In a reading slump? Here's how to fall in love with books again

Readers, rejoice? There’s good news and bad news. The good news is that the National Library Board wants to get you binging on books; so much so that it has launched the ReadSG Challenge. Reading sessions can be logged digitally, earning you virtual coins that can be exchanged for cash.

The bad news: for many, it’s never seemed more challenging to pick up a book, let alone finish one. The usual culprits are to blame – exhausting schedules, lack of time, online vids chipping away at our attention. Even once-prolific bibliophiles like myself find it hard to get lit about literature. So how can we reclaim a passion for the act of reading again?

TREAT IT LIKE A (FUN) WORKOUT

After a long, busy day, it can be easy to find excuses to skip a workout, like "I don’t have my gear" – which is why carrying your gym kit with you to the office, or in your car, can help. 

It’s the same with reading. If you always have a book on you, you’re more likely to turn to the story, not your phone. Horror master Stephen King agrees. “I take a book with me everywhere I go, and find there are all sorts of opportunities to dip in," he once wrote.

He recommends “reading in long sips as well as short swallows”, even if it's just a minute or two in a checkout line, or, as he wisely suggests, the toilet. 

In this and in many matters, I agree with Mr King. So much so that my wife jokes my life motto is "ABAB" – Always Bring A Book.

Like committing to exercise, it's about prioritising a hard but healthy habit, said Will Chin, a super-reader who tears through some 100 books a year (and documents each one through his eclectic, quietly passionate Instagram handle @thisotherbookaccount). 

"I think it comes down to carving out units of time in the day. Everything is vying for our attention these days,” he noted. 

“If it isn’t work, it’s your children; if it isn’t your children, it’s your phone. To read more, you must figure out how many 15–30 minute blocks you are willing to set aside. It could be during lunchtime, sure, but it could also be done during your daily commute or right before you sleep.”

READ WITH FRIENDS

Just like exercising can help if you have a gym buddy, so can turning the page with a like-minded group. Book clubs are increasingly popular, but for first-timers, they can feel intimidating, particularly if there’s pressure to always share an intelligent post-read review.

Luckily, there are havens like the Silent Book Club, a global community with branches around the world, including Singapore. Participants come to regular meetups, say a quick hello and share what they’re reading, then turn quietly to their pages. 

Sisilia Kodyat, who started the local chapter, said: “Members share the same struggle: tired after work, distracted at home, and finding it hard to carve out uninterrupted reading time. The club provides a protected 90‑minute window where everyone is focused, so the group acts as a gentle accountability system.”

“Seeing others read reduces temptation to check phones, and even those who struggle to focus are often pulled back in by the quiet momentum,” she added.

Some members even extend that ritual of silent, focused reading at home, setting alarms for a set duration to remind them it’s time for their silent (solo) book club session.

BUILD YOUR READING MUSCLES

Even with new habits like this, reading a book may still feel challenging. That’s normal, said Kristy Jones, founder of The Reading Specialists, a literacy support practice in Singapore. Our social feeds yank us into different micro-narratives with every scroll, while a book encourages us to do the opposite. 

“So rather than thinking that we've lost our ability to concentrate, it's more useful to think about what kind of attention we are practising. If much of our leisure time involves rapid switching between highly stimulating pieces of content, sustained reading and concentration may initially feel unusually effortful. The encouraging thing is that sustained attention is something we can practise again.”

Jones’ advice? “Multi-sensory strategies can also encourage more active engagement with text. This might involve reading while listening to the audiobook, highlighting key information, annotating, taking brief notes or discussing what has been read.” The aim is to shift you from simply scanning content to engaging with it.

She added that “these strategies can be particularly helpful for people with ADHD or dyslexia, but you don't need to have a clinical diagnosis to benefit from structure, explicit goals, manageable pacing and active engagement”.

FIND FORMATS THAT WORK FOR YOU

Format-wise, we live in a reader’s paradise. But there’s no correct way to read, said Jones. Print books can remove distractions, and may be advantageous for deep study. E-readers are convenient and portable, and phones even more so, she added. “And if reading on your phone means you read regularly rather than not at all, that is valuable.”

Just make sure you set yourself up for success, not scrolling. “I would encourage people to turn off notifications or use a focus mode during longer reading sessions, if they find them distracting,” Jones suggested.

MIX UP HOW YOU READ

Of course, in the age of ever-changing media formats, books come in many forms. There are fun, creative "remixes" that have been specifically designed to suit the style of certain books, even seemingly challenging classics.

One of my favourites – particularly whenever we enter the spooky season of October – is Dracula Daily. 

Since Bram Stoker's horror classic unfolds through dated letters, journal entries, telegrams, news clipping and other documents, this online newsletter sends you an entry "each day that something happens to the characters, in the same timeline it happens to them". The 130-year-old classic has never been more chillingly absorbing.

Personally, when I’m in a reading slump, I seek the cinematic richness of multi-voice audiobooks like World War Z, featuring A-listers like actor Mark Hamill, rocker Henry Rollins, and director Martin Scorsese, the latter playing a deliciously corrupt billionaire. Fiction never felt so fun.