How long does it take to read a book? Calculator and 20 classics
It depends on two things: how many words the book has and how fast you read. Pick a book (or enter its page count), set your speed, and we will tell you how long it takes and how many days it will take you reading a little every day.
Book reading time calculator
Average adult speed for fiction. Measure yours →
If you have taken our reading speed test in this browser, the calculator uses your result. If not, it starts from 260 words per minute, the average adult speed for fiction.
How long it takes to read 20 classic books
We counted the words in every book ourselves. Times update if you change your speed in the calculator.
| Book | Words | Time at 260 wpm |
|---|---|---|
| War and Peace (Maude translation) | 563,000 | 36 h 5 min |
| The Count of Monte Cristo (English translation) | 461,000 | 29 h 33 min |
| Moby-Dick | 213,000 | 13 h 38 min |
| Crime and Punishment (Garnett translation) | 204,000 | 13 h 3 min |
| Little Women | 186,000 | 11 h 56 min |
| Jane Eyre | 185,000 | 11 h 53 min |
| Great Expectations | 184,000 | 11 h 50 min |
| Dracula | 161,000 | 10 h 18 min |
| Pride and Prejudice | 127,000 | 8 h 10 min |
| Wuthering Heights | 116,000 | 7 h 26 min |
| The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes | 104,000 | 6 h 42 min |
| The Picture of Dorian Gray | 79,000 | 5 h 4 min |
| Frankenstein | 75,000 | 4 h 49 min |
| Treasure Island | 68,000 | 4 h 23 min |
| The Great Gatsby | 48,000 | 3 h 5 min |
| The Wonderful Wizard of Oz | 40,000 | 2 h 32 min |
| The Time Machine | 32,000 | 2 h 5 min |
| A Christmas Carol | 29,000 | 1 h 50 min |
| Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland | 26,000 | 1 h 42 min |
| Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde | 26,000 | 1 h 39 min |
War and Peace runs to about 563,000 words in the Maude translation: at 260 words per minute, roughly 36 hours. The Great Gatsby takes about three.
How we calculated it
- Words: we downloaded each book from Project Gutenberg (public domain), removed the licence and header, and counted the words. Prefaces and notes in each edition are included, so another edition may differ slightly. Translated books depend on the translation.
- Speed: by default, 260 words per minute, the average for fiction in Brysbaert’s 2019 meta-analysis. More on that in average reading speed.
- By pages: if you choose “Another book”, we assume about 275 words per page, typical of a paperback novel. It is an estimate: depending on font and format, a page can hold many more or fewer words.
The result is pure reading time. It does not include breaks, rereading or days you do not read, so treat it as a guide.
What matters most: minutes per day
Reading faster helps, but reading every day matters more. Twenty minutes a day at 260 words per minute is about 5,200 words a day: almost 1.9 million a year. That is roughly 19 books of 100,000 words, without changing your speed at all.
Try raising the minutes per day in the calculator: it usually shortens the finish date far more than gaining 30 words per minute.
Leo helps you read your own EPUB and PDF books every day, one word at a time and at your pace. Join the waitlist to be among the first to try it.
References
- Brysbaert, M. (2019). How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate. Journal of Memory and Language, 109.
- Project Gutenberg: public-domain texts used to count the words.
