How long to read it?
Look up any book and see how long it takes at your pace, and when you'll turn the last page.
That's Open Library's middle count across editions. Change it if yours differs.
Let's see…
How long does it take to read a book?
It depends on the length and your pace. A typical 300-page novel takes about 6 h 40 min at an average pace of 45 pages an hour: two weeks at half an hour a day.
| Pages | Relaxed (30/h) | Average (45/h) | Quick (60/h) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 150 | 5 h | 3 h 20 min | 2 h 30 min |
| 200 | 6 h 40 min | 4 h 25 min | 3 h 20 min |
| 300 | 10 h | 6 h 40 min | 5 h |
| 400 | 13 h 20 min | 8 h 55 min | 6 h 40 min |
| 500 | 16 h 40 min | 11 h 5 min | 8 h 20 min |
| 700 | 23 h 20 min | 15 h 35 min | 11 h 40 min |
How long to read popular books
At an average pace, using Open Library's middle page count across editions. Tap a title to try it with your own pace.
| Book | Pages | Reading time |
|---|---|---|
| Fourth Wing Rebecca Yarros | 522 | 11 h 35 min |
| Iron Flame Rebecca Yarros | 640 | 14 h 15 min |
| A Court of Thorns and Roses Sarah J. Maas | 454 | 10 h 5 min |
| The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo Taylor Jenkins Reid | 400 | 8 h 55 min |
| It Ends With Us Colleen Hoover | 384 | 8 h 30 min |
| Project Hail Mary Andy Weir | 496 | 11 h |
| Dune Frank Herbert | 608 | 13 h 30 min |
| The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins | 397 | 8 h 50 min |
| Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen | 351 | 7 h 50 min |
| The Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkien | 310 | 6 h 55 min |
| The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald | 185 | 4 h 5 min |
How fast does the average person read?
Adults read about 238 words a minute on average (Brysbaert, 2019), and most paperback pages hold 250 to 300 words. That's around 45 to 55 pages an hour of steady reading; real reading has pauses, so we use 45 as the average. The 1-minute test above measures your own speed.
How the math works
- Reading time = pages ÷ pages per hour.
- Your speed test: words in the passage ÷ minutes you took = words a minute; × 60 ÷ 275 words a page = pages an hour.
- Finish date = reading time ÷ minutes a day, counting today as day one.
- Page counts vary a lot between editions, large print and ebooks, so treat them as a starting point.
Planning a whole year? Try the reading goal calculator.