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Short Classics Reading Time Calculator

Pick your reading speed and how long you read each day. Every title below is free to read online and shows how many hours, and how many days, it will take you.

28 of 28 books shown, from 1 h 06 min (The Secret Sharer) to 3 h 58 min (The Hound of the Baskervilles) at 250 words a minute.

Reading time and days to finish, by book
BookFirst publishedWordsReading timeDays to finishFree text
The Secret SharerJoseph Conrad 1910 16,600 1 h 06 min 3 Read on Project Gutenberg
Daisy MillerHenry James 1878 21,300 1 h 25 min 3 Read on Project Gutenberg
The MetamorphosisFranz Kafka, translated by David Wyllie 1915 22,000 1 h 28 min 3 Read on Project Gutenberg
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. HydeRobert Louis Stevenson 1886 25,700 1 h 43 min 4 Read on Project Gutenberg
CarmillaJ. Sheridan Le Fanu 1872 28,200 1 h 53 min 4 Read on Project Gutenberg
Death in VeniceThomas Mann, translated by Kenneth Burke 1912 28,300 1 h 53 min 4 Read on Project Gutenberg
A Christmas CarolCharles Dickens 1843 28,600 1 h 54 min 4 Read on Project Gutenberg
TyphoonJoseph Conrad 1902 30,900 2 h 04 min 5 Read on Project Gutenberg
The Call of the WildJack London 1903 31,900 2 h 08 min 5 Read on Project Gutenberg
The Time MachineH. G. Wells 1895 32,600 2 h 10 min 5 Read on Project Gutenberg
FlatlandEdwin A. Abbott 1884 34,300 2 h 17 min 5 Read on Project Gutenberg
Ethan FromeEdith Wharton 1911 34,800 2 h 19 min 5 Read on Project Gutenberg
Heart of DarknessJoseph Conrad 1899 38,900 2 h 36 min 6 Read on Project Gutenberg
The Wonderful Wizard of OzL. Frank Baum 1900 39,700 2 h 39 min 6 Read on Project Gutenberg
CaneJean Toomer 1923 42,300 2 h 49 min 6 Read on Project Gutenberg
The Turn of the ScrewHenry James 1898 42,800 2 h 51 min 6 Read on Project Gutenberg
The Sign of the FourArthur Conan Doyle 1890 43,300 2 h 53 min 6 Read on Project Gutenberg
A Study in ScarletArthur Conan Doyle 1887 43,600 2 h 54 min 6 Read on Project Gutenberg
The Island of Doctor MoreauH. G. Wells 1896 43,800 2 h 55 min 6 Read on Project Gutenberg
Notes from UndergroundFyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett 1864 44,200 2 h 57 min 6 Read on Project Gutenberg
Peter Pan (Peter and Wendy)J. M. Barrie 1911 47,400 3 h 10 min 7 Read on Project Gutenberg
The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald 1925 48,500 3 h 14 min 7 Read on Project Gutenberg
The Invisible ManH. G. Wells 1897 48,900 3 h 16 min 7 Read on Project Gutenberg
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored ManJames Weldon Johnson 1912 51,800 3 h 27 min 7 Read on Project Gutenberg
HerlandCharlotte Perkins Gilman 1915 52,200 3 h 29 min 7 Read on Project Gutenberg
O Pioneers!Willa Cather 1913 55,700 3 h 43 min 8 Read on Project Gutenberg
The Mysterious Affair at StylesAgatha Christie 1920 57,000 3 h 48 min 8 Read on Project Gutenberg
The Hound of the BaskervillesArthur Conan Doyle 1902 59,400 3 h 58 min 8 Read on Project Gutenberg

How the numbers work

Reading time is the word count divided by your reading speed. Days to finish is that time divided by the minutes you read each day, rounded up. Most adults read printed fiction at about 200 to 300 words a minute, so the average setting is a fair starting point; change it to match you.

Word counts are measured from each book's Project Gutenberg plain-text file, with Gutenberg's own licence text removed and the result rounded to the nearest 100. A few files include a preface or notes, so a printed edition can differ by a few percent. Books of 60,000 words or fewer are listed; at about 300 words a page that is close to 200 printed pages.

Free to read, with one caution

Each book links to its Project Gutenberg record, which states that the text is in the public domain in the USA. That statement is about the USA only, and it covers the text of that edition. A translated title is marked with its translator because a translation is a separate work from the original: the Kafka, Dostoevsky and Mann texts here are older translations. Check the rules where you live before sharing or reusing a text.

For title dates, ebook release dates and the full download record of 22 other classics, see the Public-Domain Classics Availability Atlas. To keep a record of what you finish, use the free classics reading tracker.

Source: Project Gutenberg ebook records and plain-text files, checked 21 October 2026.

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