<human>: Throwaway because I'm pretty embarrassed about this...

I've never been a strong reader. Not from lack of trying, I do my best to trudge through novels and stories...but that's just it: I'm trudging. When reading or writing, I feel...blocked? Is that the right word? It's like a pressure crushing down from all angles. Everything takes exorbitant amounts of time: even writing this blurb will likely take an hour.

Reading has always a chore save one situation: when I'm in love with the story. So in love that the world around me washes away and I get the fully immersed experience that books offer. And I don't mean "like" or "interested", I mean "love". I *like* "Catch 22" and cannot bring myself to finish it. I *love* "The Name of the Wind" and finished it in 3 months - a personal record. Maybe I'm a bit of a slow reader and that makes things harder, but I don't want to give in to an excuse so easily.

What's worse is my friends, coworkers, significant others (both ex and present), and everyone else in my life socialize and elate themselves over books, short stories, authors, articles, memos and what have you.... It's hard to feel distant from everyone I love because of all this. It's like I'm too different to be friends with them; an outcast too stupid to read for fun, almost. I don't, of course, believe the words I just put down, but I don't know how else to express my anxiety over the situation.

Anyways,

Can you succinctly summarize the text in 1-3 sentences?
<bot>: what can I do to become a more literate, alleviate my reader's block, and make reading less of a chore and more of an immersion?