Reading to them before bed is a really easy thing to weave into their bedtime routine right from birth, but if you don't already do this it's not too late to start. Just get them ready for bed 10 minutes earlier. If they're old enough to know what time is bedtime and put up a fight about going up 10 minutes earlier, let them get ready as normal and have lights out 10 minutes later than you use to so you can fit in a story. Ten minutes less is nothing in the grand scheme of things when it comes to their sleep time (and your down time once they're asleep), but it'll make the world of difference to their future academic success if those ten minutes a day are used to foster a love of books and reading. You may even find that you love and look forward to this quality time each day too. Many parents look back on the bedtime stories days with great fondness. It can be one of the most rewarding parts of parenting.
Depending on the age of the child, I wouldn't recommend asking them to read to you before bed. For new readers at the start of their journey, it takes a lot of focus and brain power to decode words. Bedtime is much too late to get the best out of them. Save bedtimes for you reading to them, to make it a pleasurable rather than potentially stressful experience.
Some children read better in the morning. Setting an alarm just 10 minutes earlier is all it takes to fit it in. Other children are better after school, but not too late. A quick snack when you get in, then it's time to read for a few minutes before they play and you crack on with dinner etc. Keep it little but often. The mistake many make is assuming that listening to their child read is something they need to 'fit in', as in allocating half an hour or more to it. This isn't possible in most families, and therefore it just doesn't happen if it's seen as something you need to allocate a real chunk of time to. If you do just a few minutes every day, it will have far more impact than finding half and hour once every week on a Sunday afternoon (for example). They'll lose focus after a few minutes anyway and it won't be an enjoyable experience. If they know it's something they need to do every day, but for just a few minutes, it becomes as routine as brushing their teeth. We don't stress about 'fitting in' teeth brushing, it's just something that seamlessly happens as part of the daily routine. There's no reason reading can't be seen as the same. It's just something we do at a set time each day. It's so normal and quick we don't even think about it and it doesn't seem like a chore.
I agree it is somewhat a choice. Everyone can find a few spare minutes to read if it's something they truly wish to prioritise. It really doesn't need to be more than that, but it does need to happen daily to see rapid progress.