Books by level / Italian books
Il mistero del poeta: reading level, length and free edition
Il mistero del poeta by Antonio Fogazzaro is a novel in Italian. Our team rates it B2. It runs to 60,698 words with 8,752 different word forms, about 5–10 h of reading at 200 to 100 words per minute, and it is free from Project Gutenberg.
- Author
- Antonio Fogazzaro
- Language
- Italian
- Level
- B2
- Form
- novel
- Words
- 60,698
- Different word forms
- 8,752
- Forms for 95% / 98%
- 5,718 / 7,539
- Reading time
- 5–10 h
- Free edition
- Project Gutenberg
Un poeta narra la propria storia d’amore tra fantasmi di nostalgia e rivelazioni improvvise.
Is Il mistero del poeta right for your level?
To recognise 95% of the running words in Il mistero del poeta, you need its 5,718 most frequent word forms; for 98%, the share at which most readers manage a novel without a dictionary, 7,539. The median Italian B2 book in our table needs 5,871 forms for 95%, so by this measure the book is typical for its level: number 5 of 11, easiest first.
A word form is any spelling that appears in the text, so “walk” and “walked” count twice, and names count too. These numbers are a guide to how much vocabulary the book asks for, not a test. The level itself was set by hand by our team. Before you commit, read one page of the free edition and count the words you do not know: the one-page test takes two minutes.
Which words should you know before you start?
These are the words that Il mistero del poeta uses most often but that are not among the 2,000 most common word forms across all 20 Italian books in our library; the number is how many times each appears. Names of people and places are left out. Learning a handful of them first makes the opening chapters easier.
- indomani 28
- stazione 27
- dirmi 21
- udii 21
- potei 20
- intesi 19
- fidanzato 19
- scrissi 18
- andai 18
- torri 18
- sottovoce 18
- rosetta 18
- chiesi 17
- profumo 17
- italiano 17
How does it begin?
Una dama, che non ho l’onore di conoscere personalmente, mi ha inviato l’unito manoscritto. Vorrei pure trasmetterle, signor Direttore, la squisita lettera che l’accompagna; ma mi è vietato. Non ho quindi che ad indicarne, per sommi capi, la sostanza.
From the Project Gutenberg edition, which is in the public domain. If this paragraph already feels slow, try a book one level lower.
How long does it take to read?
| Words | 100 wpm | 150 wpm | 200 wpm | 250 wpm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60,698 | 10 h | 6.5 h | 5 h | 4 h |
Learners reading a book at their level often manage 100 to 150 words per minute, and readers in their first language 200 to 250. Where these speeds come from, and a calculator for your own: How long does it take to read a book?
Where can you read it for free?
The free edition is Project Gutenberg eBook #22504. Project Gutenberg publishes books that are in the public domain in the United States, as EPUB, Kindle and plain text, free and without an account. Copyright terms differ by country: if you live outside the United States, check that the book is out of copyright where you are before you download it.
To read it with a translation over every word you tap, open it in Readlang Mobile on iPhone or iPad.
What to read next at B2
Italian books at the same level that ask for a similar amount of vocabulary:
- Dopo il divorzio, Grazia Deledda: 56,909 words, 5,871 forms for 95%
- I Robinson italiani, Emilio Salgari: 67,116 words, 6,377 forms for 95%
- La favorita del Mahdi, Emilio Salgari: 113,371 words, 7,184 forms for 95%
- L’Innocente, Gabriele D’Annunzio: 77,999 words, 7,329 forms for 95%
- L’infedele, Matilde Serao: 24,283 words, 4,010 forms for 95%
- Fedele ed altri racconti, Antonio Fogazzaro: 34,707 words, 5,185 forms for 95%
See also all Italian books by level and books at B2 in all five languages.