Do you ever find it hard to concentrate on reading?

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I love to read... it feels like an escape for me. Problem is, I can never focus on reading unless I am able to cut everything off around me and hide on an area where I feel nothing can distract or throw me off... I want to read but I can enough concentration for it. I have so many books I buy, read a few pages and then its like I lose the ability to read them without a lack of concentration. I know this is probably due to my ADHD too... but it just bothers me.

It's also a bit distraction/sensory related too. I don't know how to solve this because I really want to read yet I have a hard time shutting down so I can concentrate on reading. ;w;

If I'm not interested in the subject matter that's at hand, I have a very hard time reading. If it's something that I'm interested in, I have no problems at all.

i can be ok, then suddenly ill become aware that im reading. then nothing goes in.

I find it hard - for me as much as I may enjoy reading it is still always going to be thought of in my mind as 'doing nothing' so it's the same as with sleeping (my mind also sees sleeping as 'doing nothing'), I'm always busy finding other things to do and being hyper-focused on them, I find it very difficult to stop doing anything else, setting time aside, and getting myself into the mind-set to be able to read.

THEN you have issues such as sensory issues or OCD creeping in - if I was to try to sit and read right now I would be distracted by little sounds from the cats moving, light will be too strong, I'd be bothered by the silence, I'd think of a million other things to do or my brain will start chattering (like it does when you try to get to sleep, you're mind won't just settle itself) or I'll read a line in the book then my mind will start having a discussion with itself about whatever I've just read, then I'd have compulsions to close the door, straighten the books on my shelf, I'd get itchy so that would distract me and so on....

I've only ever really been able to read when at work - where I'm still doing something, but get the odd quiet times when I can sit and shift the focus onto reading - any other time I'd struggle. It's easier when it's something you really want to read, and the more often you read the easier it is for you to get into reading too.

oh boy.

in addition to trying to filter out distractions (mainly sound and anything i can see moving in my peripheral vision), i have a difficult time getting the words to stay still on the page. they flicker and swim. i used to have some light orange tinted sunglasses that would help, but they broke and i haven't been able to find the right color to replace them. wearing ordinary sunglasses helps marginally. reading in dim light helps a little more. but it's always difficult.

also unless i can visualize - and pay attention enough to visualize - what i'm reading, i can't follow it at all. i am just scanning the words and sounding them out without any meaning. i need to plow through all these issues and get in "the zone" and then i can enjoy what i am reading but generally not for long.

this is without getting into remembering characters, making sense of their relationships with each other, and so on.

yet i persist.

I have a short attention span - plus, I'm more of a visual person - and because of that, I tend to have a hard time finishing a book or novel (unless it's really interesting). It's also due to the fact that there are so many potential distractions in my room - such as internet and television - that even getting started reading can be difficult.

I've unfortunately been degrading over the last couple of years as I developed my visual basis, I lost out on my reading basis. I've read a couple thousand books at least, but now I can barely get through 10-20 a year.

I'm in exactly the same boat as Bloodheart and iheartmegahitt, my mind just doesn't settle. I'm currently trying to read Stephen Fry's first autobiography, and despite the incredible and deep admiration I have for the man, I'm struggling. I want to learn more, find out these facts about this brilliant man, but I can barely get through 2-3 pages at a time.
I also can't read without music, which is especially frustrating when the music takes over the stream of information the book is sending into my head mid-stream. I'd be reading, enjoying the book and then think 'Hey! Haven't heard this song in a while!' or something to that effect.

Yup. I'm reading a lot less intensively these days - used to read at Quatermass' pace but read barely more than a book a week now. ^^

Not only do I read slowly, but I can't have sound when I read(there are exceptions such as being within crowds). Coupled with my ADD, reading can be a daunting task.

If I'm interested in something, I can focus on it. If I'm not interested in it, it may as well be written in Chinese. I also can't focus on the same thing for too long even if it's something of interest. I have to get up and do something else and come back. I also have problems with listlessness, where I'll lose interest in everything, even things I'm normally interested in and can't focus at all. And then there's my problem with distracting sounds and racing thoughts. I'm surprised I manage to read more than a page a day, and sometimes I only manage that much.