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

I have a perfect reading speed - I can read upside down at the exact same speed as my OH reads the right way up = he can sit opposite me at the breakfast bar with a newspaper and I don't get annoyed at page turning speed. A novel of say 400 pages is probably less than an evening - 3 hours max?
I suspect those that grew up in the pre-multichannel TV era were accustomed to reading anything and everything they could, I know when I was 7 I had a reading age beyond the book that they tested with (school leaving age was 14 then). I know I do read pretty quickly compared to most people as I get annoyed at slow page turners on the train!

And my OH is much faster than me. He reads a block of lines at once, like literally doesn’t even have to scan the page.

It really isn’t. If it’s an easy read (chicklit, let’s say) I can easily read a book in a few hours. It’s not hard at all.

I have definitely done this. Many times. I am a quick reader and have an obsessive personality so I can't put a good book down.

Darn DS for not understanding!!!

There's an awful lot of people here claiming to read 100 pages per hour. I feel like this is a bit unlikely.

I read loads on holiday as there are no distractions and could easily read a book in a day. Once I managed 3 in one day. I'm probably not much fun to be away with !

Interesting to see pps have done reading speed tests online. There must be a balance between speed and comprehension. Tempted to try this - to boast more ofc, sorry.

I agree, have never read a book in one sitting and I had a 'reading age' of y9 in y4 at school, off the scale by y8, scored around 140 in verbal IQ tests, have a Masters. I can technically read very quickly, but I miss things, so deliberately slow down to enjoy reading novels.

namechanged The Versions of Us - Laura Barnett. Provoked a good discussion at Book Group!

@pandag what was the book?!

Dame it's happening in my head like a film when I read.

DH was baffled the first time we went on holiday together and my suitcase was pretty much all books. He's not a reader.

I just did a test online 😂 I apparently read 350 words a minute so should read around 175 pages an hour. I also read with a 91% comprehension

I read Kate Atkinson’s Transcription yesterday: it was a proper page turner. I really enjoy the luxury of being able to read all day.

lazy that’s me to a T. I’m doing my masters at the moment and it involves reading long winding legal cases and it takes me forever to read them as I often have to do it two or three times for the information to sink in. Yet a light summer read on the beach I can do in an hour or two and be able to give you full plot lines etc.

DH calls me ‘Johnny 5’ from short circuit for my reading ability and at times it seems to genuinely irritate him how quickly I read. He’s long given up accusing me of ‘not being possibly able to read that quickly’ after I’d give him chapter and verse of whatever chick lit I’d blasted through on the sun lounger 😂

I can read documents and articles quickly and that is reading down and getting the gist. But with books I think I don't feel I've read it if I've not read it - good books, that is.

I'm the opposite. I read fiction fast, but am not particularly fast at absorbing or good at retaining factual information. I'm another one who can't bear audiobooks or being read to. It's too slow. I hated lectures at university too - was much happier reading about the subject than hearing about it.

Another fast reader here who’s absolutely sick of being told “you can’t have read that” - usually when looking at a student’s work - I can honestly just cast my eyes down a page and judge if it’s of the right standard or not in a second! Of course in depth marking takes much longer but for a snap judgement it takes no time and I am very accurate too. But they never believe I’ve read it.

I hate YouTube videos and how fucking long they take waffling about explaining stuff, and yes that audiobooks are too slow. I don’t mind podcasts as it’s more of a conversation but some audiobook readers are truly glacial. And I don’t like listening to something for days on end and finding I’m a third of the way through!

I also don’t buy many books as if I like them
I read them in one go and I feel it’s a waste of money. And the ultimate torture in life was sharing a textbook at school and having to wait for my partner to finish reading the page before I could turn over. I’d have read it three times over and every poster on the wall before I got to the next page.

Weirdly, read something on Twitter this morning that many people listen to podcasts at 2 x the speed. I get that completely. I rarely switch the audio on for YouTube or learning videos - just get to the point.

But fiction is, sometimes (for me), about just being lost in the reading and the mood.

I completely get where you’re coming from - I’ve tried to get into Book at Bedtime on Radio 4 etc and it’s never gelled with me.

I really want to read Queenie by Candace Clary Williams (?) and it was on R4 last week. Knowing that I know I’ll like it but getting bugged by the readers voice was frustrating.

I hate audio books and I hate being read to. I always did, as a child. The voice gets between me and the story in my head and it makes my brain itch. I can't bear to listen to someone explaining anything (Youtube video, for example) - I just think, 'oh give me it written down and I'll get it'.

I also struggle with audiobooks. I can listen to non-fiction, while I'm cooking or walking or driving etc but I couldn't just sit there and listen and I basically can't deal with fiction at all because it's like going at a snails pace.

I do need to read more and internet less as well, though I've been getting better over the past few months.

You can use word runner on some kindles to help you read faster if you want to. I'm really enjoying being able to read again now my children are over four.

I also read about 100 pages an hour- I wonder if there is a reason that seems to be a common "fast" speed. I also find audio books too slow (although am okay with podcasts) and struggle with graphic novels as I don't read the pictures! When a film or programme has subtitles I have to force myself not to read them instead of watching! I do reread but only to repeat the pleasure of a book I have enjoyed - I usually remember books well, often better than real life!

I used to smoosh a towl under the door gap of my bedroom as a teenager so my parents couldnt see the light on, and finish a book overnight. It can be done.

@Ginnylamb I learn best with written stuff too. I remember when I worked being sent on training courses where it was all hands on learning or presentations because the majority of people learn best that way - I always used to wish they'd give me a book and let me tuck myself away and just read it all myself. No such luck though.

@ClinkyMonkey I didn't learn to do it deliberately I've just always been able to read well and quickly as far as I can recall. I read very early too. I was the sort of child who'd read the back of the cereal box when it was put on the table at breakfast. My mum tells me that when my uncle was very unwell and bedbound I used to read his stocks and shares information out of the paper to him, I can't have been more than about five as he died when I was seven and was in hospital for most of the last year of his life.

I'm not unusually academic, just normal (in fact I'm woeful with maths/numbers) but have always found anything relating to language comes easily and naturally. As a child my mother was asked to take me to a public library because my reading level far exceeded what was in the primary school library. She went out and bought me the complete works of Jane Austen, that kept me busy for a while. I've still got that book, it's an enormous tome. It did take me longer than usual because of the way it was written (I'd have to ask what unusual words meant etc) but I got through it all in a few months. I was 11.

I can't do audio books. They aren't fast paced enough and I can't focus. I find I've been listening for an hour but got distracted by many thing and have no idea what I've listened to. However i still retain information from books if i read and fold the laundry at the same time for example. I haven't read a paper book for ages though, and it does take me longer when I do.