“I read it in one sitting” ...really?!

Since being inspired by this thread I have reread Lord of the Flies, A Kestrel for a Knave and Animal Farm in an evening each, and read Diary of a Bookseller in a day. They are all pretty short though. As I said on the 50 Books thread, it has given me a slightly different experience and a sense of achievement.

I read Girl With The Dragon Tattoo in one sitting, it was like swallowing it whole. Shorter books I prefer to read that way. It's total down time, like watching the whole of Killing Eve in one go or spending the whole day screen hopping in the cinema. I crave those days, not enough of them.

To completely hijack the thread what are these books that everyone has read in a day?

Often YA drivel. 😂

But I have read several academic books in a working day. Tbh, I don’t usually read them cover to cover. But I have done so in one sitting. Not really hard going philosophy or anything, but lots of them are pretty quick reads (even reading them properly).

I have never consciously learned to speed read and would hate to. However, I don’t hear a voice in my head when I read. Apparently it slows you down if you do.

I did a speed reading session when doing my A levels and the instructor said this ^. I do hear a voice in my head and I don't know how to stop it! I read fast, but not as fast as I could if I didn't.

To completely hijack the thread what are these books that everyone has read in a day?

For me, it's lightweight stuff like Gone Girl, or anything marketed as holiday/beach reads like Kate Atkinson, JoJo Moyes, etc. Also, anything short (under 150 pages) I zoom through, just because it's short I think 'Oh this won't take me long' and so it doesn't. I read 150 pages of 'Tangerine' yesterday evening without even trying and will probably finish it today (ill DC so can't do much else).

I’m a genuinely fast reader too (I have a job that requires lots of reading, and have developed a whole range of reading skills). I can read quickly and with accuracy.

I have read books in one sitting before. Mostly that involves staying up into the wee small hours to finish reading something I’m really enjoying. Once I went to a midnight launch of a Harry Potter book, then came home and read it all at once. And then I had a flight the next morning. I was exhausted. I spent the next couple of weeks reading it again, to DS1.

My question is is fast reading achieved by skimming down the page and is it quality reading? Also, does it depend on the content. So many good books deserve more attention. I have also read War and Peace twice but over a few days. Any faster and I would have missed the wonderful insights that Tolstoy has to offer into the state of war and family life in Russia at the time.

Not everyone is rushing reading though, Sinister. I'm a fast reader but I'm not rushing. It's just my natural reading pace.

Yes, I've done this many times! Basically you start reading and just don't stop until you've finished it. There are some books that are too big to do this, but anything up to about 300 pages I can finish in a day, particularly if it's biggish type or double spacing. Definitely not though for a 'classic' type book with tiny type. A really engrossing thriller though, no problem!

This thread is like another world! I probably read about 30 - 50 pages in an hour and only at bedtime (when I have time), about a book every week. I don’t think my brain would allow me to skip words let alone descriptive paragraph, anyway a lot of the time the plot is in these paragraphs. I read and picture it like a film in my head, sometimes I have to stop and change the actors of the characters, or just stop to think about something in the book. I remember the books lol films. So much of modern life is a rush it’s good to have something I can enjoy in my own time and savour. There is no point rushing reading, it really isn’t a race.

See, I don’t know how you can read 25 pages a day and still remember what is happening when you go back to it. It would be like watching a film five minutes at a time.

This is interesting as I find I tend to retain less the quicker I read. Possibly due to needing time to process what I have read. As long as I don't leave too long a gap between picking up a book (ie no more than 2 or 3 days), then I can always remember what has happened, regardless of how few pages I have read in a sitting.

The wonder of kindles has been great too, as I'm sure it has been for many other quick readers here. Before I had a kindle I could easily pack 7-10 books for a 14 day holiday and still have to borrow books from my parents' lot too.

DH put his foot down when we went to Spain with only hand luggage and most of mine was books, he bought me a kindle instead and I think I read 9 books in 7 days and we went on day trips too.

I could easily get through a 400 page book in maybe 3 hours when I was a teenager and not quite so knackered as I am now and had far fewer demands on my time. This Christmas just gone I read probably half of Crazy Rich Asians in three hours before I fell asleep and that's a surprisingly long book.

I used to do it the night the Harry Potter books were released. I was only a teenager living at home though.

Littleandoften my dd 10yrs is part of a book club at school & they meet once a month.

She reads the book over the first 2-3 days & then grumbles about having to wait ages to discuss it. I asked her if she was going to re-read it the week before the meet up but she told me all about it, characters, plot, exciting bits etc so has a great memory!

She reads about 8 - 10 books a month & will often read 2 - 3 at a time just dipping in & out of what she fancies.

See, I don’t know how you can read 25 pages a day and still remember what is happening when you go back to it. It would be like watching a film five minutes at a time.

I read much less post-DC, but if I am reading I read the whole book at once, or at least over a weekend, so I keep the plot in my head.

The last 3-4 Harry potters were all collected 9am and finished by 5pm. Probably a break for lunch. I can read stuff quick!

I can read a 400 page book in 3.5 hours.

I was 9 when Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire came out and I finished it the day I bought it.

I don't get much chance to read with young children now. I've read maybe 10 books in 6 years. I really miss it.

yes in one sitting 'bravo two zero' by andy McNab just sat at top of stairs and didnt move it was enthralling not my type of book at all but so gripping

I am a slow reader despite coming top in anything to do with English or writing at school, uni etc.

I've always read the Harry Potter books in one sitting on release. Would start on a day no school or work and just not stop bar eat and pee lol.
I'm still like it now with rom com books.
My husband can't get his head around it.
I'll start reading a book around lunchtime land finish it by early evening

I don't think I've ever read a book in one sitting since I was a child but I have read one book over two days when I read it in bed both nights if it's particularly good.

Many books have audiobook lengths of six hours or less. And you might read faster than a narrator speaks.

TBH I can't remember 100% if I have read a book in one session, but pretty sure I read I Am Legend in two sessions.

Although I may have read 'Salem's Lot in a single session as a teenager, but that may have been an abridged version. I suspect that because the audiobook is 17 hours and can't imagine that I read all that in one go, even at my fastest speed.

I usually read books in one sitting

In the salad days of my English degree, I sometimes ploughed through two books in a day, in one sitting.

I read very fast but I have a lot of distractions these days. I've kept track of the books I've read for the last 10 years - actually I had some records of what I'd read before that but sadly I lost them when an old computer died. This has ranged from 49 in 2009 (DS2 was born) to 359 in 2011, though for the last 3 years it's been a lot lower - 111/114/116 - in at least two of those years I had a month or two where I only finished one book. I'd like to pick it up again slightly but suspect I'm on a course for a similar level for the 4th year in a row.

I think that I actually read a bit too fast - I can read and comprehend fairly quickly but I also forget very fast. Unweavedrainbow, do you not go to the library?