I’ve made it a habit to read multiple books at once, and have found a rule to keep myself from not losing interest in one book or another. As a rule, I will read one book for a few minutes a day, while in the other book, I will read at great length (the main book), which I plan to finish sooner than the other. In the past, I would read one book at a time, but there were books that did not hold my interest, and as a result, I would read less and less until I slowly quit reading altogether.
Because I had lost interest in that book, I lost the habit of reading (consistently, that is), and when I picked up reading again, it would take me awhile to build up my concentrative stamina again. Not only that, but there were times when other things would come up, impacting the time I had to read. But by setting aside one book to read for just a few minutes a day (i.e. 5 – 10 minutes), while having another book to read at leisure (i.e. 30 minutes or longer), it has helped me to develop a good habit of reading each day, regardless of the day’s events.
Of course, the more you read, the easier it will be to immerse yourself into the story–quicker, that is. There have been times where other things were on my mind and it would take a few pages before I could fully concentrate on the book. But with practice, this delay of immersion started to reduce–to the point where I was already wondering what would happen next (in the story) before I read.
Fallton Havenstonne 