Should one read if one doesn't enjoy reading? There's

>one doesn't enjoy reading
Impossible, short of maybe the mentally handicapped, and even then I'm skeptical. That you have not find a topic you enjoy reading ABOUT should not be taken as a sign that all reading is beyond you; to be unable to enjoy reading would be tantamount to being unable to enjoy thought itself - as language is close to pure transmittance of constructed ideas.

What have you been trying to read, OP? Good odds its pseud shit you have no vested interest in.

>Fiction and poetry can be ruled out immediately insofar as they're only aesthetic enjoyment.
No, no, no, no and no. What gave you this idea? Humans communicate using poetry and stories, they're almost always a reflection of our society, and can convey extremely important ideas. Even if they didn't, ruling it out because it "only" has aesthetic merit is ridiculous.

>Philosophy is said to be important because in it lies our potential for understanding life as a whole, and while I don't disagree, it's difficult for me to believe that one needs to do it.
Philosophy isn't about arriving at objective answers which all can agree with, it's about learning to think, and by doing philosophy you arrive closer at, whilst never being able to reach, the truth.

A few hours of study and scheming on a relevant subject can save you weeks if not months of frustration.
You simply need the proper books.

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>>9741167
Pic related is a list of all the books I've read over the last couple of years. I've read many more, but I've listed only those that I've finished. Notable things excluded are The Iliad (read more than half), Don DeLillo's "Underworld" (read more than half), lots of miscellaneous poetry, some incomplete Philosophy readings, some assigned reading for education, and some essays. Although on occasion, I felt a vague, pleasant sensation (with Heart of Darkness and some of Schopenhauer's essays), none of it came close to being as enjoyable to me as a decent piece of music. I wouldn't ever say this is representative of all the potential literature I could read, but it is sufficient proof for me that I do not enjoy reading.
>>9741180
I don't rule them out because of a focus on aesthetics, but because aesthetics alone aren't important. They may feel good, and aid in living a satisfying life, but aesthetics alone aren't useful for anything other than pleasure. It's true that aesthetics may be useful in conveying certain ideas. However, why is it essential for me to know these ideas? I'd agree that practical philosophies like Stoicism have a use, but anything beyond that is difficult to justify.
>by doing philosophy you arrive closer at, whilst never being able to reach, the truth
If we're never going to reach the truth, why strive for it? Why should I exert myself for the (incredibly small) potential I have to answer a select few questions which not even the greatest minds of civilization have been able to answer so far? Would you do philosophy at all if it weren't enjoyable to you?
>>9741183
That's true, and the bit about Stoicism works here as well, but I cannot see the importance of reading past its capacity for minimizing suffering in day-to-day life.

>>9741290
Have you tried reading fewer modernists, or less fiction in general?

Unironically, start with the Greeks in Philosophy, Epics, Plays and History.

Collected Plato, Illiad+Odyssey, Seven Against Thebes and History of the Peloponnesian War. Or there's a good flowchart floating around.

Or if you'd like a less structured approach, check out some charts or recs on books that build on the subjects you DID like.

>>9741305
I've read several of Plato's dialogues, some of The Republic, most of The Iliad, a few plays by Sophocles, and all of Edith Hamilton's "Mythology". I did not enjoy any of it. It would be stupid to say I've read much of the Greeks, but I am quite confident that I do not care about their literature or any others. While reading, I did not have even the slightest spark of pleasure or insight that would drive one to keep going. If we take music for an example, I could listen to a pop song and acknowledge its mediocrity, but have a pretty clear idea of what I disliked about it, and could make it into something enjoyable with little difficulty. For reading, there is no such thing. Nothing I read feels either mediocre nor good, just neutral. Ultimately, it all comes back to biology, and it's useless to debate about that. The goal here isn't to find something I might enjoy, but to find out whether or not reading is important enough for all people to be obligated to do it.

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>>9741290
Ahh but you are practicing philosophy now sir.
>If we're never going to reach the truth, why strive for it? Why should I exert myself for the (incredibly small) potential I have to answer a select few questions which not even the greatest minds of civilization have been able to answer so far?
Everyone has their own answer to these questions and that is the point. I wouldn't say their is a purpose for philosophy, that you can point to a single result of doing it and say that justifies the practicing of it. Philosophy is more for a personal use, and maybe if you feel that way of thinking affected your life in a meaningful way that you could choose to spread it to others. It's not about reaching the complete truth I don't think but reaching your truth. Whether or not you found the truth is irrelevant, but whether you accept and apply your answer is what I think matters. That is when your philosophy becomes worth something. And maybe I'm wrong, this is for now how I see it.

I felt like a faggot typing that out but we're going with it. Hopefully it makes sense.
>pic unrelated

>>9741469
>if you feel that way of thinking affected your life in a meaningful way
>whether you accept and apply your answer is what I think matters
You appear to be hitting on a hard truth that has a lot of relevance: What we read about impacts us only as far as we allow it. Consider the emotions someone would feel upon discovering the real, ultimate truth behind the universe. Now, consider the idea that many have actually thought themselves to have discovered this in their lifetimes, and felt those exact emotions. Even though one is right, and the other wrong, nothing truly separates the two. Perhaps someone has even thought of a fragment of the absolute truth while thinking (provided it can even be expressed in thought), and simply forgotten about it or disregarded it. As far as we know, human thought and effort can do nothing to alter the fabric of existence. So even if we do discover something infallible at some point, it might makes us feel good for a little while, and excite our brains, but that's it. Sure, there's something in our bodies that makes philosophy feel important, but there's also a similar feeling when you listen to great music, or see great art. It's a phenomenon of the mind, nothing more.

There is a barrier to entry in the hobby of reading, namely the ability to concentrate without the need for immediate stimuli. Many people have a hard time with this.

>>9741543
I had no difficulty with that, and I've even gone up to two weeks while moving with nothing but books to read in my spare time. The result was the same: Absolutely no interest or pleasure from reading.

>>9741578
Then find a different hobby? Find material that interests you? There's a time for everything.

>>9741616
The goal of this thread is to determine whether reading is truly essential to live a good life. People in general (at least in the United States) look to reading as a sort of all-encompassing good, and I doubt many people on /lit/ would be satisfied if I stated that the whole value of literature lies in its ability to make us feel good.

>>9741534
>It's a phenomenon of the mind
I think this is the really important thing when discussing the importance of practicing philosophy and literature. If you choose to do nothing with your thoughts, it's as same as someone who by happenstance the thought crossed their mind without any studying, and chose to dismiss it. The action after in applying it to your life is what really counts when it comes to all of this. If not it could just be considered a hobby for pleasure.