Read a Book a Day Challenge (30 Books in 30 Days)

Over the next 30 days, I want to help you read a book each day.

We call this initiative the 30-Day Book Challenge. It is an open invitation to anyone who wants more reading done.

In the next 30 days, I’ll challenge you to read a book daily.

I’ll show you how easy it is when you employ the RSVP method using AccelaReader.

This means you’ll be reading a book while the words are blinking at you on the computer screen or any other digital device you have.

We originally introduced this challenge in 2012 and recorded video tutorials with guidance on speed reading the classics. You can watch all of the videos below.

This past October, I took on the challenge again and posted all of the books on our Facebook page just in case you’re looking for 30 books every well-rounded person should read.

This article will show you how you can read a book in a day, strategies you can employ to improve your comprehension, and questions you can ask yourself to increase your comprehension of the content. 

Can you read a book in a day?

Reading an entire book a day is a huge challenge and sounds almost impossible to achieve. But when you employ a speed reading tool, it is doable.

When someone asks you if you can finish reading a book in a day, your first reaction would be to be alarmed, especially if you have responsibilities. 

I mean, let’s do the math. It takes an average adult one minute to read about 200 to 250 words, and there are about 500 words in a single-paced document. This means that it will take weeks to finish a lengthy novel at that pace. 

But with a speed reading technique or tool, you can accomplish this. 

You eat food to nourish your body; how do you feed your mind?

One of the ways to nourish your mind is through reading. Reading is a necessary part of our existence. That is why it is crucial to engage in this challenge that will be beneficial to your overall development. 

You can accomplish this challenge with commitment, focus, and adequate resolve using the RSVP method. 

How Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) works

As you can see, you can simply watch videos for each of the 30 books listed below to get your reading done. AccelaReader is a powerful tool that will strengthen your ability to pick up groups of words more effectively while reading faster.

RSVP is meant to help you read faster on the screen, and the technique transfers back to the printed page to make reading much more fluid and effortless.

This is just one way you can learn to read faster, and it’s impactful to have a foundational understanding of the most vital speed reading concepts. You might even take it a step further by learning advanced speed reading techniques with guided training.

30-Day Book Challenge

Day 1: Animal Farm by George Orwell, Speed Read 128 Pages in 60 Minutes.

Day 2: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Speed Read 110 Pages in 57 Minutes.

Day 3: The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason, Speed Read 128 Pages in 80 Minutes.

Day 4: The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Speed Read 102 Pages in 44 Minutes.

Day 5: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, Speed Read 134 Pages in 53 Minutes.

Day 6: Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll, Speed Read 130 Pages in 59 Minutes.

Day 7: The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli, Speed Read 164 Pages in 100 Minutes.

Day 8: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, Speed Read 144 Pages in 77 Minutes.

Day 9: A Death in Venice by Thomas Mann, Speed Read 92 Pages in 52 Minutes.

Day 10: The Call of the Wild by Jack London, Speed Read 99 Pages in 64 Minutes.

Day 11: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Speed Read 116 Pages in 60 Minutes.

Day 12: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Speed Read 71 Pages in 52 Minutes.

Day 13: The Pearl by John Steinbeck, Speed Read 100 Pages in 53 Minutes.

Day 14: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, Speed Read 128 Pages in 53 Minutes.

Day 15: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott FitzgeraldSpeed Read 218 Pages in 99 Minutes.

Day 16: Anthem by Ayn Rand, Speed Read 104 Pages in 65 Minutes.

Day 17: The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, Speed Read 128 Pages in 65 Minutes.

Day 18: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Speed Read 179 Pages in 92 Minutes.

Day 19: Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie, Speed Read 178 Pages in 95 Minutes.

Day 20: The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe, Speed Read 124 Pages in 85 Minutes.

Day 21: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Speed Read 224 Pages in 110 Minutes.

Day 22: Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Speed Read 248 Pages in 123 Minutes.

Day 23: The Stranger by Albert Camus, Speed Read 154 Pages in 72 Minutes.

Day 24: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Speed Read 256 Pages in 150 Minutes.

Day 25: The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, Speed Read 122 Pages in 85 Minutes.

Day 26: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, Speed Read 101 Pages in 82 Minutes.

Day 27: Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche, Speed Read 194 Pages in 126 Minutes.

Day 28: Hunger by Knut Hamsun, Speed 158 Pages in 121 Minutes.

Day 29: Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Speed Read 146 Pages in 105 Minutes.

Day 30: The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells, Speed Read 209 Pages in 87 Minutes.

How to read a book a day

The videos above will help you speed read a book a day at 500 words per minute (WPM), which is about 2.5 times faster than the average reading speed (200 WPM).

If you feel 500 WPM is too fast, I still recommend trying it out at that speed. You might be surprised at how much you’ll comprehend, and even if you don’t get a complete understanding, it’s an excellent way to practice if you want to train yourself as a speed reader.

The average American reads one book per year. If you’re college educated, that number only goes up to 1.5 books a year. If you want to change your life and get a competitive advantage in your professional career, you need to read more.

Most people don’t read enough because they feel like they don’t have enough time and many view reading as an uphill task. But if you learn to read faster without sacrificing comprehension, you can create that extra time for yourself.

So for each of the next 30 days, I’m challenging you to read a book a day by watching the videos at the links I posted above. You can read these books, or you can choose to read your own. Regardless, I invite you to take on this challenge and join me in reading 30 books in 30 days.

Strategies to aid reading comprehension

These strategies will improve your reading comprehension and make you enjoy reading while you embark on this challenge. 

1. Summarize the content

Summarizing what you have read is one of the ways to evaluate your understanding of the reading material.

While summarizing, write down the main ideas, the subject matter, and other essential points explored in the book in your own words. It will help you determine if you have gained a deeper understanding of what you are reading.

2. Draw inferences

You can improve your comprehension of a book by drawing inferences about ideas that are not explicitly stated in the materials. You can do this by picking out clues dropped by the author and the characters.

3. Visualize the material

Visualization of the scenes and images in the book is another way of increasing your understanding of a book. Draw up visual imagery of how the scenes played out in a text or the portrayal of a character. It will help your comprehension capacity.

4. Eliminate distractions

It goes without saying that to comprehend what you are reading, you need to eliminate any distractions around you. It will help you focus on the reading material, thereby aiding your understanding of the content. 

5. Take an online course

Taking an online course that will enhance your retention capacity and help you maximize your memory will aid your comprehension during this challenge.

6. Questioning

Before you start reading, write down some questions and the things you hope to achieve after reading the book. This will help you evaluate your comprehension and retention of the content. 

Questions to help increase your reading comprehension

 It is not enough to partake in this challenge; it is pertinent to gauge your comprehension. You should ask yourself specific questions before and after reading the book to review your understanding. 

What is the purpose of reading?

It would be best to establish the purpose of reading before you commence. This will serve as a guide when you start reading and help enhance your reading effectiveness.

Knowing why you read a certain book will also help you adopt the appropriate reading style to accomplish your objective.

Are you reading for pleasure, application of information, to gain a general understanding of the book, to get specific information, or for a critical understanding of the book?

Once you determine the purpose, you need to pause between reading to know if the process is accomplishing any of the above reasons for you.

What is the book about?

Asking yourself what the book is about during reading will help increase your comprehension.

To assess whether you have a strong grasp of the reading material, you need to ask yourself about the general idea the book is trying to convey, the subject matter, and the themes explored in the book.

What does this book remind me of?

Asking yourself what a book reminds you of will help bolster your overall understanding of the content.

This could be about an event, a feeling, or a thought. Connecting this information with the content will aid your general awareness of the book’s meaning.

Who is the main character of the book?

Assessing your understanding of the story’s main characters, their qualities, motivation, and what drives them will help enhance your reading comprehension and retention capacity.

What part of the book do you like/dislike?

While reading a book, there must be a part that appeals to you and other elements that you may find distasteful. Therefore, it is essential to ask yourself the parts you liked or disliked and why. 

What do you think is the author’s motive?

Authors write for many reasons, and sometimes readers interpret the author’s motive differently. So ask yourself the author’s motive and whether it aligns with your own interpretation.

Are there other books that counter the author’s perspective?

Think about other books you have read and how they differ from the author’s viewpoint. Then, you should cross-examine their similarities and differences using their main ideas and how they portrayed their characters.

Do you think the book should have ended differently?

Sometimes a novel will have a different ending from your expectations. You can ask yourself how the conflict resolution and ending differ from your initial prediction.

What would you change about the book?

There are books you read that you wished portrayed a character differently or delivered a message differently. One way to help your comprehension is by asking yourself what you would change about the book if given the opportunity. 

Conclusion

Engaging in this 30-Day Book Challenge will help you increase your reading speed and finish all the books you have been longing to read but have not had the time to do it yet.

AccelaReader is a speed reading tool that will help you accomplish this task easily and effectively. The software employs the Rapid Serial Visual Representation method that eliminates all the rapid eye movement that occurs while you read by placing each word in the exact location at a different time.

You should also try to enhance your reading comprehension by summarizing the content, drawing inferences, visualizing the content, eliminating all distractions, and asking yourself questions about the material after reading.

Some of the questions you can ask yourself are what the purpose of the book is, what the book is about, what the book reminds you of, who the main character is, what you think the author’s motive is, what you like/dislike about the book, and what you would change in the book if given a chance.

Now that you know it is possible to finish one book a day using RSVP, get the AccelaReader software today to engage in this challenge.

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