How Fast Do You Read Fiction?

By: Ebonye Gussine Wilkins

I’ve always been a very fast reader. It’s actually almost embarrassing how fast I read books. When I was a kid, I was always at the library checking out books. I went every single week. One day, I was allowed to check out the max amount of books (which was 17!) and I read them all in a single week. I’m not sure I’ve ever met someone who read 17 books in a single week, but then again, I wasn’t your average kid.

As I got older, the trend continued. If it was fiction, I read it pretty quickly. If it was a textbook, I read a lot more slowly (likely out of boredom and obligation). I think what I retained from the novels was far more than most people for the speed. I just got so absorbed in the book that I couldn’t stop reading. I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in a little over a day. I read The Grapes of Wrath in two Days. I read Tina Fey’s Bossypants on a cross-country flight from New York to California. (Full Disclosure: Bossypants was read on a Kindle, the rest were paperback books.)

How fast do you read? Do you find it better if you read more slowly? Is your reading comprehension better when you read quickly or slowly?