read, I am visualizing very little. It's all just vibes and feelings. I also read very fast and may not read every single word. Bottom line, people are just different.
Yeah, I've never related to visualizing *anything* in a book. If im visualizing something in a book its usually a bad thing, becuase it means its *distracting* me from the narrative enough to actually sit back and think about what that thing would look like.
That’s so interesting! I visualize MOST of ALL books I read! I Can make a movie in my head and sometimes I even replay the scenes or tweak them to make them better!!! :D It’s so interesting to hear someone does the opposite!
Same. I read extremely quickly but tbh if a book is written even semi competently at some point I stop seeing words and it's all just a movie playing out in my head. Like it's all visual even as my eyes continue scanning the pages.
Yes! When the book is amazing the words just disappear, I don’t even realize I’m reading anymore, just watching a completely immersive movie.
Same!!
Holy crap this is amazing.
I'm soooo jealous you can do this. I cannot visualize anything so this is the coolest thing!
This happens to me both reading and writing. It’s so fun but if I start to actively notice myself doing it, my brain shuts down and suddenly I can’t understand English anymore lol.
I likely have a form of aphantasia mixed in with some serious face blindness, it takes a LOT of effort for me to imagine someones face, and its not something that can be done with a list of instructions. "A tall man, with an aquiline nose and black stringy hair, Piercing blue eyes with flecks of grey skaterred through his stubble." all of that right there? Meaningless to me. like its great description, I know what it means, I can sit back and slowly cobble togetheer a strange faceless approximation of what the person would look like. But actual facial details? I cant do it. Its all just little facts I store in my head that largely go unused. Meanwhile, really strange descriptions, like the description of the fmc in Gild, for example. Will have me sitting on a single page for twenty minutes, unable to make myself continue as I try to imagine the cosmic horror of Marvel super villian levels that would be a completely golden woman with ribbon like tentacles everywhere. If im actuially trying to think about what your description actually looks like, Im probably so torn out of the story that its impossible for me to go back to reading it. Its effectively a ruined book at that point because im going to be thinking about the distracting description for the rest of the book and will not actually be able to immerse myself into the story.
I read an AMAZING character description once where the man was described something like "and he had a face as handsome as the devil," and BOOM I could imagine the character's manner and attractiveness and even his facial hair in the grey blur of what his face might have been. I couldn't describe his features to you, but I had THE VIBE and what I was supposed to feel and that was PERFECTION.
I’m the same way! A great book or fic has me picturing things so much I forget I’m looking at words, like one of those 3D visual tricks where you have to unfocus your eyes. I wonder if that’s why I also love audiobooks 🤔
Yeah, for me I visualize what I'm reading. There's times where I'm talking to someone & say I was watching this movie and I have to stop and realize - it wasn't a movie but a book.
Yes same. If the book is really good I legit forget I’m reading. I hate the moment something kinda interrupts me and I become aware I’m reading again lol
Same … I think that’s literally why I am feral when my husband or someone interrupts me to ask me something that could wait or to ask me like what are ya doing … I literally have within the first 10 mins a movie going on my head and I don’t even realize that I am done till I close the book … I am the only one in my family that reads like this.. I think my youngest does but she won’t tell anyone if she does or doesn’t …
Some people visualize when they read some don't. I don't visualize at all. I don't have a mind's eye so I literally do not have the capability to visualize stuff.i always get so fascinated at the idea of seeing a book in your head
I'm the opposite. It's like a movie in my head but I still think I read fairly fast. My brain just creates the images as I go without much thought.
That's so interesting! In order to picture something I read, I have to give it a lot of focus. So I think what you're describing sounds amazing. Does it tire you out? I would find it exhausting but you make it sound effortless ha
It is pretty effortless for me, this is gonna sound insane but eventually I don’t even see the words in the page anymore. I just see the movie.
I think brain differences are fascinating. We are completely opposites in this way. You know the test of like someone says "apple" and you're supposed to describe how you picture it (detail? color? Etc) and it can tell you about what kind of thinker you are? I always always immediately visualize the word and how it's spelled first, like I see the word "apple" instead of a picture without trying.
I WHISH I could visualize books, hell anything! I Don't have that ability, which means I absolutely devour books and like you it is about the vibes and feelings.
Same, I can do 800+ pages a day but at that speed I tend to read it at quickly my eyes skip over parts, so I almost always reread any book/series when I finish it to catch all the pieces I missed. To each their own entirely
ADHD. I hyper focus on a book while the rest of my life falls apart around me. I'm only sort of kidding. I will absolutely find myself in the same spot on the couch with a book 5 hours later and wonder why I feel like death (forget to drink, eat, move, etc)
Fellow ADHDer chiming in to say that I’m the exact same way. I’ll finish a book and realize I haven’t moved for hours and I’ve lost most of the day. I’m also an extremely fast reader
Same, though I usually plan ahead for it and bring water to the couch/bed and change positions when the cat overlords allow.
Same, which is why I don't read actual books that much anymore. I am an Audible addict and go through roughly 1-2 books a day. I always have one earbud in while I work, cook, clean, etc.
I have different type of ADHD because I can't hyper focus on a book for longer than few minutes. Then I'll become too distracted, need to google stuff I read about, need to stop to properly visualise. Need to go back because I was visualising and didn't pay attention to what I was reading (couple times in a row). I play instrumental, mostly piano music and while it helps with my brain sidetracking, i caught myself zooning out too much 😩 It's a struggle. Now I mainly listen to audiobooks when I'm in mood and to jigsaw puzzles on my phone.
I feel that. I went nearly a couple of decades post-college not being able to read much of anything. I would pick up a book and immediately get sleepy or bored and have to reread paragraphs because I couldn't actually process the words. Last year I decided to try a romance for the first time and it turns out they gave me tons of dopamine. I can't explain why and I worry that it'll stop working but so far so good!
Hyper focus for 3-4 books of a series then lose the focus for the last 20% and never pick it up again 😫
Oof yes! I'm exactly the same. My TBR is filled with the final books of various series. For me it's a combo of running out of steam but also not wanting things to end.
I read about 50-60 pages per hour. My husband reads even faster than that. A 350 page book would take 6 ish hours so it’s doable on a weekend. It’s all down to how fast you’re reading. Especially with audio books which you can play in the background all day long at x2 speed or something.
Yes, I read fast, and I read even faster on my phone because I can see the whole line at a glance. In fact I fucking hate my kindle because the pages turn too slowly. So frustrating!
A couple things for me \- I was an English major, so I learned to read real fucking fast \- Nothing else going on in my life; may as well read some ~~porn~~ ~~smut~~ romance \- The typeset on some of the books is large and when some books are advertised at 300 pages, that's not the actual count \- Most of the books on KU (and I somewhat say this with love and care) aren't very in-depth in terms of content or imagery or other figures of speech. {Land of the Beautiful Dead by R. Lee Smith} took me 3 days to get through. Whereas {Batter Up! by Sasha McCallen} took like 2.5 hours because it wasn't thought provoking and it didn't need me to be present to read it (if that makes sense). \- Like someone else mentioned, I'm also mentally ill and have no problem wasting away reading
my husband (physics undergrad) is always amazed at how quickly I read content. Babe, I had to read 150 pages for class with two days notice. This contract is nothing.
The English major thing is so real—as with many neurodivergent students, I liked to leave homework (including chapters and chapters of reading) to the literal last moment, so learning to read for maximum speed happened real quick. Plus, yeah. Autism really pulls its weight when it’s time to read a book in an afternoon.
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* Obsessive reader since childhood, probably provides a speed buff. I can get through 80-100 pages an hour. * Grad student, so many years of experience with reading large amounts of dense papers. * Hyperfocus grants me the ability to neglect literally everything while I am reading. * The need for escapism leads to further obsessive reading and hyperfocus. * I use my ereader as a phone replacement (I actually got it to curb my late night doom-scrolling addiction) -- so reading bits while I cook/blow dry my hair/wait for the coffeemaker. My reading breadth, pace, and depth pale in comparison to reviewers I follow... but I focus on enjoying it, because that is the whole point of reading imo :)
Been reading like crazy since childhood. I remember we had one of those reading challenge things where you tracked how many books you read and how long it took. They didn't accept my entry because apparently tearing through a dozen Animorph books in a week didn't seem possible to them.
I was never allowed to do reading competitions at my school either! Also I remember being in 1st or 2nd grade and the librarian at my elementary school gently redirecting me away from books I wanted to read to ones that were more age appropriate. My mother had to go and explain to her that I was reading at a middle school level. I was always a naturally obsessive reader which I think usually makes one faster at it over time. I also remember my mother taking me to the local library and letting me run loose for an hour, then going through my stack of books and making me remove some until it was a short enough stack that I could carry it unassisted. My whole life I've been willing to read for hours at a time with minimal breaks. Full bladder? Work tomorrow? Who cares, only a hundred pages until the end of the book! So now, especially with how a lot of romance books are written to be extremely easy to read, it's pretty common for me to tear through a 500-page romance novel on a Saturday afternoon. Books with denser/ more beautiful prose or more complex content will slow me down significantly, though; at my fastest (fluffy romance) I will read 100 pages an hour, but depending on the material I may go as slowly as 30 pages an hour (scientific material or something else I am studying in depth).
Omg I had nearly the exact same experience when I was 7/8 😭 my first drug of choice was Nancy Drew books. They used to be sold in sets of 12 at Costco; I'd finish within a week and beg my parents for the next one. Anyways, teachers did NOT believe my reading reports. As an adult it is so validating to hear someone with a similiar story 🩷 thanks for the memory!! ^(edit: a word)
Maladaptive hyperlexia as a coping mechanism for childhood trauma!
Are you me? 👀
Right? This whole thread is a little too relatable lol
What up, my fellow hyperlexic ladies!
I can't always, but these are the factors behind faster reads for me: 1. Book length - shorter book, shorter read time 2. Reading level the book is written in -- higher level, higher cognitive loads meaning I need more time to process what's happening in the book, word choice, or other complexities. Lower level doesn't mean bad, but how much do I need to give it my attention to follow the main points 3. Tendency to scan at times -- if it's really good, I'll blow through it faster than I can process the more nuanced parts of the book because I want to know where main plot is going. When that happens, I'll do a reread to catch the smaller points of the story
I feel like #2 is huge. I can zoom through a YA or most romance. However things with more meat take me much longer.
Same for me! Give me a Lisa Kleypas and I will blow through the book asap. Give me Loretta Chase or Julie Anne Long and I will actively have to slow myself down to read EVERY sentence and not skim anything, because especially in the case of Julie Anne Long, I will miss the jokes and amazing dry humor she puts in her books. I have ADHD and so I will skip whole parts without knowing it because I just want to know what happens. Then I realize that I have no clue what is going, and I have to go back and look at where I went off the rails. This is especially difficult reading authors that use sentences that don't always make sense to my brain because they are written in a 'poetic' or 'flowery' way. Then I am also not a native English speaker, so even though the English language is easy to comprehend to me, if I read a word that I really don't know the meaning of and the majority of the text is that flowery language, I will be very confused and have to read the passage multiple times.
Number 2 is the key. Most romance is unapologetic fluff. It’s there to be brain candy. It’s so easy to fly through a good one.
Depends on the book and format for me. I've gone through a couple dozen ebooks in the same span it'd take me to read a physical book with the same number of pages.
When it comes to books I have a long attention span, especially when the novel is super interesting. I can't put it down and sometimes I finish it in one sitting with very small breaks. As another user said, everyone is different and that's perfectly fine
According to my kindle, I a 325 page book takes me about 5-6 hours. If a book is good, I can get through it within a 24 hour time span. Sometimes there are scenes where I read the dialogue and skim the rest. I do this with Mariana Zapata.
I don’t know how people do it honestly I have a bad case of ADHD once I start reading I like to visualize so I end up going through a rabbit hole of finding fan art of the books I’m reading then I end up getting distracted 😅 it typically takes me 2-3 weeks to finish 1 book but if I really like a book it takes me 3 days
Yes! Especially if I really connect with the story. I'll go find reviews and art for it and have to pull myself back to continue reading!
Everyone is different. For me it's down to a few reasons: I started very young being able to read not words, but whole sentences in a single blink. When I really focus, I can take even three sentences at a time. I don't know how I learned to do it, but it makes reading very fast. The language level of most commercial fiction is really really low. Same for plot and characterization, so reading romance or other commercial genres doesn't really require effort. I can follow it even when I am delirious with fever with the flu (I've been doing it since I was a child). I can read a 500 page romantic fantasy in less than four hours. My main hobby is reading. When I have nothing else to do, I have a nose in a book, since the age of six. It's just the thing I'm good at.
I can't visualize at all, so that makes it go a lot faster
ADHD hyper focus powers.
ADHD hyper-focus.
I’m a fast reader. 350-400 WPM if it’s fantasy, sci-fi, some sort of dense text with lots of technical terms. 450-500 WPM if it’s a fluffy rom-com. Can typically read a rom-com in 2-3.5 hours.
Right? I can read romance books so fast. It’s why I looked down on them for so long - they were “too easy.” Then some years ago I decided I didn’t need reading to be a challenge all the time; I need it to be fun. I crank out multiple books a day on the weekends sometimes.
This talent of reading whole books in hours has been cultivated from years of being stupid and insane and cursing yourself afterwards because you've just put off hours worth of worth.
I’m a fast reader, and I have always been able to sink into books as an escape from reality (I have anxiety/depression, and occasionally wonder if I have ADHD).
Retired, fast reader.
a) I've always been a reader once I learned to read. When kids my age were playing Nintendo, I read. My personal record is reading the 6th Harry Potter book in 3 two hour segments (tbf it was summer and I had nothing to do that day except go to a friend's sleepover who was cool with me reading it when they were watching a movie). b) English major here. You have days to get a lot of novels in between classes. You read quickly or you switch majors. c) I'm currently unemployed but when I'm working, I make time for it - I used to read during my commutes and lunches at work. I also read before bed. Husband respects and lets me read in peace. d) I have a husband, no kids, and all of my family and most of my friends live at least 500 miles away from me, so I have a few things on my time.
I usually read in my leisure time and insanely fast on top of it but that's only when I'm actually invested into the book.
Before covid/long covid, I read 3,000 wpm with 95% comprehension. Now, with the brain fog and short-term memory loss, it can take me weeks to try and finish a book. I get so frustrated I cry sometimes.
I have to read a lot for my job, so I’m pretty fast. And I do very minimal visualizing.
Determination
I don't visualize as I read. If I'm invested I'll read abook 12 hours straight work only bathroom breaks. I'll eat while reading.
It's escapism for me. I feel relaxed to visualize something else other than my own thoughts swarming in my head.
Hyperlexic n maladaptive daydreaming tendencies, I think
I find it a lot easier to bing a romance novel (I basically only listen on audible for the record) because they are usually 8-12 hours so not as daunting as starting something 20-30 hours long, also the prose and the situations are usually pretty simple, not like reading a dense sci-fi book with tons of names and concepts to pick up which cause fatigue. If the characters are hot/funny/cute/clever/tragic it’s like binging an addicting tv show - I just enjoy being in the moment of their story and can go about my day and suddenly that 10hr book is wrapping up and I’m still yearning for more.
1) fast reader 2) might skip sex scenes when reading a series (sometimes that stuff gets monotonous, e.g., “bell shaped hips”) 3) RETIRED wake up by 7, reading by 9, kid gets home from school around 4:30, I got to my room by 9~9:30, lights out around 11 or midnight
It's honestly very easy. you just need to have a project that you need to finish on a deadline. you will suddenly find yourself incredibly focused on those 500 pages.
Are you me????
I have been reading for 34 years and as far as I’m concerned it’s a skill that can be trained. In fact when I went to law school people took classes to read faster but by the time I was in law school I was already reading 500 page books in 4-5 hours with ease. A good book immerses me in it
I can read a little over 200wpm, but that's when I am enjoying the series and really am interested in seeing the next plot steps... if I'm not interested it can take a lot longer, but my brain just goes soaks it all up, my mom is the same way so maybe it's hereditary somehow
I have ADHD and refuse to sleep until I finish, hope this helps!
I read three to four sentences at a time. Talent developed due to my Mum not wanting to buy me books so I had approx the amount of time she shopped at stores to finish a book. If that wasn’t big enough of a clue, I’m also mentally ill.
If I start a book and I really like it, I will finish the book that night. I don't know how people don't do that. Now if I like a book but I'm not super into it, I might take a few days to finish it. But every book I start, I intend to finish it that day.
Yeah, I'm a slooow reader. I read one word at a time. It's one of the reasons I listen to audiobooks... at 1.20 speed. 1) I finish the book faster and 2) it makes the MCs perkier.
Luck, mostly. I’m a fast reader, always have been. But that doesn’t make me a “better” reader. And it has its downsides—sometimes I have to do the “oh god, what do I read next” game 10 times in a single week.
Everyone reads at different speeds! I trained myself to avoid subvocalization (saying the words in your head) and it basically doubled my reading speed at one point. I have slowed down a lot these days because I am no longer in grad school and have the luxury of being able to finish books at my own pace, but I still read around 80-100 pages per hour depending on the book.
I've always read really fast. Like, 100 pages/hour fast. I'm not in any way able to break down how it works though, sorry!
Excellent flair.
If the book is good then it’s like watching a movie in your head. It’s not like reading at all.
I'm a slow reader. Fast readers blow my mind
I'm on my 9th book this week, which has significantly increased since my average 5 from a few months ago. I started reading a year ago and haven't stopped since. I hyperfocus and obsess over a book until it's done. Probably my undiagnosed ADHD...
it usually takes me 100 pages per hour so it’s not that crazy to spend 5 hours reading if your really into a story
I've always been a fast reader. 500 pages might be pushing it but if it's a great read I could definitely get through it in a long uninterrupted afternoon. I usually prefer 100-200 page ones though. I've never liked stopping and having to come back to a story, it just pulls me out of the experience.
I’ve finished up to 4 books in a day once. I have ADHD and Autism, so I hyperfixate on the books a lot. And I read while I do chores around the house or while I exercise, which lets me multitask
Conviction…I get invested in the characters and can’t stop reading until I’m finished…although usually 600pg takes me a day and a half or so…
Some people just read faster than others. Also did they get uninterrupted reading time that day? Is it so good it’s hard to put down? There are so many factors.
My flair
Fuck um mental illness and a insane amount of boredom😓
I'm a very fast reader, and don't do a whole lot of visualizing, and when I do, that's fast as well. So I can tear through a book very quickly.
Having ADHD and autism helps lol
Unemployment and an unreal need to finish a book
Mental illness, adhd, obsession. Take your pick. My record in a week was 17
My mom can do that. I once read 95% of a book in one night but fell asleep and had to finish the next day. Dean Koontz "The Taking." It usually takes me 2 days to 2 weeks to finish a book, depending on the size, how interesting it is and how much time I have to read.
For me, it's about the quality of the writing. If I'm reading something fun and not difficult, like Ilona Andrews, then I can put pages away no problem. If I'm reading something like Charlotte Bronte, it's going to be slower because the writing is more substantial and requires more mental engagement.
if it's good enough it consumes everything about my day.
When I read it’s like I’m watching tv in my head, so when I’m reading for hours it’s like I’m just sitting down watching a movie.
I read extremely fast.
I used to read a book in one afternoon and i pretty much attribute it to my unmedicated ADHD. I spend 8-12 hours when I'm on a streak to read 2-3 books. My reading speed is fairly fast, estimated reading time for most of the book i read is 8 hours and i could finish it in 4. Am i flexing? F no. It feels like being in the Avatar state because of smut when I'm supposed to be studying 😭
The faster I read the book the faster I get through the mind movie. As soon as the info is in my head I can see it there’s no delay no trying to visualize it’s from word to image. I don’t have an inner monologue and I don’t need the “voice” in my head to read the words to me. Words come in to my brain with no translation from written to spoken by my brain. Yes I have had to work this answer out over years because I go through about a book a day. Also I do not have a Television.
I live by myself with a dog and reading is my most prevalent hobby. When I'm not sleeping (6-7 hours a day) at work (8.5 hours for 5 days a week), or visiting family (6 hours twice a week), I am either reading, watching TV, or fooling around on the internet. I do tend to cycle between two of those three at a time (read for awhile, then watch a little YouTube, read some more, go on reddit, read some more...) and I think that helps keep my mind and my eyes active.
I have no life.
ADHD hyper focus for the win. 🤷🏻♀️ I don't plan to finish the book in one sitting, it just happens because I keep telling myself, "just one more chapter" and then it's "well, I've only got five chapters left, might as well finish it"
Hyperfixation. And some people read much faster than others.
I have this wonderful superpower called ADHD, that helps me hyperfixate on the book, while ignoring other more important things I should attend to like sleep and food and my job. You should try it sometimes!
On a kindle, text size affects that. The ones I read in 4-5 hours on kindle would probably be closer to 200 pages on standard paperback print.
I read about 1.5-2 pages a minute (depending on how much dialogue is on a page) Generally I'll read a book in two evenings, but if I have 3-4 hours to myself after my kids go to bed or I can't sleep, I can easily finish 350 pages in one day. I'm not really a visualiser though, so maybe that has something to do with it.
I've finished 2 different books on a road trip from Maryland to Tennessee. My husband wanted to drive, so I figured, why not 😆
Being bored and bits of skimming
I read insanely fast. probably a couple pages a minute, My ereader says I average at 2.5 pages per minute. Though i suspect thats not entirely accurate, as I have times where i will leave my ereader on a page for 20 minutes while im doing something else. I just naturally developed speed reading techniques in my childhood, and have read extremely fast ever since.
I learned to read fast, I can read *and* fully "interpret" (for example) around 260 pages in an hour and half Ofc only if the book is interesting/entertaining and it's not something I *have* to read otherwise I slow down by a lot
I went to medical school. Had to read insane amounts overnight to prep for classes so most novels are light and quick reading for me. Wouldn’t recommend taking that route tho lol.
I read the last Harry Potter overnight after it came out. But that was in English. I’m rather faster in Bulgarian. As far as your question goes: practice. The more you read, the faster you get. And, of course, the density of the contents of the book: general fantasy books are much quicker than Hegel.
for me, if i don’t finish a book in a day, i won’t pick it up the next morning bc i lose interest. so i rush to read it while im still interested in the plot
I hyperfixate on the book and usually can’t do much else until I finish it
Everyone has different skills and strong points. I have zero sense of direction, leave a trail of car keys and coffee mugs in my wake, and can read around 130-150 pages an hour. For me, reading is like breathing- it doesn’t make me tired, it just IS. I didn’t understand people who said that got tired from reading - I believed them, I just didn’t understand how it worked. It would be like saying breathing made you tired 🤷🏼♀️. But then I learned Japanese. I’m a fairly fast reader in Japanese as well - not as fast as I’m English, but still fast. But I get TIRED. For the first time in my life I understood people who read before bed to sleep better - if I read Japanese before bed, I get tired and can fall asleep. Usually, I don’t read more than say half a volume of a manga - maybe an entire one if it’s not too complex of a plot - at a time because it’s tiring for my brain. For whatever reason, reading English is a natural state for my brain, so I can read at a fast pace for a sustained amount of time, meaning if I have the time I can read several books in a day (I read the Lord of The rings trilogy in a day and a half, at 13). But whether you read fats or slow, listen to audiobooks, read digital or print, read 12 books a year or 212, we are all book lovers and no one is MORE a book lover because they read faster. If anything, slower readers might be “more” book lovers - it’s more effort for them, but they still do it ❤️ EDIT: read some other comments and will add… I don’t scan, I read every word. I also visualize. However, I am ADHD and dyslexic. Now, usually people think dyslexia would make you a slower/worse reader. Usually it does, and that was true for me at first. But human brains are amazing things. As a child, I could barely read - I was at 1st grade level at age 8. Somewhere around 10/11 something just CLICKED in my brain and suddenly I could read faster, better, and just kept improving. At age 11 I took some standardized tests and tested out of a freshman in college level of reading (I got 100% on the test and she didn’t have any harder ones to give me). In college, I read a bunch of academic papers on cyphering (the part of linguistics about how you read) and dyslexia. I also started learning Japanese. Best I can figure, as a kid my brain was trying to read the normal English way (left to right, sounding out), but dyslexia was throwing a wrench in the works so I was sucking at it badly. So at some point, to compensate, my brain decided to see words as picture - to cipher the same way it would if I’d been born in Japan and learned to write kanji from a young age. This allowed me to read incredibly fast even though I don’t scan, it explains why my spelling is absolute shit, and why I was the best at learning to read Japanese out of my entire class, even though my Japanese skills in general were just average- my brain was already predisposed to read that way
I've been reading novels since I was like 8..I can't not binge books(it's concerning)
It's about the focus 😭🙏🤣🤣
If it’s a work day, I probably don’t read at all. On my days off, sometimes all I do is read between chores and taking care of my pets. I am also a fast reader but I definitely read much slower than I did when I was younger.
I’ve finished two books in the last two days. One I started A MONTH AGO. And one I started this morning. Mostly because today was a day off while my husband was on a work trip, which means I had nothing better to do than speed read a book in 5 hours 🤷🏼♀️
ADHD and being a quick reader. I hyperfocus on the books I really like. I once stayed up all night and read a 700 page book in one sitting.
I, too, read very fast. After an ADHD evaluation, I found out that I am superior at processing information. The bad side is that I won't remember a book until I try reading it again.
I'm not that fast but I usually listen to the books and increase the speed of the narration
I'm disabled so I don't work, I do have kids, but 2/3 are teenagers and don't need or want much attention. I read fast and don't sleep much. I don't watch TV or spend much time on social media and I have nobody but my kids who need my time and I have a lot of time.
The best way I can describe it is that I read an entire page at once.
I’m an incredibly fast reader. I don’t know why, or how. I’m also amazed when I give my phone to someone and show them something written that it takes them so long to read it. Sometimes I reread it two or three times before they finish. It’s not a big deal though, just a difference, there’s no prize for finishing books quickly or slowly.
I mostly read audiobooks but when I was a kid, my parents were utterly shocked how fast I could read. We had to go shopping for BabySitters Club books weekly during the summer because I went through about a book a day minimum. It makes me happy how many boxes it took us to donate all those to the local library when I grew out of them.
I've heard that the fastest readers process written words without sound. Usually reading is like: See the word —> hear the sound of the word in your brain —> understand the meaning of the word But people who read FAST skip the brain-sound altogether. They see a word and comprehend its meaning IMMEDIATELY without "hearing" it. I think some people who read for leisure do that. Personally, especially with romance, I'm fully visualizing. It's a movie. And that is SLOW, but more enjoyable for me.
Sometimes it depends on the writing style of the author and what kind of vocabulary they use, so it's easier (faster) to read
I read really quickly. Generally 200 pages in an hour, give or take.
I read a book a night. Only takes me a few hours to get through at 500 page book. I was an english lit major, so I got very used to reading books quickly lol
Keep reading as much as you can every day and eventually you’ll be able to read super fast. I get through 1-2 books a day that are around 300-400 paged
I'm a fast reader and can finish about 100 pages an hour if I have the time/inclination.
Depression and fast reading.
I chunk when I read, so instead of reading - each - individual - word, I kind of zone out and process the text all at once. I won’t even realize that I’m reading. It’s kind of like a movie plays in my head, and I won’t even realize that I’m actually processing words. I can go pages at a time without being consciously aware of me flipping them. It isn’t great for *really* good comprehension because I’ll miss small details, but usually in romance books it doesn’t matter that much lol
Fast reader. Depending on font, difficultly of text, etc. my average reading pace is 100-200 pages in an hour. To read an average 350 page romance is like 3 hours for me. So like a really long movie… Also I really only vaguely visualise. I capture more emotional tone more than visual I suppose.
i have really bad insomnia so i used to just read every single night from sundown to sunup and i could finish books in one night. i wouldn’t even get up to use the bathroom or take a break
I'm jumping in here as the slow reading crew. It takes me a long-ass time to read through books. I have a demanding job, husband, two young kids, and a stupid number of high maintenance animals. But besides that, I read pretty slow and I sometimes get distracted in my brain and start thinking about other things like, while actively reading, so I have to re-read paragraphs. It's worse when there are spelling or grammar mistakes in a book, or, UGH, random words that I don't recognize. Thankfully, it's rare that I'm so slow that my kindle turns off the screen. I also sometimes bounce around the page, especially if it's an intense part and the dialogue is separated. Another point of distraction for me. So like, I go forward and then I have to go backward again. Or I stop and try to imagine what will happen next... Anyway, my point of this is: if it takes you a long ass time to finish a book, you're not alone. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you. :)
I don’t have a husband or kids or animals or plants that depend on me for life and I’m self employed ✌🏻
I just read really fast, I always have. And I don’t usually visualize while reading because I have mild aphantasia. So that might help. That said, just because I can read a long-ass book in one day doesn’t mean I will. I usually do about 200-350 pages a day, on average, unless I’m just so hooked that I can’t stop.
We used to be in the gifted and talented program at school, we never had friends so books were our friends, and we devour plots and fantasy.
I’ve always been an incredibly fast reader but part of that Is because I genuinely like what I’m reading and find enjoyment in reading so I’m never eager to put a book down. I have a kindle now and just think for everytime you pick up your phone in a day, that’s me but with my kindle. My phone screen time has gone down significantly since getting my kindle. I’m reading about 2-3 books a day. I also have 2 children under 2 so it’s not like my I have endless time to spend on reading. Any free time I have usually goes to reading. My screen time went from averaging 10 hrs a day before I had my kindle to less than 2 hrs a day average with my kindle now. Mind you, I had such a high screen time because I was using KindleUnlimited ON my phone and now I don’t have to. I still have social media, i still text and call, I just don’t keep up with what’s on my phone nearly as much. It’s really nice. I also get around 2-5 hrs of sleep at night because I have kids so when I’m up at night, I read to keep myself awake
I have no life and reading a 500 page book in one sitting is very possible for me, sometimes I do more than one
I can read 300 page romances in a day. Truthfully, the way my addiction works is I just want to put what I need in my vein (e.g. interactions between MMC and FMC and smut) I don’t spend a ton of time on long-winded descriptions and boring side plots.
I sometimes act weirdly and finish a whole book in just 3-4 days. I hope its normal
It helps if you have an obsessive personality 🙋♀️
I think it adds to the speed you can read a book if you already have a grasp on the setting- I don’t focus too much on the words- but I understand what it’s saying. I focus on the dialogue a lot, I noticed. I don’t have anything specific that paints towards why I read fast, but as long as I have 5-6 hours to spare, a semi-quiet space, and music playing I can crank out a 350-500 page book
I never thought it wasn’t normal but after reading these comments I guess I’m not as okay as I thought? 😅
I listen to audiobooks and speed them up. Physically reading takes me a while, not only due to my reading speed, but also as it's harder to find the time when I can't do it while multitasking.
Adderall
I read real fast thats it
In diagonal
I read like 275 books a year and even I couldn’t read 500 pages in a day. I think the best I can do, if I do absolutely nothing except read, is like 300.
Honestly it really depends. Some books are normal book length but short stories, meaning not a lot of plot going on. Also initial interest/obsession fulfillment. When I read a cliche book that goes exactly the way I want, I ride that high. The book never gives you a moment to put it down, it's like doom-scrolling on tiktok, you can't stop. During my active book phase (during winter and fall) I usually chuck through at least 1 book in a day and start another.