# What's the fastest you've ever finished a book? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 15, 2004, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-youve-ever-finished-a-book/250513 "2004-06-15T18:26:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_The_Golden_Gun)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-youve-ever-finished-a-book/250513/1 "2004-06-15T18:26:12Z")
Not sure if this goes in here, IMHO, or Cafe Society, so I’ll put it here. The fastest I’ve ever finished a book was Stephen King’s **Carrie** , which I finished in 4 days. It was about 250 pages long. I also finished Michael Crichton’s **Prey** in 5 days, and **All Quiet on the Western Front** in 6 days. What’s your best time for reading a book? ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-youve-ever-finished-a-book/250513/2 "2004-06-15T18:30:10Z")
> [@The Man With The Golden Gun](#): > > What’s your best time for reading a book? I finished that god-awful _Davinci Code_ in just over a day. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-youve-ever-finished-a-book/250513/3 "2004-06-15T18:31:39Z")
I can’t say exactly what my “fastest time” is (I don’t see how it relates to anything anyway) but I can tell you that I’ve called in sick to work to finish a book. More than once. ---
**Author:** ![Genghis\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/45deac/32.png) [@Genghis\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genghis_Bob)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-youve-ever-finished-a-book/250513/4 "2004-06-15T18:35:08Z")
I read Jasper Fforde’s \*The Eyre Affair \* one Saturday, forsaking all else until there was nothing left. I used to do that a lot more often when I was younger, and nobody much cared if I didn’t accomplish anything all day. Sigh . . . ---
**Author:** ![LVgeogeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b19c9b/32.png) [@LVgeogeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVgeogeek)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-youve-ever-finished-a-book/250513/5 "2004-06-15T18:37:28Z")
Lemme see: Michael Crichton’s **Prey** in 4 evenings. Stephen King’s **The Shining** in one night Anne Rice’s **The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty** in one night. Granted I pulled all nighters reading them. Stephen King’s **The Regulators** & **Desparation** in 3 days each ---
**Author:** ![jlsmith57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4bbf92/32.png) [@jlsmith57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlsmith57)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-youve-ever-finished-a-book/250513/6 "2004-06-15T18:39:34Z")
Is there a minimum page requirement? I’ve finished short romance novels in a couple of hours. Most longer books will take a day or two depending on how involved I get with the story and whether or not its a weekend when I start it. I did take a speed reading class in high school (many, many years ago) but I was reading faster than average even before that. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-youve-ever-finished-a-book/250513/7 "2004-06-15T18:41:45Z")
I read _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix_ in about three hours, IIRC. The best speed I’ve ever gotten is reading Babysitter’s Club books (Ann M. Martin, around 150 pages per) in about half an hour. So, around 300 pages of fiction an hour is a good speed for me. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-youve-ever-finished-a-book/250513/8 "2004-06-15T18:45:27Z")
I started a thread a little while ago about reading speed, and this directly relates to that, I guess. I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately. I can finish a “light reading” type book (180 pages) in about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. A slightly meatier book, let’s say, 380 pages, in an afternoon. Maybe 4 1/2 - 5 hours. Longer if has really tiny/dense text, and/or is a complex “heavy-duty” type novel that takes more time to contemplate and absorb. I’ve always been told that I read fairly fast. Not nearly as scary-fast as some fellow Dopers, but compared to the reading public at large (well, at least in the USA), definitely above average. I know some people who can whip though a heavy-duty book in a few hours. I envy them. I wish I could read a _little_ faster, but eh. I’m happy with the time it takes me to finish a book. I liken it to watching a movie. You don’t want a movie you enjoy to end _too_ quickly—you want to enjoy the emotions and drama of it. And that’s how I feel about reading a book. And as some people wrote on the other thread, they don’t mind at all that their reading speed is average, because they get to savor the writing longer that way. ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-youve-ever-finished-a-book/250513/9 "2004-06-15T18:46:17Z")
Bought book in afternoon - Read all through the night - called in sick next day? Too many times to count. 😛 But fastest reading? Stephen King’s The Stand, 4 days. (That includes 2 long flights and 1 long conference.) ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-youve-ever-finished-a-book/250513/10 "2004-06-15T18:47:24Z")
I read the first four Harry Potter novels on four consecutive days\*. Up to that point I had dimissed the series based on the annoying merchandizing, but finally I found out that I really liked it. - Yes, I am a single university student. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@Mr\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-youve-ever-finished-a-book/250513/11 "2004-06-15T18:49:55Z")
> [@dwalin](#): > > I read _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix_ in about three hours, IIRC. The best speed I’ve ever gotten is reading Babysitter’s Club books (Ann M. Martin, around 150 pages per) in about half an hour. So, around 300 pages of fiction an hour is a good speed for me. Jebus…It took me about 8 hrs to devour OOTP. I even called in sick to work so I could finish it. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-youve-ever-finished-a-book/250513/12 "2004-06-15T18:50:08Z")
Oh, I forgot to add. Just the other day, I finished a 150 page light romance novel in about 5 hours. I was quite proud of myself. It was in Spanish! I am learning Spanish and am doing a lot of reading in Spanish. But I still have a long way to go. Usually it takes me much longer to read something in Spanish (many consultations of the dictionary), but this one just “flowed” much better. However, it was kind of a crappy story. The hero was a real jerk. But I finished it in _five_ hours! I’m so proud. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Genghis\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/45deac/32.png) [@Genghis\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genghis_Bob)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-youve-ever-finished-a-book/250513/13 "2004-06-15T18:54:25Z")
> [@yosemite](#): > > . . . I liken it to watching a movie. You don’t want a movie you enjoy to end _too_ quickly—you want to enjoy the emotions and drama of it. And that’s how I feel about reading a book. . . I’m with you there, yosemite. I find that, when I finish a book or story that was character-driven, I can’t read another book until I’ve gotten the book I just finished out of my system. I have to process it a little longer (sort of like leaving food in the microwave for a few minutes after it’s stopped turning). I say I “process it”; my wife says I’m “taking a nap”. Semantics, is all that is. . . Anyway, I also find that, when I’m reading a long book with very intense emotions involved, I’ll respond emotionally IRL. If the book is dark or depressing, I’m a mope until I’ve gotten through the book and onto something else. ---
**Author:** ![Genghis\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/45deac/32.png) [@Genghis\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genghis_Bob)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-youve-ever-finished-a-book/250513/14 "2004-06-15T18:54:52Z")
> [@yosemite](#): > > . . . I liken it to watching a movie. You don’t want a movie you enjoy to end _too_ quickly—you want to enjoy the emotions and drama of it. And that’s how I feel about reading a book. . . I’m with you there, **yosemite**. I find that, when I finish a book or story that was character-driven, I can’t read another book until I’ve gotten the book I just finished out of my system. I have to process it a little longer (sort of like leaving food in the microwave for a few minutes after it’s stopped turning). I say I “process it”; my wife says I’m “taking a nap”. Semantics, is all that is. . . Anyway, I also find that, when I’m reading a long book with very intense emotions involved, I’ll respond emotionally IRL. If the book is dark or depressing, I’m a mope until I’ve gotten through the book and onto something else. ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-youve-ever-finished-a-book/250513/15 "2004-06-15T19:07:41Z")
I read George R.R. Martin’s _A Storm of Swords_ – 1600-and-some manuscript pages, in the form I saw it – in a weekend. That was eight to nine hours of reading a day. I’ve read many, many books in a day or less – I’m currently reading David Gelernter’s _Drawing Life_, which I started this morning and expect to finish today. I’ve read some Robert Parker mysteries in about ninety minutes. (And I don’t actually consider myself a particularly fast reader – I deliberately slowed myself down a few years ago – but I do spend a lot of time reading. My average is 50-60 printed pages an hour for most things; higher for fluffy fiction books and lower for dense non-fiction.) ---
**Author:** ![Delly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Delly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delly)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-youve-ever-finished-a-book/250513/16 "2004-06-15T19:09:29Z")
Fastest I ever read a book on its first reading was Order of the Pheonix, last Summer, I started around 5pm and finished it around 2 or 3 am, I took breaks for dinner and stuff during that time. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-youve-ever-finished-a-book/250513/17 "2004-06-15T19:15:16Z")
**Another City, Not My Own** by Dominick Dunne in 7 hours on a cross country flight. ---
**Author:** ![nocturnal\_tick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@nocturnal\_tick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nocturnal_tick)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-youve-ever-finished-a-book/250513/18 "2004-06-15T19:27:41Z")
Scratch up another person for Harry Potter. When Order of the Phoenix came out, and my friends suddenly confessed to being mad Potter fans and how great it was I bought the set and read them all one Saturday and Sunday evening. I thought it was great that I was finished and my friends, who only had the read the last book were still only half way. hehehehehe. I also just did the same thing (all books over the weekend) becuase of all the Potter talk going onin the boards. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-youve-ever-finished-a-book/250513/19 "2004-06-15T19:28:33Z")
When I was 11 I read the novelization of the movie _The Strongest Man in the World_ in about **one hour**. I think it was 80 pages, large type, and it was not my first time reading it. I never took a speed reading class, but my average reading speed of fiction is about 70 pp per hour and non-fiction about 50 pp per hour. I have found this to be generally faster than most of my peers. Now a grown man with a job, wife and kids, I only get to read about 6 hours a week. From about age 10 to about age 28, I read about 18 hours a week, roughly 1000 pages a week. I used to read three or four different books at a time. Ah, youth… ---
**Author:** ![PretzelFlip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecae2f/32.png) [@PretzelFlip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PretzelFlip)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-youve-ever-finished-a-book/250513/20 "2004-06-15T19:38:20Z")
I devoured ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time’ in 3 hrs. What a cracker… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fastest-youve-ever-finished-a-book/250513.md?page=2)