I have two traits that make it difficult for me to put down a book and pick it back up. 1) I'm a speed reader and 2) I have an overactive imagination. Once I get sucked into a book, I don't stop till I'm done. I sneak in a few pages during down time at work. I read at red lights. I stay up all night. I even took the train to work instead of driving to finish the last Hunger Games book. Now that I sometimes use an e-reader, it's somewhat easier for me to pick up and put down a book, but back in the olden days, it was pretty much impossible.
While I was doing that pretty-much manditory year of screwing around in Europe (back in the pre-e-reader days) I had a lot of down time, and only a little room in my backpack for books. (Let it be known I can't pack less than 4 pairs of shoes for an overnight.) I started taking advantage of the leave a book/take a book shelves all over European hostels, and found plenty of classic short story books. They were perfect for train rides of unknown length, killing time waiting to use one of three computers at internet cafes, and passive aggressively page-turning while your roommates do obnoxious things in the bunk below you. Giving up my copy of The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway was one of the most heartbreaking tasks of my trip. It totally wasn't worth swapping for whatever Stephen King book I grabbed in exchange for it. Lame.
Anyway, there was nothing about this design that made it easier to stop and start reading. It's all about the content, which I think the layout allows to shine.
