The short answer
Choose one book or audiobook you want to return to, keep it ready, and try it during an existing pause in your day. Five or ten minutes can be your available window—not a minimum you must achieve. Stop at a convenient point, leave yourself a reminder, and change books or formats when reading feels like an obligation.
To start: use a book you already have or explore your library’s borrowing options before buying anything.
1. Choose a reading opportunity, not a reading target
Start with a practical question: When could reading fit without displacing something I need or enjoy?
Possible openings include a few minutes after lunch, a quiet evening pause, or time spent waiting as a passenger. Choose an opportunity you can recognize, rather than making a promise to read at an exact time every day.
Try a simple invitation:
- “When I sit down after dinner, I can open my book.”
- “If I have a quiet wait, I can read a little.”
- “When I fold laundry, I can try listening.”
Keep the invitation optional. An evening with no reading does not create a debt to repay tomorrow.
For your first attempt, gather only what you need: one book, or a device with an ebook or audiobook ready to open. Add a bookmark if you are reading in print. You do not need a dedicated reading corner, a tracking app, or new equipment.
Practical check: imagine the first thirty seconds of your next session. Where is the book? Is the device charged? Do you already know what you will open? Resolve that small obstacle beforehand.
If evenings leave you too tired to enjoy a story, try another opening. There is no need to force a bedtime routine simply because it looks appealing.
2. Match the book and format to your available attention
Choose by what you want from the session, not by which format seems most impressive.
Short stories and essays: try these when you want a smaller piece to explore. Look at the contents page and the length of an individual selection before starting. Do not assume every short story will fit into ten minutes; plan to pause if necessary.
Longer books: choose a novel or nonfiction book if continuing with the same characters or subject appeals to you. You can read part of a chapter. A chapter ending is an option, not a rule.
Ebooks: consider these if you would rather use a device you already have. Libby, for example, supports reading on compatible mobile devices and in a computer’s web browser; a dedicated ereader is not required. (help.libbyapp.com)
Audiobooks: try listening if you want a narrated story while your hands are occupied. Treat this as a format choice, not a challenge to finish books faster.
For a low-commitment start, choose something that genuinely interests you: a familiar genre, a subject you are curious about, or an author whose style you already enjoy. Avoid beginning with a book you feel you “should” read unless you also want to read it.
You might keep one main book and one alternative—for example, a novel for quiet moments and an essay collection for interrupted days. If two choices become distracting, return to one.
Practical check: ask, “Would I choose another few minutes with this?” That is a more useful guide for leisure reading than the book’s reputation or length.
3. Borrow before buying—and check the actual loan rules
Start with your own shelves, then check your local library’s website or ask staff about print books, large-print editions, ebooks and audiobooks.
Before making plans around a particular service, check:
- Whether you qualify for a library card and how to apply.
- Which digital borrowing platform the library uses.
- Whether your preferred title and format are offered.
- The loan period, borrowing limit and renewal conditions.
- How print books must be collected and returned.
If your library offers Libby, its official instructions provide a straightforward starting point:
- Open the app and follow the prompts to find your library.
- Sign in with your library card.
- Search or browse for a title.
- Select Borrow for an available copy, or Place Hold if none is available.
- Open Shelf, then Loans, to read or listen. (help.libbyapp.com)
Libby offers free library ebooks and digital audiobooks, but the selection depends on what each library chooses to provide. Its digital loans return automatically on their due dates. That is a Libby feature—not a reason to assume the same return process applies to physical books. (help.libbyapp.com)
Check the borrowing screen before confirming. Libby’s loan periods vary by library and format; where choices are offered, you can select a different period when borrowing or renewing. (help.libbyapp.com)
For your first session, prefer something available now rather than making your routine depend on a particular hold arriving. Borrow one appealing option and save other possibilities for later.
4. Make the reading setup comfortable for you
Before abandoning a format, try changing the part that is awkward.
For print reading, experiment with the light, where you sit, and whether supporting the book on a table or cushion feels easier than holding it. Ask your library about large-print availability if that would suit you. Treat these as options to test, not solutions that work for everyone.
For ebooks, adjust the display before settling into the story. In Libby:
- Tap the center of an open book, then the reading-settings icon.
- Use Text scale to change the text size.
- Turn on Include accessibility sizes for a wider range.
- Choose Bright, Sepia or Dark lighting.
- Under Menu → Accessibility, explore stronger contrast and reduced-motion options. (help.libbyapp.com)
Change one setting at a time and read a paragraph before deciding whether it helps. There is no universally best text size or background color.
If you use a screen reader, Libby has a Read From Here mode for books and magazines. Its instructions specify VoiceOver rather than Spoken Content on iOS. Consult the platform’s screen-reader guide for the navigation steps that apply to your device; do not assume every “read aloud” feature works in the same way. (help.libbyapp.com)
Your first attempt can simply be a setup session. Finding a workable display or position is a useful result even if you do not read much that day.
5. Try a ten-minute evening session
Here is an illustrative plan for a quiet evening window. The timings are suggestions, not measured reading speeds or a promise that you will finish a chapter.
Suppose you have borrowed a novel and have about ten minutes before doing something else.
Minute 0–1: get comfortable. Open the book at your bookmark. If helpful, silence nonessential notifications. Use a gentle timer only if you need a definite stopping time.
Minutes 1–8: read. Continue from where you left off. If you have forgotten the situation, reread a short passage. There is no need to convert the session into a page target.
Minutes 8–9: look for a stopping place. A paragraph ending or scene break is enough. If the next chapter is still several pages away, stop sooner.
Minute 9–10: make returning easy. Mark your place. If useful, leave a brief note such as, “She has just opened the letter.” Close the book and leave it somewhere convenient for next time.
The point is to test whether this opening in your day suits reading—not to complete the schedule perfectly.
If you have only three minutes, open the book and read a little, or choose not to. If you want to continue and nothing needs your attention, continue.
For couples or families, you could adapt this into a shared quiet pause with separate books. Agree beforehand that anyone can stop, and avoid comparing pages read.
6. Try audio during a suitable routine task
For an audio experiment, choose a task you already know well and can pause easily—for example, folding laundry at home. Avoid planning your first attempt around something that demands close attention.
Set up the title before starting the task. In Libby’s mobile app, ebook and audiobook loans download automatically over Wi-Fi by default, although download settings can be changed. Check that the download has finished if you intend to listen offline. Browser use requires an internet connection. (help.libbyapp.com)
Worked example: suppose your laundry-folding session usually gives you roughly ten minutes. That is your personal estimate, not a service guarantee. Open the audiobook, listen at its normal speed, and pause when the task ends—even if the chapter continues.
If useful, set Libby’s sleep timer to ten minutes. Its timer accepts custom settings from five to 120 minutes and includes an end-of-chapter option. (help.libbyapp.com)
Afterward, ask whether you followed and enjoyed the story. If not, try listening without another task, choose a different title, or leave audio aside.
Libby also allows playback speeds from 0.6× to 3×. Adjust only if the result sounds comfortable; faster listening is not inherently a better leisure experience. (help.libbyapp.com)
As a practical boundary, pause whenever you need to hear someone, follow instructions or attend closely to your surroundings. Do not add listening to a task merely to make the time feel more productive.
7. Stop freely, change what is not working, and restart without catching up
You are allowed to abandon a book. You do not need to reach a particular page before deciding that the style, subject or narrator is not enjoyable.
Before switching, distinguish between two questions:
- “Do I dislike this book?” Choose another.
- “Is this setup awkward today?” Try a different time, display, position or format—or take a break.
Watch for these common beginner mistakes:
- Turning a spare moment into a quota. Replace “I must finish a chapter” with “I can read until I need to stop.”
- Spending the whole window choosing. Select your next title outside the reading session.
- Borrowing more than you want to manage. Start with one loan and check its due date.
- Treating interruptions as failure. Bookmark the place and return when it suits you.
- Continuing only because you have already invested time. Keep reading if you want more, not merely to justify starting.
For a gentle trial, choose one appealing title and one possible reading opportunity. Over the next few occasions, notice what felt convenient, what got in the way, and whether you wanted to return.
Then keep, change or drop the arrangement. No streak, catch-up session or reading total is required. The routine has done its job when it makes an enjoyable book easier to pick up.