How long does it take to read the classics?
Every word count below is counted from the full text, not guessed from a page count. Times assume an average reading speed of 250 words per minute — pick a book that fits the time you actually have, and read it free.
Every book, shortest first
| Book | Words | Reading time |
|---|---|---|
| The Yellow WallpaperCharlotte Perkins Gilman | 6,147 | 25m |
| The MetamorphosisFranz Kafka | 22,008 | 1h 28m |
| The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr HydeRobert Louis Stevenson | 25,626 | 1h 43m |
| Alice's Adventures in WonderlandLewis Carroll | 26,617 | 1h 46m |
| A Christmas CarolCharles Dickens | 28,549 | 1h 54m |
| The Call of the WildJack London | 31,901 | 2h 8m |
| The Time MachineH. G. Wells | 32,598 | 2h 10m |
| Heart of DarknessJoseph Conrad | 38,488 | 2h 34m |
| The Wonderful Wizard of OzL. Frank Baum | 39,274 | 2h 37m |
| Peter PanJ. M. Barrie | 47,221 | 3h 9m |
| The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald | 48,346 | 3h 13m |
| The AwakeningKate Chopin | 49,821 | 3h 19m |
| The Wind in the WillowsKenneth Grahame | 58,860 | 3h 55m |
| The Railway ChildrenE. Nesbit | 59,326 | 3h 57m |
| Black BeautyAnna Sewell | 59,685 | 3h 59m |
| Around the World in Eighty DaysJules Verne | 62,939 | 4h 12m |
| A Little PrincessFrances Hodgson Burnett | 66,392 | 4h 26m |
| FrankensteinMary Shelley | 69,412 | 4h 38m |
| The Adventures of Tom SawyerMark Twain | 70,663 | 4h 43m |
| The Picture of Dorian GrayOscar Wilde | 78,652 | 5h 15m |
| The Secret GardenFrances Hodgson Burnett | 80,907 | 5h 24m |
| HeidiJohanna Spyri | 91,240 | 6h 5m |
| Anne of Green GablesL. M. Montgomery | 102,134 | 6h 49m |
| Madame BovaryGustave Flaubert | 115,561 | 7h 42m |
| Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen | 121,905 | 8h 8m |
| Crime and PunishmentFyodor Dostoevsky | 196,845 | 13h 7m |
Pick by how much time you have
The most common reason a classic goes unfinished is picking one that was never going to fit the time available. Start with the group that matches your week.
An evening or two
Between about 90 minutes and 3 hours.
A normal novel
Roughly 3 to 5 hours — a week at 30 minutes a day.
A longer novel
5 to 9 hours. Worth a proper run at it.
These times assume you read at 250 wpm
Most people don’t. The gap between a slow and a fast reader more than doubles every number on this page. Take the free reading speed test to get your real figure, then see exactly which of these books you could finish in a week, a month or a year.
Test your reading speedCommon questions
How long does it take to read a classic novel?
It depends far more on the book than on the reader. Across the 26 classics on readClassicly the shortest, The Yellow Wallpaper, takes about 25 minutes at an average 250 words per minute, while the longest, Crime and Punishment, takes about 13 hours 7 minutes. A typical classic novel runs 3 to 6 hours.
What is the shortest classic book?
Of the classics here, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is the shortest at 6,147 words — about 25 minutes of reading. It is a good first classic if you have never finished one.
How many classic books can I read in a year?
At an average 250 wpm, 30 minutes a day comes to about 2.7 million words a year — more than the 1,631,117 words of every book on this site combined. The reading speed test builds a list that fits your actual speed and the time you have.
How are these reading times calculated?
Every word count is counted from the full text we host, not estimated from a page count, then divided by a reading speed. The headline figure uses 250 words per minute, the average for an adult reading in their first language. Each book page also shows the time at 150 through 400 wpm.
Reading a classic to learn English?
readClassicly has a free plan for English reading for beginners: graded classic stories with tap-to-define words, audio, and a short quiz after each one. Start at your level and build up to full books like this one. If you are just starting, begin with the short English stories for beginners.