How Long Does It Take to Read Of Mice and Men?
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (1937) runs about 29,200 words — roughly 107 pages in a standard paperback. At an average reading speed of 238 words per minute, that is 2 hours and 3 minutes of reading. The tables below break it down by pace and by daily reading sessions, and you can calculate reading time for any book or test how well you know this one with the Of Mice and Men book quiz.
Reading time by speed
| Reading pace | Time to finish Of Mice and Men |
|---|---|
| Slow (150 wpm) | 3 hours and 15 minutes |
| Average (238 wpm) | 2 hours and 3 minutes |
| Fast (350 wpm) | 1 hour and 23 minutes |
| Speed reader (450 wpm) | 1 hour and 5 minutes |
Reading in daily sessions
Prefer a nightly page goal? Here is how long the book lasts as a daily habit:
| Session length | Days to finish |
|---|---|
| 15 minutes per day | 9 days |
| 30 minutes per day | 5 days |
| 60 minutes per day | 3 days |
Where the numbers come from
The average adult reads 238 words per minute for non-fiction and around 238–300 wpm for easy fiction, according to Marc Brysbaert’s 2019 meta-analysis of 190 reading-rate studies — the number most reading-time tools use. Of Mice and Men’s word count (29,200) is an estimate for a standard text or translation; translations and editions vary, so treat both word and page counts as planning figures. For a custom edition or your own pace, the reading time calculator does the math for any word count.
Is Of Mice and Men hard to read?
Easy — short, plain-spoken, and devastating; the ending hits harder than the simple prose promises.
Two migrant ranch hands drift through Depression-era California: George, sharp and quick, and Lennie, a giant with a child's mind and a habit of killing what he loves. Their one asset is a shared dream — a little farm, rabbits — and the novel watches what the world does to men who dream while owning nothing. Think you know it already? Take the Of Mice and Men book quiz — eight questions, two minutes — or see how you do on the full mixed-classics book quiz.
A realistic pace plan for Of Mice and Men
Numbers help, but habits finish books. At 30 minutes a day — one coffee break or one commute — you are done in 5 days. Prefer the one-sitting test? You would need about 2 hours and 3 minutes in a single stretch, which most readers split over a weekend. And if you read 11 pages a night, the book lasts roughly 10 nights — the point is that a 107-page classic shrinks fast once the session is fixed. Readers who finish long books almost never “find time”; they pick the session size first and let the days accumulate.
Your pace may vary from chapter to chapter, especially when the language or ideas are unfamiliar. Leave a little room in your plan for slower passages. When you turn the last page, the Of Mice and Men book quiz is a quick way to see how much stayed with you.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to read Of Mice and Men?
At an average reading speed of 238 words per minute, Of Mice and Men takes about 2 hours and 3 minutes. At a fast 350 wpm it is 1 hour and 23 minutes; a slow, careful 150 wpm reader needs about 3 hours and 15 minutes.
How many pages is Of Mice and Men?
About 107 pages in a standard paperback edition — editions vary, so treat it as a close estimate.
How many words is Of Mice and Men?
Approximately 29,200 words, the figure used for every calculation on this page.
Is Of Mice and Men hard to read?
Easy — short, plain-spoken, and devastating; the ending hits harder than the simple prose promises.
Is Of Mice and Men worth the time?
Two migrant ranch hands drift through Depression-era California: George, sharp and quick, and Lennie, a giant with a child's mind and a habit of killing what he loves. If that sounds like your kind of book, 2 hours and 3 minutes is a reasonable price for one of the most-read titles in its genre — and the quiz linked above tells you whether an earlier read already stuck.
What reading level is Of Mice and Men?
About Grades 8-9, typically read by ages 13+. The suggested age is a guide; reading experience varies from person to person.
How long other classics take
Counting sessions instead of hours? Of Mice and Men has 6 sections, about 4,866 words each. Every title on the shelf is timed the same way in how long to read: 133 classics, timed — from Animal Farm’s single afternoon to War and Peace’s two-week campaign. For scale, Of Mice and Men is the 126th longest of the 133 classics timed here — shorter than Hamlet but longer than Alice in Wonderland.
Planning a whole-author project? The John Steinbeck books in order guide lists the full shelf in reading order.