The Reading List is a weekly newsletter that sends out a new list of book recommendations every Sunday, plus, a monthly guide on how to enrich your reading life.
“Reading is an active, imaginative act; it takes work.”
— Khaled Hosseini
We live in a world that is constantly competing for our attention. Where your phone is designed to deliver the fastest possible hit of stimulation and so, our brains have been trained to expect constant stimulation and instant rewards. Scrolling gives you a hit every few seconds, but a book asks you to be patient, and to trust that the payoff is coming. Is it any wonder so many of us struggle to sit with one for longer than a few pages?
I used to read ferociously as a child, I could sit all day reading and it was no big deal to me to finish a book in a day. Partly because there wasn’t much else competing for my attention (unless you count keeping my Nintendogs alive and building my dream house on The Sims), but also because I was reading above my age level, which made books feel almost effortless.
Then two things happened, firstly, I got older and my reading level began to actually match the books I was reading, and secondly, I got a phone. Suddenly books required effort in a way they never had before, and my phone was always right there offering something easier, the idea of picking up a book always seemed like the harder choice.
The good news is that this problem is fixable.
So, whether reading was once your favourite thing or something you've never quite managed to get into, struggling to focus on a book is not just the way you're wired. In a world designed to constantly pull your attention elsewhere, finding it hard to sit with a book for any length of time makes complete sense.
Here is everything that helped me get back to being a ferocious reader.
1. Choose the Right Book
This sounds obvious but if you’re trying to build up your reading stamina, the last thing you want is a book that feels like homework.
Forget what you think you should be reading. The right book is simply the one you are genuinely excited to pick up.
If a long book feels intimidating, read a short one. If committing to a series feels like too much, start with a standalone. There are no rules here. The goal at this stage is to remind your brain that reading is something it enjoys, and that is a lot easier to do when you’re gripped by something you actually want to read, maybe it’s a book one of your favourite films is based on or a non-fiction that covers a topic you want to learn about.
A good test of whether you've chosen the right book is that you're thinking about it when you're not reading it, and when you put it down, you're already looking forward to picking it back up again.
2. Build a Reading Routine
Remember, you are training yourself, and, like any form of training, showing up consistently matters far more than occasionally having a perfect session. You have to use the muscle if you want it to get stronger.
The best way to do that is to attach reading to a specific time of day rather than fitting it in whenever you can, because “whenever you can” has a way of never quite happening. For you it might be on your lunch break or when you get home from work, but you have to choose what works for you. I read on the sofa in the morning before my work day starts and in bed before I go to sleep, this works for my lifestyle and means that reading is built into my day rather than just an afterthought. On top of this, I read whenever else I feel like, on my commute, lunch break, at the weekend day outside, you just want to set yourself a baseline.
I got into a routine by setting myself a 12 week challenge. I committed to reading in the morning and evening every day for 12 weeks. I didn’t always manage it, and that’s fine. The point isn’t perfection, it’s consistency. Everyday I had these two things to tick off and by doing so I knew I was working towards my goal of becoming a more consistent and better reader. By the end of those 12 weeks it had stopped feeling like a challenge and had just become part of my day.
12 weeks sounds like a long time but it goes by quickly, and what you’re left with is a habit that feels natural rather than forced. Pick your moment, show up for yourself as often as you can, and trust the process (even when it feels difficult).
3. Start Small and Build Up
If you currently can’t get through half a page without reaching for your phone, sitting down for a 30 minute reading session is going to feel impossible, and setting yourself up to fail just isn’t helpful. The key is to start so small it feels almost too easy, and build from there.
My suggestion would be to start with two 10 minute sessions a day, one in the morning and one in the evening. That’s it. Don’t try to push beyond that in the beginning, the goal at this stage isn’t how much you read, it’s the consistency of showing up.
An example that could work for you might look like this:
Weeks 1-2: Two 10 minute sessions a day
Weeks 3-4: Two 15 minute sessions a day
Weeks 5-6: One 20-25 minute session and one 10 minute session
Weeks 7-8: Two 20-25 minute sessions
Weeks 9-12: Two 30 minute sessions
If you’d rather track pages than time, here’s an equivalent progression, but do bear in mind that page counts vary hugely depending on the book, so don’t be hard on yourself if a particularly dense read slows you down:
Weeks 1-2: 2-3 pages per session
Weeks 3-4: 5 pages per session
Weeks 5-6: 8 pages per session
Weeks 7-8: 10-12 pages per session
Weeks 9-12: 15-20 pages per session
These are just examples and the most important thing is that you start where feels genuinely easy for you, not where you think you should be. There is no prize for pushing yourself too hard in week one. It is far better to think you’ve set the bar too low than to burn out before the habit has had a chance to form. Build slowly, be patient with yourself, and trust that everything you’re doing is working towards being able to read without getting distracted.
Two 30 minute sessions isn’t the only way to structure a sustainable reading habit. Depending on your lifestyle you might find one of these works better for you:
One longer 60 minute session once a day
Three shorter 20 minute sessions spread across the day
One 30 minute session on weekdays and a longer session at the weekend when you have more time
The structure matters less than the consistency. Find what works for your life and stick to it.
4. Use Background Noise
Complete silence might seem like the obvious environment for reading but in my experience it can actually work against you. Too much quiet leaves too much space for your brain to wander, and before you know it you’re reaching for your phone without even really deciding to.
What I’ve found works for me is background noise, specifically brown noise or ambience. Our brains have a certain capacity for processing information, and when we’re trying to focus, the parts not being used by the task at hand can start to wander, so background noise at the right level occupies just enough of that spare mental capacity to keep your mind from drifting, without being demanding enough to compete with what you’re reading. This know as cognitive load theory, and can offer an explanation as to why a small amount of noise can actually improve concentration.
Brown noise specifically is worth trying too, it’s thought to have a calming effect on the nervous system while also masking sudden changes in sound that would otherwise pull your attention away.
My go-to is the background sounds feature on my iPhone, brown noise is built in and takes two seconds to switch on but if you don’t have an iPhone there’s plenty on YouTube, this is where I also find ambience as well, my favourite right now is “cafe ambience” (this one specifically!), try a few out and see what work for you! In winter I usually opt for the sound of a crackling fire, which feels particularly cosy paired with a good book.
I personally find music too distracting, especially anything with lyrics, as it competes with the words on the page in a way that ambience sounds don’t. I’ve also tried film scores, but again, it just didn’t work as well for me as brown noise or ambience. That said I know plenty of people who read just fine with music on, so it’s worth experimenting to find what works best for you.
5. Use a Timer App
One of the biggest things I’ve changed about my reading habit is removing the temptation of my phone entirely rather than relying on willpower alone. Willpower is finite, and when you’re trying to build a new habit the last thing you want is to be fighting yourself every few minutes.
This is where a timer app that blocks access to other apps comes in. I set mine at the start of my 30 minute session and that’s it, my phone becomes a reading timer rather than a distraction. The simple reminder of it when you pick up your phone and the act of having to actively cancel the session to do anything else on there is often enough to stop you doing it, because reaching for your phone while reading is rarely a conscious decision. It’s a reflex. The app just gives you a moment to catch yourself.
My current favourite is Focus Friend, your character knits socks while you read, which you can then swap for items to decorate their home and unlock new rooms. It sounds like a small thing but having something to look forward to at the end of a session is a surprisingly effective motivator. I’ve also used Flora in the past and loved that too, so it’s worth trying both and seeing which one you prefer.
6. Stop Backtracking
When I first decided to be more intentional about my reading I was constantly backtracking, rereading sentences, sometimes whole paragraphs, convinced I hadn’t properly taken in what I’d just read. It would take me forever to get through a single page and it made reading feel exhausting rather than enjoyable. I was genuinely googling “how to become a better reader”, and it wasn’t until then that I came across the concept and realised it even had a name. Understanding what it actually was changed everything.
Backtracking is known in reading psychology as regression. It’s incredibly common, and it tends to develop as a form of anxiety rather than genuine comprehension failure. Your brain convinces you that you haven’t absorbed what you’ve read when actually you have. Reading comprehension doesn’t work the way we think it does, we don’t need to consciously remember every sentence to follow a narrative. Our brains are remarkably good at building meaning cumulatively, and most of the time if you push through, everything makes sense in context.
I never remember backtracking as a child, which makes sense in hindsight. When reading felt effortless my brain had no reason to second guess itself. As the books got harder and other things started competing for my attention, a kind of anxiety crept in about whether I was really taking it all in. Regression was the response to that anxiety, not a sign that I actually wasn’t understanding what I was reading.
Once I understood that, the fix was surprisingly simple: trust yourself and keep going. If something was truly important and you genuinely missed it, the story will make it clear. You are not being tested on this, just push through.
If you find it hard to resist the urge to go back, try using a pen or finger to track the line you’re reading and physically guide your eyes forward. I actually remember doing exactly this with my bookmark and it really helped in the early days. This also covers up the upcoming sentences to stop you jumping ahead, which is another thing I found myself doing and made the my reading experience much more laborious.
If any of this has made you think about your reading technique more broadly, I’d really encourage you to look into it. There is absolutely no shame in it (I had an above average reading level as a child and still had to work on this as an adult). A little time spent understanding how you read will make the whole experience so much more enjoyable and it is absolutely worth it.
7. Stop Even When You Want to Keep Going
This one feels counterintuitive but it is an absolute must. When you’re building up your reading stamina, how you feel at the end of a session matters just as much as how long the session was.
Think about it this way: if you push yourself to sit and read for 30 minutes before you’re ready and you get to the end feeling like it was an absolute slog, the idea of picking your book up again tomorrow or later in the day doesn’t sound very appealing. But if you finish your 10 minutes thinking “I could have kept going” or “I really want to know what happens next”, you’ve ended on a positive note and that feeling is what brings you back.
It creates a positive loop. You finish a session feeling good, you look forward to the next one, you show up again, you finish feeling good again. Over time that loop is what builds the habit and gradually extends your stamina.
This is also why choosing the right book matters so much. A book that makes you genuinely want to keep reading is the best possible tool for building this kind of positive association with sitting down and reading. The two go hand in hand.
Reading is a journey, and it will look different for everyone. There was a point where I genuinely questioned whether I was even a reader anymore, and now, I read every single day. That didn’t happen overnight, and it didn’t happen by accident. It happened because I showed up consistently, set myself a 12 week challenge, and trusted that it would get easier. And it did.
Your reading life doesn’t need to look like anyone else’s. We all have different brains, different circumstances and different starting points and none of that makes your progress any less valid.
What I will say is this: be patient with yourself. You are quite literally training your brain, and that takes time. There will be sessions where it feels hard and days where you don’t show up at all, and that’s okay. What matters is that you come back. Every time you push through and choose your book over your phone it gets a little bit easier, your stamina grows a little bit stronger, and reading starts to feel a little more like the pleasure it’s supposed to be.
Start as small as you need to. Don’t rush. Don’t compare. Just show up for yourself as often as you can and trust that it adds up, because it does.
Do you listen to anything while you’re reading?
previously on the reading list…
Love this!!
I’m currently reading the Iliad and as it’s a trickier book I usually use focus music to help me concentrate. As I’m super interested in Greek mythology I’m finding it fascinating