Funny

If you have potential ADD traits, picking random chapters (or even just portions of a chapter) of a physical book and going through it with a highlighter (some people find sticky tabs can also help) can work wonders in getting through reading material - you don't have to memorise everything and you don't have to read end to end; you just have to get a feel or the gist of things at first. You can dive in and out of a book, then move on to another book and then come back at your leisure. You may end up reading 5 books at a time though (and that's OK).

However, getting physical books can be significantly more expensive overall than getting (+/- "pirate") digital copies though second hand books helps ease that sting (and also overcomes the feeling of needing to keep a new book pristine).

TLDR: There are different writing styles. Don't start with dense essays, try to start with reading more prepared for the average worker. Reading speed and comprehension requires practice. You don't teach baby using long novels, start easy and slowly increase your objectives.

Long: Honestly, it depends on the author. In some cases, the reading is made very accesible (more of a narrative approach than an essayist one) and reading faster helps. Usually the ones aimed at the average proletariat.

In other cases, the message needs some analysis and speed isn't as important as comprehension and analysis of words, because that will be the time bottleneck. Those are often essays prepared for academic and political study.

Marx is kind of the classical example of very extensive essays that you start but can't finish without using a commented version with predigested footnote comments. Unfortunately, he never got to finish his books, let alone produce easier reading versions.

From my experience, Lenin, Parenti and the communist manifesto (actually only describing socialist complaints) are quite accesible. They also allow for deeper/slower analysis on later reads.

citations needed is good if you want something a little snackier. They cover many other examples of this well an hour at a time. Podcasts are not a substitute for theory but this one is a great supplement that shows propaganda at work in current events.

Reading is an important part of becoming more aware of the world around you. If you don't take the initiative to at least understand some basic points, you'll find that media outlets like PBS and NPR as you mentioned will fill in those blanks for you.

Don't take that as an attack, I've been there too at one point. Reading Parenti, Marx, Chomsky a long time ago started me down this road. It's just important, is all! I wish you the best, comrade!