I appreciate this, and honestly, I'm not being contrarian (in this instance), but among the books I'm really glad to have once read are some that I didn't want to, and was forced to because of school. So I think the list is incomplete.

There are also books I've forced myself to read, and which I thought were a slog at the time, which in retrospect I'm glad I made myself read. Almost all of the "classics" fall in this category. So technically, I "wanted" to read them, but not because I wanted to read them, if that makes sense.

[–] Rozz@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Yes, but unless you are in school no one is making you. You can be convinced to read one of those, but your life could be perfectly happy without reading one of them.

Then again an unexpected book could definitely change your life. Stranger things have happened.

[–] sxan@midwest.social 2 points 5 days ago

The course of my life has undeniably been dramatically altered several times by books. My political beliefs, my ethics and morals, many of the friends I've had, my career, and even my wife I can trace back in some way to influence from a book.

I'm sure there are many people who haven't been so influenced, but I certainly have.

[–] TootSweet@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Came here to say basically the same thing. There are books I want to have read even if I don't necessarily want to have to slog through them. And for at least some of those books, the "want to have read" wins out over the "don't want to slog".

[–] grrgyle@slrpnk.net 2 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah just like with movies. I'm not really a movie person, but there are certain pieces of media that I watch just so I can take part in the broader culture.