To wonder how people read a book a day

[Walkingatmid]

Or 100’s of books a year?

Yes. Now I'm getting old my eyes are deteriorating. I'm mid 40s and always had a complex lense prescription but it doesn't help as much anymore. I now prefer lots of white space around the words. I got a book out of the library which I hadn't realised was Young Adult fiction, published by Scholastic!
I might buy reading glasses to go over my contact lenses if I want to read books with small print again!

I read loads. It’s my default activity. Don’t watch tv (we went a few years without one so got out of the habit). Always have a book or kindle in my bag so read while waiting (DC activities, train station, appointments etc etc). Corral phone fiddling into 2 batches a day so it doesn’t eat up all my time. I enjoy it so much more than doomscrolling and pictures of cats. Such a pleasure!

I am quite jealous of those who can do this. I don't have the concentration anymore.

I used to do that on holiday before I had kids. A book a day, at least, every day of the week. It was bliss. I would get up early and start reading. Simple as that really 🤷🏼‍♀️

The suspicion is why my time at school was such hell
I've always read like this from being tiny. It's to do with the way my eyes scan the page, if I have a book open I read both pages at the same time. I see the page, not a sentence
Words like and/the/a I don't read (I did a study as a favour for a friend at uni)

Usually read around 1000wpm

My mum lost friends because they said she had obviously taught me to memorise stuff (I read something as a 4yo they said wasn't possible)
I've been told by a manager I wasn't actually reading something (he gave it me, I read it and handed it back) until I quoted the bloody thing back to him and he never asked me again

I just read one in one evening and finished this morning (250 pages, a very easy read, however). I used to be able to read 400-500 page long book overnight if it was a good book. Sadly I have no time to read for pleasure much now.

I learnt to read very early on as a child, read a lot up until I finished university and I've always been a fast reader. I think everyone's pace is different.

I can do this, read a novel in a few hours easily, whilst still going about general life bits and bobs. Quality of writing by the author is definitely an impact, though. An author like Kate Atkinson has a style I particularly enjoy so I savour it more.

Non-fiction generally takes me longer, it engages my brain in a different way. It takes me a few days.

Edited to add:

I have recently been reading about hyperlexia, a neurodivergency where early reading and an ability to read rapidly thereafter is common. I was a very young reader and have read voraciously throughout my life.

I read some years ago that reading speed can also be influenced how how much the eyes can take in at once, across the whole span of a page. I’ve been told my eyes don’t move much when I’m reading, which lends itself to idea I can see all the page “at once”.

I used to read a book a week commuting. Now as a sahm and just reading for a bit before bed, it takes about 2-3 weeks.

I did read The Beach in a day when a student.

Took me a year to finish the book I was reading and took in to hospital when I had my first baby.

Wow @SemperIdem thanks for posting this. I've never heard of hyperlexia, this sounds so much like me. I'm going to read up more on this.

Reading is number one leisure priority for me. The only thing that would slow me down was the cost of books, but kindle prime and unlimited have taken care of that.

I don't think reading speed is an indicator of enjoyment, absorption or retention.

I'm not a fast reader generally.

But I've come to the conclusion that my main problem is I'm not finding enough books that really engross me. There are so many. And many are just not interesting enough. I'm easily distracted but some books override that. And I can't stand reading a not interesting book.

However, I'm happy that other people read tons of books really fast. I like people to be different.

On holiday easily do a book a day if left alone. Don't get much chance day to day as a teacher but when I do get time I take full advantage, I adore books and am always buying them.

There’s a hell of a lot of rubbish in books too tbf
Just because people are on their phones or watching TV doesn’t mean to say it’s rubbish.

I prioritise exercise and communication over reading .

I’m the same easily read a book a day if I’m engrossed. The past year I’ve found I’ve needed reading glasses when my eyes are tired especially at night.

DD2 has hyperlexia, I had never heard of it, we just thought she was a very early reader and as DD1 was only 18 months older than her she wanted to do everything she did. She had an amazing memory, so if she saw a word once she would remember it, she was reading well before school and her teacher said she’d never had a child read so fluently starting school. Her reading age was 12+ at age 5 but the problem was comprehension and making sure she wasn’t reading anything she shouldn’t be. Also finding appropriate books that challenged her reading but she could comprehend. We have since discovered she’s autistic and hyperlexia and reading at a very young age is one of the signs in girls. DD3 was also an early reader and she faster than even me, she still adores books and Waterstones is her favourite shop (she’s 15) she’ll read a book in 2 hours.

I very seldom re-read books too.

I read very, very quickly. Like other posters on here, my teacher at junior school didn't believe me until she tested me on the book I'd just finished. When I was eight my reading comprehension ability was tested and found to be the same as an average fifteen year old. Then again it took me two attempts to pass my O Level Maths exam, so it's swings and roundabouts. I could happily give up alcohol, chocolate and good sex before I would give up books.

There are multiple reasons why some people read more than others

1. fast readers
2. graphic novels
3. novellas
4. easy reading genre fiction
5. children's books
6. audio books
7. spending more time per day on reading

But there's not always any virtue in reading more books. Someone who takes a year to read War and Peace for the first time has probably got more out of their year of reading than someone who chooses to reread all the Famous Five books from their childhood. And I say that as someone who loves a childhood comfort read. Read what you love or find interesting as fast or slow as you want. Try and read every day but it doesn't need to be long. And don't compare yourself to others.

Audio books are a weird thing… I can’t focus on them properly, if I listen while I’m doing something else, even the washing up, I start thinking of other things and miss chunks. If I listen in bed, I fall asleep and miss chunks.
I don’t think it’s the same as actually reading the written word, because it’s already someone else’s interpretation - they are often abridged or edited and always produced and then read by an actor who puts their own vision of what a character should sound like, and chooses how and where and what to emphasise .
There’s less work for your own imagination to do… yYou can’t be thinking of else while you’re actually reading, because if you’re not focusing you actually pause your reading.
That’s not to say that by listening you don’t get exposed to the book, but in my view it’s more like watching tv, it’s more of a passive experience. But it’s a personal thing, I know plenty of people who prefer to listen than read.

I can do this, two over a day if i am not doing anything else but quite often im working or looking at mumsnet etc

i gave ds1 and his partner books yesterday and i asked if i could read them first 😀 i read one of them yesterday evening so i could give it back to him before he went home today

Oh should probably say is its one of the classics or non fiction it takes me longer

I read some years ago that reading speed can also be influenced how how much the eyes can take in at once, across the whole span of a page. I’ve been told my eyes don’t move much when I’m reading, which lends itself to idea I can see all the page “at once

i read a book about teaching yourself to speed read (i didnt bother with it as i already was) and it said that speed readers read ‘chunks’ of text at a time

There are lots of reasons some people can get through a lot of books in a year. For example, they may just have a lot of spare time. They might read instead of doing other things. They might just naturally read faster. They might read a lot of books which are ‘easier’ reads (for example, I can easily rattle through a whodunnit or a psychological thriller in one sitting, but it took me a week and a half to read Middlemarch).

I read about 70ish books a year and it would be a lot more if I didn’t work full time and didn’t have other hobbies. I’ve always been a pretty quick reader. But it really isn’t about quantity! The important thing is that you enjoy what you’re reading, not how much you read. Reading quickly isn’t ’better’ in some way than reading more slowly.

Agreed.

I am - I think - a diverse and choosy reader. But I’m very conscious that I’ve read far too few of the classics. I’d be much better read if I’d read the classics and none of the others.

This will be my new project! Victorian novels here I come. (Not least because they’re more or less free, being out of copyright.)

I can read a novella in an evening, if I have dinner made for me and nobody wants me to talk. Always been a fast reader. I often re-read good books, though, because I feel I've missed out on the prose.
A novel can take me a week, a bit each day, life gets in the way of those.
Audiobooks are so slow in comparison to my reading speed but they're a different kind of entertainment.

Oh you have a treat in store, there are some amazingly good Georgian and Victorian novels. A while ago I got into Dickens and though it takes a little while to adjust to the style, he was pretty fantastic.

I’ve read some Austen and some Eliot. Loved them. I’ll probably start with more of their works.

Dickens, the Brontës, Collins, Hardy, Trollope…they’re all waiting for me, undiscovered.