How long does it take to read The Best American Noir of the Century?
The Best American Noir of the Century by James Ellroy, Otto Penzler takes about 13 hours 47 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 13 hours 47 minutes
A week or two of reading
First published 2010. 752 pages, about 206,800 words.
28 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 22 hours 59 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 13 hours 47 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 8 hours 37 minutes |
The page count is the median across 6 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
From the Publisher: In his introduction to the The Best American Noir of the Century, James Ellroy writes, "Noir is the most scrutinized offshoot of the hard-boiled school of fiction. It's the long drop off the short pier and the wrong man and the wrong woman in perfect misalliance. It's the nightmare of flawed souls with big dreams and the precise how and why of the all-time sure thing that goes bad." Offering the best examples of literary sure things gone bad, this collection ensures that nowhere else can readers find a darker, more thorough distillation of American noir fiction. James Ellroy and Otto Penzler, series editor of the annual The Best American Mystery Stories, mined one hundred years of writing-1910-2010-to find this treasure trove of thirty-nine stories. From noir's twenties-era infancy come gems like James M. Cain's" "Pastorale," and its post-war heyday boasts giants like Mickey Spillane and Evan Hunter. Packing an undeniable punch, diverse contemporary incarnations include Elmore Leonard, Patricia Highsmith, Joyce Carol Oates, Dennis Lehane, and William Gay, with many page-turners appearing in the last decade.
Subjects: American Detective and mystery stories, American fiction, American Noir fiction, Detective and mystery stories
