I listen to quite a few audiobooks, preferring to listen in the car, while doing housework, getting ready in the mornings, and when I walk the dog. I’ve recently borrowed 30-hour audiobooks (an Ernest Hemingway biography) and last year the 24-hour Moby Dick. Then there was Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s newest called Notes on Grief that was a little more than one hour. I know I move through audiobooks quickly because I am a reader and I can always find time to read, but I also set the speed to 1.25 and sometimes (if I can get away with it depending on the narrator and topic) 1.5. It’s been too long since I’ve listened at 1x speed. At what speed do you read?

Plus I read quite a few books too. It’s kind of the reason I have this blog, to talk about books, reading, and school librarianship. So that shouldn’t be surprising. I move through picture books, middle grade, YA, and adult with fluidity based on mood but also out of necessity as I’m current on an award committee that has a strict reading requirement, but I also review for professional magazines, and obviously for readers advisory for my students. Some books are comfortably formulaic and don’t require as much effort. I find myself reading shallowly with some so that I can indulge more languidly with others. Yet, I still read more than the average person. Most notably, during the pandemic (of which I’ve written about here), I read at least one book a day for over a year. It adds up to quite a lot. And it’s not to compete with others, it’s simply how I like to do my reading and feel on top of my game. There are times that others have commented about how much I read and my usual response is something along the lines of we make time for what we love and value. Their comment is usually followed by what a slow reader they are and my response to that is so what? Which led to this post and this question: at what speed do you read?