How long does it take to read The Lord of the Rings?

The Lord of the Rings is about 455,000 words across three volumes, roughly 32 hours of reading. Tolkien wrote it as a single novel; the three-volume split was a paper-rationing decision by the publisher in 1954, which is why the volumes are uneven and why the appendices sit awkwardly at the end. Reading it takes about three times as long as watching the extended films. The Rob Inglis unabridged audiobook runs over 70 hours, more than twice the reading time.

The numbers

Total

31 hours 52 minutes

In hours

31.9 hours

Non-stop

1.3 days without sleeping

Covers

3 volumes, about 455,000 words

At a realistic pace

an hour a night

That works out as

about 32 days

As an audiobook

3 days 1 hour

What this assumes

About 455,000 words at 238 words per minute, counting the main text and excluding the appendices.

Broken down

Word count totals for the trilogy vary between about 455,000 and 481,000 across sources, mostly depending on whether the appendices are counted. Audiobook runtimes are also disputed: the Rob Inglis edition is quoted at both 52 and 73.5 hours.

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