Which book? Because I can gobble up 300 pages of a Harry Potter book in a handful of hours. But 300 pages of Edith Wharton? I am glacial, I am a mollusc, I am goo, I am braindead, I am...

Not very fast.

It all depends on the author. With a classic, 1-2 weeks per book; I don't want to risk missing anything important. With popular literature, less than a week (think Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close or Water For Elephants, something relatively contemporary). Then, with popular fiction: Mercy Thompson lasts me about 2 days.


I've noticed paperback deterioration too, Jelly. Completely. It happens more quickly with my science fiction books, though. Am I reading them particularly violently, or something? I wonder if there are different publishing standards among certain types of books... Mass Market Paperbacks tend to deteriorate faster than the full-sized, right?