I generally read a page every 80-90 seconds. This is by no means a speedy reader's pace. I am however a consistent reader. Standing in line at the grocery store, sitting at a redlight, standing at the stove while cooking dinner, walking on the treadmill, and 100 other stolen moments throughout the day let me read nearly 100 pages yesterday. Since I couldn't sleep last night, I pulled out the book light and read another hundred pages without waking my wife.

When you finish one book, start another. Take a day off every week and you should still read 12-18 books in a month.

As for retention, it is hard to say how much others remember from books they've read. That being said, I'd say that my retention is better than average. Can I remember the last name of every protagonist of every book I read last year (218 books in 2009)? No. Can I tell you something specific and a plot synopsis of all of them? Sure. How about books from 20 years ago? Pretty much the same. 30 years ago? That's when I started reading seriously and I still remember most of those too.