This study intends to discuss what might motivate Swedish upper secondary students to read literature in English. The study was performed through interviews with both teachers and students, as well as questionnaire studies with both students and teachers. The students give different interpretations of what the definition of motivation is, ranging from definitions of extrinsic motivation to signs of their definitions leaning toward intrinsic motivation. The conclusion is that although the English language itself is not a barrier for students’ reading motivation, the majority of them are not motivated to read. They wish to speak more in the classroom, although the teachers report that a lot of the exercises used in connection to the reading assignments consist of the students talking to each other about the texts.