The quick answer: an average adult novel takes about five to seven hours to read. That’s based on a typical length of 80,000 to 100,000 words and an average adult silent reading speed of around 238 to 260 words per minute. Below is the maths, reading times for 20 well-known books, and a calculator for any book you’re considering.
How reading time is calculated
Reading time is simply word count divided by reading speed:
Reading time (minutes) = number of words ÷ words per minute
The tricky part is knowing those two numbers.
Average reading speed
A large 2019 review by psychologist Marc Brysbaert, which pooled 190 studies with more than 17,000 participants, estimated that adults read English silently at about 238 words per minute for nonfiction and 260 words per minute for fiction. Most people fall somewhere between 175 and 320 words per minute. Our reading speed test will tell you where you are.
Average book length
Book length varies hugely by genre. As a rough guide:
| Type of book | Typical word count |
|---|---|
| Novella | 20,000–40,000 |
| Most adult novels | 70,000–100,000 |
| Fantasy and science fiction | 90,000–150,000 |
| Popular nonfiction | 60,000–90,000 |
If you only know the page count, multiply by about 250 to 300 words per page for a standard paperback.
Reading times for 20 well-known books
The table below uses commonly cited approximate word counts and a reading speed of 250 words per minute. Word counts vary slightly by edition, so treat these as estimates.
| Book | Approx. words | Reading time at 250 wpm |
|---|---|---|
| Of Mice and Men | 30,000 | 2 h 0 m |
| Animal Farm | 30,000 | 2 h 0 m |
| The Old Man and the Sea | 27,000 | 1 h 48 m |
| The Alchemist | 39,000 | 2 h 36 m |
| Fahrenheit 451 | 46,000 | 3 h 4 m |
| The Great Gatsby | 47,000 | 3 h 8 m |
| The Catcher in the Rye | 73,000 | 4 h 52 m |
| Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone | 77,000 | 5 h 8 m |
| Nineteen Eighty-Four | 89,000 | 5 h 56 m |
| The Hobbit | 95,000 | 6 h 20 m |
| To Kill a Mockingbird | 100,000 | 6 h 40 m |
| The Hunger Games | 100,000 | 6 h 40 m |
| Pride and Prejudice | 122,000 | 8 h 8 m |
| Jane Eyre | 183,000 | 12 h 12 m |
| Moby-Dick | 206,000 | 13 h 44 m |
| Crime and Punishment | 211,000 | 14 h 4 m |
| Anna Karenina | 350,000 | 23 h 20 m |
| Les Misérables | 530,000 | 35 h 20 m |
| War and Peace | 587,000 | 39 h 8 m |
| The Lord of the Rings (all three volumes) | 480,000 | 32 h 0 m |
Even War and Peace, the classic “too long to read”, works out at about 40 hours. At 30 minutes a day, that’s under three months.
Calculate your own reading time
Enter the book’s page count, your reading speed and how long you read each day:
Free tool · Reading time calculator
There’s also a standalone reading time calculator you can bookmark.
Why your real time may differ
- Difficulty. Older language, technical vocabulary and dense argument slow everyone down. Expect classics like Moby-Dick to take longer than the table suggests.
- Purpose. Studying a book, with notes and rereading, can take two or three times longer than reading for pleasure.
- Format. Audiobooks are usually narrated at about 150 to 160 words per minute, so the same book takes longer to listen to at normal speed. Our ebook vs print vs audiobook guide compares formats.
- Interruptions. Reading in short, distracted bursts is slower than one focused session.
Turning hours into a habit
A six-hour novel sounds like a weekend project, but spread across a month it’s just 12 minutes a day. That’s the real secret of people who read 30 or 40 books a year. They aren’t faster readers. They read most days. Find out how in how to read more books.
Source for reading speed: 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.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to read a 300-page book?
A 300-page paperback with about 275 words per page has roughly 82,500 words. At 250 words per minute, that's about 5.5 hours.
How long does it take the average person to read a book?
An average adult novel of 80,000 to 100,000 words takes about five to seven hours of reading time at a typical speed of 238 to 260 words per minute.
What is the average reading speed?
A 2019 meta-analysis of 190 studies estimated average adult silent reading speed at about 238 words per minute for nonfiction and 260 for fiction.
How long would it take to read War and Peace?
At about 587,000 words and 250 words per minute, roughly 39 hours. Reading 30 minutes a day, that's about 11 weeks.
