Long term, you have to change your mindset.

Reading a novel is not about getting the salient points. It's about experiencing the entire journey the characters are on. You're not reading it for information or education, you're reading it to enjoy the whole process.

Short term, try reading some short stories. Plenty of authors have written short story collections or there's anthologies of short stories by multiple authors in a wide variety of genres.

Try a different book. Reading shouldn't be 'work'. If it is, skip that book. There are more books published than you can read in your lifetime - don't waste time on books that you don't like.

I would try finding books that don't have too much filler text and that are instead high pace and constantly engaging so you don't feel a need to skip much at all, and then slowly ease yourself into more and more "wordy" books

problem is idk how to find books like that but they do exist

Maybe read some murder mysteries with very tightly woven clues. You can't know which details are important to the solution and which aren't, so you need to read it all.

You'll probably try to skip anyway, but halfway through you'll realize you missed something, and then you have to go back and read a part again, fully.

Or you could read very short short stories. If there are only a few hundred words, there's not enough for you to skip anything. Once you're used to reading a very short story in full, you can move on to slightly longer stories, carrying the habit over.

Orrrrr you could try to read webnovels that post weekly. There's only one chapter at a time. It's ridiculous to skip anything, especially because the end doesn't exist yet.

Orrrrr you could read a book out loud, maybe to another person or just to yourself. If you're reading out loud, it's harder to skip anything.

Ultimately, it's just retraining your mind.

Oh! You could try comics. Less text, more pictures. Kind of hard to skip pictures and speechbubbles.

Unconventional advice, but read kids/YA books. They’re shorter and get to the point much quicker, and once you get in the swing of reading those you’ll build up tolerance for longer reads.

And don’t assume all kids books are basic kids material. Many classics have been written in more simplistic form so you still get the gist without the labor. Likewise with non-fiction.

For what it’s worth, I’m a teacher and have to find creative ways to help kids love to read. To me, a cereal box, a comic strip, even Pokémon cards are good starters to get kids to learn to love reading. There’s no shame in adults finding fun ways, too.

Sometimes I get burnt out and need to take a few weeks off. I usually don’t notice until I’m a few chapters into a new book. A little break usually helps.

i think maybe it would be hard to read (many kinds of) fiction if you're not especially interested in people. so maybe start by working out whether that's true of you?

i'm just basing this on my own introspection about why i read; and i guess specifically why i prefer fiction most of the time. it's a form of peoplewatching. even the most action-packed story has some element to it that covers some aspect of the character(s)' internal, personal life. that can be the most mundane, derivative kind of cliche, or it can be a kind of introspection, or originality, that marks the book out as 'great'. there is no widely respected literature that is NOT about the human condition - at least not as far as i know. plot alone is never profound.

of course you may not be reading for taht kind of benefit or for those kinds of motives. but whatever your choice of book, if you're not interested to follow what the people are doing you're likely to struggle with it.

Maybe a writer like Terry Pratchett might catch your attention? He writes in layers so there's a lot going on. He does put in a lot of random clues in a seemingly messy start but if you can see it like problem solving it's fun.

He throws in jokes and references as well as more than one plot and there are always darker elements he brings in from life observation if you want to look beyond the surface.

People with a STEM background tend to like his throwaway science references.

However you do mention you have to skim a lot for work, it might be possible it would be helpful to learn how to break that habit on occasion so you'll not be impatient with people. Most of us are slow to get to the point, or make a point you might find relevant lol.

Anything that you can use to help develop mindfulness might be useful. Some of the exercises can feel a bit waffy at first if you don't spend life smelling the roses but you'll find something you brain can attach to. Reading is as good as anything else.

Try short stories?

Be patient and not in a hurry. Enjoying read means enjoying the experience. Find a book you can savor the experience of reading instead of hurrying to get to the “good stuff”. So, I would say find the right book and also change you outlook on reading.

Read better books

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I’m not unlike you. If I am reading a book and the author takes a full paragraph or page to describe a tree I just skip it 😆. People think I speed read but no I just read the important parts. That said their are lots of authors who don’t do this and I’ve more recently become a far or science fiction as at least the descriptive “filler” is sciency and not boring.

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Have you ever tried listening to audiobooks?

I’d say, start slow. Make sure the book you are choosing truly intrigues you. Books with short chapters, like James Patterson’s are good. They give a reader a sense of accomplishment, which in turn, makes them read more.

Hi there. This subject has been very popular in the past. Please use reddit search and/or check the /r/books/wiki/faq.