Reading goal calculator

Most reading calculators divide the goal by 365. That is the right answer in January and the wrong one for everyone else. Someone setting a 24-book goal in September, with three books done, needs more pages a day than the January number, and seeing the January number is how the goal quietly dies in November.

This page uses your device's date and counts the days left in the year, including today. The last box shows what the number would have been from 1 January, so you can see what starting late costs.

Three hundred is a reasonable average for a novel. It is not a reasonable average for your list if your list has two 800-page histories on it. Look up the page counts of the next three books you will read and use their average.

Speed is the other one. Time yourself for twenty minutes with the book you are reading now, and multiply the pages by three. A dense book and a thriller can differ by a factor of two, so time the kind you mostly read.

A yearly goal is checked once, in December. A daily one is checked every night. Once you have the pages-a-day number, track that instead: did I read my 20 pages today, yes or no. The book count takes care of itself, or it does not, and you will know which by March rather than by Christmas.