You certainly have described most Medium readers’ dilemmas. My (unhelpful) solution to this is to entirely let go of the idea that I need to read books cover to cover. This is a high crime to most book lovers. But I find it freeing to follow my interests and energy in reading. I can cover a lot more ground, more easily let go of books when I lose interest in them, and begin new books when they come to me. Sure, I might miss some good nuggets, but even one nugget in chapter one (or chapter eight, if I choose to skip there) is worth a books value, I think.

Of course, this is different with fiction. I usually read fiction cover to cover, but also give myself the freedom to put it down and read something else that engages my attention. Then come back to it later.

Come to think of it, I usually get through fiction by listening to audiobooks. For some reason a good reader makes it far easier to do this. I was able to get through Ulysses this way. (James Norton’s reading is unbelievable. Pure joy. He really has a way of bringing out the subtlety of Joyce’s humor.)

The purpose of reading, to me, is to engage in life-giving ideas. If one does this by reading portions of books or whole books: mission accomplished.

Happy reading! :)