If you like to watch BookTube videos, you may have seen some videos where readers film vlogs that follow how much they realistically read in a week. After seeing a recent vlog like this by Oceana GottaReadEmAll, I decided to give this a try here on my blog. This week I’m sharing how much I realistically read in a week, breaking the data down day by day.

Day 1: Wednesday, April 30th

I decided to start this journey last Wednesday so that the memories of what I read, and when I was able to read, would be fresh in my mind.

Last Wednesday, I started my tracking log while I was on page 212 of The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth. The Soulmate is a secular, psychological thriller set in Australia. This was an insanely quick read, with short, dual POV chapters from past and present timelines that kept the story rolling. When breaking down my pages read for the day into segments, I read:

• From page 212 to page 242 on my first work break: 30 pages
• From page 242 to page 275 on my second break: 33 pages
• From page 275 to page 336 at home that night: 61 pages, finishing the book.

I then started my next read, The Prayer Box by Lisa Wingate, and read the first chapter before going to bed that night.

• From page 1 to page 15: 15 pages

In total for April 30th, I read: 30 + 33 + 61 + 15 = 139 pages.

Day 2: Thursday, May 1st

On Thursday, I continued reading The Prayer Box, a contemporary Christian women’s fiction novel by Lisa Wingate that is set in North Carolina’s Outer Banks. This book brought a change of pace to my reading for the week, because unlike The Soulmate, The Prayer Box has longer chapters and slower pacing, focusing more on Wingate’s descriptive writing. Breaking down my reading sessions, I read:

• From page 15 to page 37 on my first break: 22 pages.
• From page 37 to 61 on my second break: 24 pages.
• From page 61 to 64 at home that night: 3 pages

Normally my husband bowls league after work on Thursdays and I have a little bit of time to read while he’s practicing before league starts, but we were unable to go that night. Instead, I tried to read, got super sleepy, and then decided to take a pre-nap on the couch before going to bed that night, so if you’re wondering why I only read 3 pages after work, that’s why!

In total for May 1st, I read: 22 + 24 + 3 = 49 pages.

Day 3: Friday, May 2nd

On Friday, I continued making my way through The Prayer Box. Because my husband and I normally get pizza or take-out and watch TV together on Friday nights, I rarely read after work on Fridays unless I’m close to finishing a book or it’s super addicting and I have to know how it ends. At this point, I still wasn’t that far into The Prayer Box, so I didn’t read that night. But, while reading on my work breaks that day, I read:

• From page 64 to page 90 on break 1: 25 pages.
• From page 90 to page 113 on break 2: 23 pages.

In total for May 2nd, I read: 25 + 23 pages = 48 pages.

Day 4: Saturday, May 3rd

Saturdays are very hit-or-miss reading days for me, where I’ll either binge-read or barely read at all. This past Saturday was one of those barely read at all days, where I only finished one chapter while I drank my coffee that morning. During that time, I read:

• From page 113 to page 137: 24 pages.

Making the total for May 3rd 24 pages.

Day 5: Sunday, May 4th

Sundays are also hit-or-miss reading days for me. Sometimes I’ll have a couple hours to read when we visit at my parents’ house and everyone else has fallen asleep in the living room after Sunday lunch, and sometimes I’ll be the one to fall asleep. This past Sunday, I didn’t do either while I was there, though I did try to take a nap because I didn’t feel the best.

Sunday night, I had a few baskets of laundry to fold, so I decided to listen to my Kindle read The Prayer Box to me using its text-to-speech feature and my wireless earbuds. While listening on 2x speed, I got:

• From page 137 to page 210: 73 pages.

Making the total for May 4th 73 pages.

Day 6: Monday, May 5th

Heading back into the workweek, I decided to add an extra reading session at work by reading on my lunch break rather than spending that time writing. Still reading The Prayer Box, I read:

• From page 210 to 235 on my first break: 25 pages.
• From page 235 to 251 on my lunch break: 16 pages.
• From page 251 to 270 on my second break: 19 pages.

On the way home from work, I connected my Kindle to my car and had it read The Prayer Box to me on 2x speed again. Though I didn’t log that particular reading session, I estimate it to be around 25-30 pages.

At home that night, after eating supper with my husband, washing dishes, and doing a couple other things I needed to get done, I decided to finish the book. For my log, I ended up lumping what I listened to on the way home in with the pages read during this time:

• From page 270 to page 369: 99 pages.

In total for May 5th, I read: 25 + 16 + 19 + 99 = 159 pages.

Day 7: Tuesday, May 6th

Yesterday, since I had finished The Prayer Box the night before, I started reading Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon. This book is a fast-paced, secular young adult romance with magical realism elements and has short chapters. Because I still didn’t feel like writing on my lunch break, I ended up reading then too. For my last few reading sessions of this journey, I read:

• From page 1 to page 32 on my first work break: 32 pages.
• From page 32 to page 58 on my lunch break: 26 pages.
• From page 58 to page 88 on my second work break: 30 pages.

In total for May 6th, I read: 32 + 26 + 30 = 88 pages.

So, How Much Did I Read in Total for the Past Week?

Over the past week of this experiment, I read a total of 580 pages. I finished one book that I had already started, read another from cover to cover, and got 29% into a third one.

Was This a Realistic Reading Week for Me?

In some ways, this was a realistic reading week for me, and in others, it was not. The most accurate reading day logged in this post is Monday, as my husband and I normally don’t have plans on Monday night. The least accurate reading day is most likely Wednesday, as we normally either go to growth group or Wednesday night service at church then, and we didn’t make it to either that night because my husband had to work late. Most of the other days could be considered accurate for a typical week, but again, each day could vary based on what type of book I’m reading and if I’m close to finishing it.

I also neglected to log the number of pages my husband and I read in the Bible and The Bible Recap by Tara-Leigh Cobble throughout the week. Though we don’t read them each night, when we do, we read two days worth of The Bible Recap and the Bible chapters each day’s plan references, because we’ve fallen behind and are trying to catch up. Out of the seven days, I think we read the Bible and The Bible Recap on five nights last week. I have no clue how many pages this ended up being, as The Bible Recap had us reading out of a few different books of the Bible last week.

Talk to Me, Arrowheads!

What’s your guess for how many books and/or pages you typically read in a week? Let me know in the comments!

If you enjoyed this post and would like to see another version of it in the future, let me know! I had a lot of fun doing this experiment and I would love to try it again. 🙂

Aim high, stay strong, and always hit your mark.

-Allyson 😀