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    Parch study · Updated October 2026

    How Long Does It Take to Read the 100 Most Popular Books?

    We measured 195 books behind the 100 most-read titles and series, from BookTok favourites to War and Peace. Reading all of them at an average pace would take about 2,327 hours, or 97 days without sleep. Here's how long each one takes, to read and to listen to.

    Download the data (CSV)

    Key findings

    291 hours

    The Wheel of Time is the longest series we measured. At half an hour a day, it would take 1.6 years.

    562,203 words

    War and Peace is the longest single book, at about 37 hours of reading.

    9h 16m

    The median book takes this long to read. Non-fiction is shortest (5h 25m); a book in a popular series runs 11h 49m.

    1h 28m

    The Metamorphosis is the shortest. 6 books here take under three hours: an afternoon each.

    The longest reads, in hours

    1. The Wheel of Time291 h
    2. Outlander257 h
    3. The Stormlight Archive145 h
    4. A Song of Ice and Fire125 h
    5. Throne of Glass98 h
    6. Red Rising90 h
    7. Harry Potter72 h
    8. The Witcher66 h
    9. A Court of Thorns and Roses60 h
    10. Dune57 h
    11. Mistborn Era One46 h
    12. The Empyrean46 h
    Hours of reading at 250 words a minute, whole series counted together.

    By type of book

    Median reading time per book, at 250 words a minute.

    Series
    11h 49m
    Modern bestsellers
    7h 3m
    Classics
    9h 42m
    Non-fiction
    5h 25m

    All 100, timed

    Average is about 250 WPM. Measure yours in two minutes and the table recalculates.

    Read
    The Wheel of TimeRobert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson · 15 books291 hours470 hours*
    OutlanderDiana Gabaldon · 9 books257 hours414 hours*
    The Stormlight ArchiveBrandon Sanderson · 5 books145 hours234 hours*
    A Song of Ice and FireGeorge R.R. Martin · 5 books125 hours201 hours
    Throne of GlassSarah J. Maas · 8 books98 hours158 hours
    Red RisingPierce Brown · 6 books90 hours145 hours
    Harry PotterJ.K. Rowling · 7 books72 hours125 hours
    The WitcherAndrzej Sapkowski · 8 books66 hours107 hours*
    A Court of Thorns and RosesSarah J. Maas · 5 books60 hours97 hours
    DuneFrank Herbert · 6 books57 hours92 hours*
    Mistborn Era OneBrandon Sanderson · 3 books46 hours74 hours*
    The EmpyreanRebecca Yarros · 3 books46 hours74 hours
    TwilightStephenie Meyer · 4 books40 hours65 hours
    The Hunger GamesSuzanne Collins · 5 books38 hours62 hours
    War and PeaceLeo Tolstoy37 hours60 hours*
    Les MisérablesVictor Hugo37 hours60 hours*
    The Lord of the RingsJ.R.R. Tolkien · 4 books37 hours59 hours*
    The Count of Monte CristoAlexandre Dumas31 hours49 hours*
    Percy Jackson and the OlympiansRick Riordan · 5 books30 hours48 hours
    Don QuixoteMiguel de Cervantes27 hours43 hours*
    His Dark MaterialsPhilip Pullman · 3 books27 hours43 hours
    Anna KareninaLeo Tolstoy23 hours38 hours*
    The Brothers KaramazovFyodor Dostoevsky23 hours38 hours*
    The Chronicles of NarniaC.S. Lewis · 7 books22 hours35 hours*
    MiddlemarchGeorge Eliot21 hours34 hours*
    Six of CrowsLeigh Bardugo · 2 books20 hours33 hours
    A Little LifeHanya Yanagihara20 hours33 hours
    The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyDouglas Adams · 5 books18 hours29 hours
    UlyssesJames Joyce18 hours28 hours*
    Moby-DickHerman Melville14 hours22 hours*
    Crime and PunishmentFyodor Dostoevsky14 hours22 hours*
    Demon CopperheadBarbara Kingsolver13 hours21 hours
    Thinking, Fast and SlowDaniel Kahneman12 hours20 hours
    Little WomenLouisa May Alcott12 hours20 hours*
    Gone GirlGillian Flynn12 hours20 hours
    Jane EyreCharlotte Brontë12 hours20 hours*
    Great ExpectationsCharles Dickens12 hours20 hours*
    BecomingMichelle Obama12 hours19 hours
    The Invisible Life of Addie LaRueV.E. Schwab11 hours18 hours
    The NightingaleKristin Hannah11 hours17 hours
    DraculaBram Stoker11 hours17 hours*
    The Body Keeps the ScoreBessel van der Kolk10 hours16 hours
    Project Hail MaryAndy Weir10 hours16 hours
    All the Light We Cannot SeeAnthony Doerr9h 56m16 hours
    SapiensYuval Noah Harari9h 29m15 hours
    The WomenKristin Hannah9h 16m15 hours
    One Hundred Years of SolitudeGabriel García Márquez8h 43m14 hours
    Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and TomorrowGabrielle Zevin8h 35m14 hours
    The Night CircusErin Morgenstern8h 28m14 hours
    Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen8h 7m13 hours*
    The 7 Habits of Highly Effective PeopleStephen R. Covey8h 6m13 hours
    Wuthering HeightsEmily Brontë7h 44m12 hours*
    The Thursday Murder ClubRichard Osman7h 43m12 hours
    1984George Orwell7h 38m12 hours
    To Kill a MockingbirdHarper Lee7h 37m12 hours
    Red, White & Royal BlueCasey McQuiston7h 36m12 hours
    Where the Crawdads SingDelia Owens7h 34m12 hours
    The Seven Husbands of Evelyn HugoTaylor Jenkins Reid7h 33m12 hours
    EducatedTara Westover7h 33m12 hours
    CirceMadeline Miller7h 31m12 hours
    Lessons in ChemistryBonnie Garmus7h 23m12 hours
    The Love HypothesisAli Hazelwood7h 21m12 hours
    Book LoversEmily Henry7h 3m11 hours
    Funny StoryEmily Henry7h 3m11 hours
    Remarkably Bright CreaturesShelby Van Pelt6h 59m11 hours
    The Song of AchillesMadeline Miller6h 58m11 hours
    It Ends With UsColleen Hoover6h 56m11 hours
    The MartianAndy Weir6h 49m11 hours
    The Power of HabitCharles Duhigg6h 45m11 hours
    People We Meet on VacationEmily Henry6h 41m11 hours
    QuietSusan Cain6h 36m11 hours
    Beach ReadEmily Henry6h 20m10 hours
    The HousemaidFreida McFadden6h 3m9h 46m
    Ugly LoveColleen Hoover5h 43m9h 14m
    Daisy Jones & The SixTaylor Jenkins Reid5h 37m9h 3m
    The Midnight LibraryMatt Haig5h 29m8h 50m
    Born a CrimeTrevor Noah5h 25m8h 44m
    It Starts With UsColleen Hoover5h 23m8h 41m
    The Silent PatientAlex Michaelides5h 18m8h 33m
    The Picture of Dorian GrayOscar Wilde5h 14m8h 27m*
    VerityColleen Hoover5h 4m8h 10m
    FrankensteinMary Shelley5h8h 4m*
    Brave New WorldAldous Huxley4h 58m8h
    Deep WorkCal Newport4h 48m7h 44m
    Normal PeopleSally Rooney4h 41m7h 34m
    OutliersMalcolm Gladwell4h 32m7h 18m
    The Fault in Our StarsJohn Green4h 27m7h 11m
    I'm Glad My Mom DiedJennette McCurdy3h 59m6h 26m
    Rich Dad Poor DadRobert T. Kiyosaki3h 49m6h 9m
    The Psychology of MoneyMorgan Housel3h 39m5h 54m
    Man's Search for MeaningViktor E. Frankl3h 33m5h 43m
    Atomic HabitsJames Clear3h 28m5h 35m
    The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ckMark Manson3h 17m5h 17m
    The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald3h 12m5h 10m*
    Fahrenheit 451Ray Bradbury2h 59m4h 48m
    The AlchemistPaulo Coelho2h 29m4h
    Animal FarmGeorge Orwell1h 58m3h 11m
    Of Mice and MenJohn Steinbeck1h 58m3h 11m
    Alice's Adventures in WonderlandLewis Carroll1h 46m2h 50m*
    The MetamorphosisFranz Kafka1h 28m2h 22m*

    ~ Word count estimated from the unabridged audiobook. * Listening time estimated from the word count at 155 words a minute; every other listening time is the real unabridged length at 1x.

    Book by book

    Every book in the series, a reading-speed slider and a pages-a-day plan for each.

    How long to read Harry Potter72 hoursHow long to read A Song of Ice and Fire125 hoursHow long to read The Lord of the Rings37 hoursHow long to read The Hunger Games38 hoursHow long to read A Court of Thorns and Roses60 hoursHow long to read The Empyrean46 hoursHow long to read The Wheel of Time291 hoursHow long to read The Stormlight Archive145 hoursHow long to read It Ends With Us6h 56mHow long to read Verity5h 4mHow long to read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo7h 33mHow long to read Project Hail Mary10 hoursHow long to read Pride and Prejudice8h 7mHow long to read Moby-Dick14 hoursHow long to read Les Misérables37 hoursHow long to read War and Peace37 hoursHow long to read The Great Gatsby3h 12mHow long to read 19847h 38mHow long to read Atomic Habits3h 28mHow long to read Sapiens9h 29m

    Methodology

    What we measured. The 100 entries are the books and series people most often read and search for: 20 popular series (every book counted), 35 modern bestsellers, 28 classics and 17 non-fiction titles. We picked them by popularity, not literary merit.

    Word counts come from three sources, in order of preference:

    1. Counted text. Public-domain classics were counted from their Project Gutenberg editions, from the first line of the story to the last, leaving out prefaces, footnotes, captions and publisher pages. Where a translation matters, we name it.
    2. Published counts. Per-book figures from authors, publishers or wikis that count the text, such as the Coppermind for Brandon Sanderson's books.
    3. Audiobook estimates. For everything else, the length of the standard unabridged audiobook at 155 words a minute, the typical narration pace. We used the Audible US listing where possible and confirmed it with a second store or library catalogue, and skipped abridged, dramatized and bonus-content editions. Checked against counted text, this method lands within about 3–9%. These figures are marked with ~.

    Reading time is words divided by 250 words a minute, a typical adult silent-reading pace; the slider recalculates it for you. Page counts assume 275 words a page, so they're approximate: real page counts vary a lot by edition. Two titles were replaced during the study because neither method gave a reliable figure: The Catcher in the Rye has no standard retail audiobook, and the Can't Hurt Me audiobook adds more than two hours of commentary.

    Using this data. The dataset is licensed under CC BY 4.0: share it, chart it or build on it, including commercially, as long as you credit "Parch reading-time study" and link to this page. Download the CSV for every book, its word count, method, and audiobook length. Spotted an error? Email hello@readparch.com.

    Find out how long books really take you

    Parch logs your reading sessions and pages, so you learn your own pace and can see how long your next book will take.

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    Frequently asked questions

    How long does it take to read an average book?

    The median book in our study takes 9 hours 16 minutes at an average reading speed of 250 words a minute. Modern bestsellers run shorter (a median of 7 hours 3 minutes) and non-fiction shorter still (5 hours 25 minutes).

    What is the longest book series to read?

    Of the 100 entries we measured, The Wheel of Time is the longest at about 4.4 million words: roughly 291 hours of reading.

    What is the longest single book in the study?

    War and Peace, at 562,203 words in the Maude translation: about 37 hours.

    What can I read in an afternoon?

    The Metamorphosis, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Animal Farm, Of Mice and Men, The Alchemist, Fahrenheit 451 each take under three hours at an average pace.

    How were the word counts measured?

    Public-domain classics were counted from their full text on Project Gutenberg. Some series use published counts. Everything else is estimated from the unabridged audiobook at 155 words a minute, the typical narration pace, and marked as an estimate.

    Can I use this data?

    Yes. The dataset is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0), so you can share and adapt it, including commercially, as long as you credit "Parch reading-time study" with a link to this page.

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