Can't Focus on Reading Anymore? 9 Ways to Get Back Into Books

Updated 28 October 2026

You used to read for hours. Now you manage two paragraphs before your hand reaches for your phone, or you read the same page three times and still cannot say what happened on it. The book on your bedside table has had its bookmark at page 30 for a month.

This is a very common complaint, and it rarely means something has gone wrong with you. Reading a book is a skill and a habit, and habits fade when life pushes them aside. The encouraging part is that they come back. It just tends to happen when you rebuild the habit on purpose, rather than waiting until you feel like reading again.

This guide is about the bigger picture: why reading can get harder over months or years, and how to get back into it. If you are looking for techniques to use during a single reading session, our guide on how to focus while reading covers those.

Why reading can feel harder than it used to

There is usually no single cause. It is more often a few of these at once.

You have been practising a different kind of reading

Most of us still read plenty every day: messages, news, feeds, emails, captions. But it comes in short pieces, and something new is always arriving. A book asks for the opposite. It is one long piece, nothing new arrives unless you keep going, and the payoff comes slowly. If nearly all your reading for a few years has been short and fast, a novel can feel sluggish and effortful at first. You have not lost the ability; you have simply been practising something else.

Your head is full

A new job, a move, exams, a baby, money worries, a long run of bad sleep: when life is demanding, reading has to compete for whatever attention is left at the end of the day. Steady, quiet concentration is often one of the first things to go when you are tired or stressed, and reading needs exactly that.

Stopping makes it harder to start

Once you read less, the first chapter of a new book feels like more work, so you put it down sooner, so you read even less. Nothing about this is a personal failing. It is the same loop that makes going back to the gym after a long break feel harder than it should.

You are reading the wrong book, or at the wrong time

Plenty of people trying to get back into reading start with the book they feel they should read: a long classic, a dense non-fiction book, something a friend raved about. Others only ever pick up a book in bed, when they are already half asleep. Either way, the book loses, and it is easy to conclude that the problem is you.

How to get your reading focus back

1. Start smaller than feels reasonable

Aim for 10 minutes or five pages a day, and stop when you get there, even if you could carry on. The goal for the first couple of weeks is not to get through a book; it is to make reading something you do again. A small target you hit every day does far more for that than an ambitious one you avoid. If 10 minutes feels like a struggle, make it five.

2. Choose a book that is easy to stay with

For now, pick something that pulls you along. Good options are:

An old favourite you have read before, since you already know you like it and you can relax into it.
Short novels or novellas, which you can finish while your motivation is still high.
Fast-paced genre fiction, such as thrillers, mysteries or romance, where every chapter ends with a reason to start the next.
Short story or essay collections, where each piece is a complete, satisfying session.
Graphic novels and memoirs, which count as reading and are very easy to get absorbed in.

The point is to remember what it feels like to get lost in a book. The dense, worthy one can wait a few weeks.

3. Give reading a fixed slot

"I'll read when I have time" rarely happens, because there is always something quicker to fill the gap. Attach reading to something you already do every day: with your morning coffee, on the bus, for the first part of your lunch break, or straight after you get into bed before you look at your phone. Reading in the same place at the same time means you stop having to decide whether to read each day.

4. Put the phone out of reach

For many people, the phone is exactly what quietly replaced reading, so it is also the strongest pull away from it. The urge to check it tends to be strongest in the first few minutes, before the book has caught you. Put it in another room, or at least across the room with notifications silenced, for the length of your reading slot. If you read on your phone, turn on a Focus or Do Not Disturb mode and close everything else first.

5. Make the first page easy

The start of each session is the hardest part, because your mind is still busy with whatever you were doing before. Begin by rereading the last paragraph or two from last time, to pick up the thread. Then promise yourself just one page. Once you are moving, keeping going is much easier than starting was.

6. Make the text easier to follow

If a full page has started to look like a wall of words, change the format rather than forcing it:

On an e-reader or phone, increase the font size and line spacing, so each screen holds less.
Follow along with the audiobook while you read the text, so the narrator carries you through the slower stretches.
Try reading one word at a time. With rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP), words appear one after another in the same spot on the screen, at a speed you choose. There is no page to take in and no line to lose, and the steady rhythm gives you a sense of momentum that can be hard to find when you are out of practice.

One-word-at-a-time reading works best for reading straight through, such as novels, articles and essays. Start at a slow, comfortable speed, around 200 to 250 words a minute, and only go faster once you are following easily.

7. Read with someone

Having someone else involved makes it easier to keep going. Agree to read the same book as a friend and talk about it at the weekend, join a local or online book club, or simply read in the same room as someone else who is reading. Knowing someone will ask how far you have got is a gentle push on the days you would otherwise skip it.

8. Track minutes, not finished books

When you are rebuilding a habit, finished books are too far apart to keep you motivated. Track something you can tick off every day instead: minutes read, pages, or just a mark on a calendar for each day you read at all. If you miss a day, do not treat it as starting again from zero. Just read tomorrow.

9. Build up gradually

Once your daily 10 minutes feels easy and you look forward to it, add five more. When you finish a couple of easy books, try one that asks a little more of you, and keep a lighter one on the go alongside it for tired evenings. Building up slowly is what keeps reading enjoyable rather than turning it back into a chore.

What to expect

The first week or two may feel slow and fidgety. You will probably still drift off and reach for your phone some of the time, and that is fine. Most people find that reading gets easier the more regularly they do it, and that one day they look up and realise they have read for half an hour without noticing. Judge your progress over a few weeks, not over a single evening.

When it might be more than a reading slump

If you have always found it hard to stay focused on reading, not just recently, our guide on how to read with ADHD has approaches that help anyone who finds steady attention hard to hold.

If your concentration has dropped across most things, not only reading, or it has come along with changes in your sleep, mood or energy, it is worth talking to a doctor. Lots of things can affect concentration, and it helps to have them looked at rather than assuming it is just you.

Questions people ask

Why can't I focus on reading anymore?

Usually because of a mix of things: most of your daily reading has become short and fast, you are tired or stressed, you have been reading less and are out of practice, or you are trying to read books that do not suit your current mood or energy. Rebuilding the habit slowly with easier books tends to help.

Can I get my attention span for reading back?

Many people do. Short, regular reading sessions with books you enjoy, a set time each day and your phone out of reach are a good place to start. Expect it to take a few weeks of practice rather than a few days.

Is it normal to go through a reading slump?

Yes. Plenty of keen readers go through stretches where nothing holds their attention, often after finishing a book they loved or during a busy period. Rereading a favourite or switching to something short and different is a common way out.

Should I finish books I'm not enjoying?

Not while you are getting back into reading. Pushing through a book you dislike is one of the quickest ways to stop reading again. Put it down and pick something that pulls you in. You can always come back to it later.