READING TIME · WILLA CATHER · 1918
How long does it take to read My Ántonia?
At an average reading speed, about 5 hours 10 minutes. My Ántonia is 80,887 words long, in five books, each divided into short numbered chapters.
- WORDS
- 80,887
- BOOKS
- 5
- READING LEVEL
- About grade 6 (Flesch–Kincaid)
Reading time at different speeds
| Reader | Speed | Whole book |
|---|---|---|
| Unhurried | 200 words a minute | 6 h 45 min |
| Average adult reader | 260 words a minute | 5 h 10 min |
| Quick reader | 320 words a minute | 4 h 15 min |
To finish it at a steady pace:
- 20 minutes a day: about 16 days
- 30 minutes a day: about 11 days
- 60 minutes a day: about 6 days
How many books are in My Ántonia?
My Ántonia is in five books, each divided into short numbered chapters. Parlor opens it a book at a time, so the times below are for each book. The longest is Book 1: The Shimerdas (31,170 words, 2 h); the shortest is Book 4: The Pioneer Woman’s Story (5,980 words, 23 min). The average book takes 1 h 2 min.
Reading times below are at 260 words a minute.
| Book | Words | Reading time | Practice in Parlor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Book 1: The Shimerdas | 31,170 | 2 h | Check it → |
| Book 2: The Hired Girls | 24,900 | 1 h 36 min | Check it → |
| Book 3: Lena Lingard | 8,404 | 32 min | Check it → |
| Book 4: The Pioneer Woman’s Story | 5,980 | 23 min | Check it → |
| Book 5: Cuzak’s Boys | 10,433 | 40 min | Check it → |
READING IT FOR CLASS?
Knowing how long it takes is one thing. Understanding it is another.
Parlor Study is a reading comprehension companion. Read My Ántonia one book at a time, then make sure you understood it.
- Read a book. The full Project Gutenberg text, with highlights, notes and read-aloud.
- Explain it in your own words. Challenge me asks about the main idea, what the text suggests without saying, and the turn the book hinges on, then checks your answer against the text.
- Talk it through, then come back. Discuss stays within the books you have reached, so it won’t give away what comes next, and Revisit brings your ideas back later.
Parlor Study is a web preview for ages 13 and up, available by invitation. Request an invitation. AI feedback can make mistakes; check it against the text.
How these numbers were worked out
Words are counted in My Ántonia, Project Gutenberg eBook #242, the edition Parlor opens, divided into books exactly as Parlor shows them. Project Gutenberg’s licence and notes are left out. Other editions may differ slightly.
Reading speeds follow Marc Brysbaert’s review of 190 studies, which found that adults read English silently at about 260 words a minute for fiction and 238 for non-fiction (Journal of Memory and Language, 2019). Older and more difficult books often take longer than their word count suggests.
The reading level is the Flesch–Kincaid grade, worked out from average sentence length (15.7 words) and word length. It measures how long the sentences and words are, not how hard the ideas are.
Similar length
- The Secret Garden 5 h 10 min
- King Solomon's Mines 5 h 15 min
- Kidnapped 5 h 10 min
- Fathers and Sons 5 h 5 min
Also by Willa Cather
- O Pioneers! 3 h 35 min