Not a waste at all! You learn all kinds of human behavior, language, and critical thinking from fantasy novels.

BUT if you want to read nonfiction, there are genres within that too. Even within self help, do you want to learn about psychology, health, business, interpersonal skills? Or maybe you’d be interested in memoirs, narrative nonfiction, history?

My best suggestion is go to a library or bookstore if you can and tell them what you like and they will give you ideas. Even if you don’t have that access, try highly rated books from lots of different genres until you find something you like. Also, don’t do it because you think you should, do it because you want to. So if that means you enjoy fantasy then go for it, but if you want to learn things go for that too. Just don’t read because you think it looks good for you to be carrying around “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” or something like that.

my tip is to sandwich books. read 1-2 books you really enjoy, then 1 book you wish you enjoyed but helpful. or even read them at the same time

people tend to look down on fictions but they're not useless. you gain a lot from fiction, including but not limited to imagination, how to express yourself better, a peek into others' lives and minds, and most importantly, empathy.

do you watch movies? do you enjoy movies? do you think watching movies is a waste of time? reading fictions is no different. they're all made up little stories that bring us joy. entertainment brings values to our lives but it often gets overlooked and dismissed.

I think you might like some of the classic novels that also have a deeper meaning or teaching attached.

The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut might be something you like.

Also I recommend: Brave New World, Slaughterhouse Five, Fight Club and The Rum Diary.

You don’t learn anything useful from fantasy books? You’re reading the wrong fantasy books then.

What do you like to learn about? Like I hate self help books, but I can read books about human evolution or dinosaurs like they're fiction and get really engaged.

Edit: I also find that for me, I'm much more engaged in non fiction if it's a physical book vs on my phone/kindle

If you’ve decided they are a waste of time in advance then you’ll definitely be tempted to quit reading. I read 24-7. I’m one of those people that has always had a book going since I was much younger than you. I only read things that are personally interesting to me and I don’t try to convince myself that they are supposed to be educational. Interesting, yes. Informational, maybe. But at it’s core it has to be a subject that I’m invested in. And you’ll never know where you’ll pick up some new knowledge. Sometimes current events and politics are in disguised in the pages of fantasy. I also alternate genres so I have a stream of concepts and ideas coming in and I don’t get stuck.

Pick a selection of the top books right now and read the inserts description. Find a library and check some out. If you don’t like the book try another genre or author in the same genre. Or. Look at the shoes you enjoy and try something there assuming it isn’t home renovation or baking.

It also really doesn't have to be books per say. It can be web novels, audio books, Manga etc that's all reading homie, good for your brain. Fantasy novels often imagine humans in far more extreme circumstances and moral conundrums than real life, a good author will be able to inject incredible depth into their work.

Like others have suggested go to a library and speak with a librarian.

I started off with fantasy as a child (Wizard of Oz) and moved into SciFi (Arthur C. Clarke) then into macabre (Poe) then back into Fantasy when I had my own kids.

Now I read mostly technical or practical books. I love pre-80's engineering books.

Just because a book is a tome on North American spiders (read that when I was 8) doesn't mean it's not reading.

If reading feels like a waste of time to you, then it is hard to imagine you spending much time reading. Either you need to change that underlying belief or you need to go do whatever it is you think you should be doing that is not a waste of time.

It sounds like you need to build resilience. Think of it like this when a toddler doesn’t get what they want, what do they do? They through a fit. An adult (generally) not so much. That is because of emotional resilience. The adult has learned how to regulate their feelings and take the steps they need to in order to ultimately get what they want. That skill wasn’t learned overnight. In order to build that resilience with reading, you have to enjoy and finish books first. If you like fantasy, read fantasy. Once you’ve developed a habit of reading and built up your mental chops for reading a bit, then you can throw in a book that’s not your jam but will help you grow from time to time. At first, these books will be hard because you don’t like them. So, pick easier or shorter ones. You’ll get so those are tolerable in between the books you like. After a bit more of this, you start branching out more. That may be all you ever do. Or you may discover a new genre that you adore. The key is that it should never be something you force yourself to do all the time. Push yourself out of your comfort zone occasionally, yes, but if it’s a hard slog all the time, it’s not sustainable nor is it good for you.

I think you should start reading books like ikigai (its one of my personal favourite self help books)

As a few others have mentioned, reading books you end up not liking is the best (maybe only?) way of figuring out what you actually don't like reading. You can then avoid it again in the future. And who knows, maybe you'll find character archetypes, plot points, and locations, you like in a book you otherwise end up not liking; also very helpful.

If your problem is you can’t read consistently but you know you like fantasy books, then don’t give up on them! You are not wasting your time by using leisure hours doing something you like. And you are learning from them - you are building your vocabulary/grammar skills, being exposed to new ways of human (and non-human) interactions/perspectives you wouldn’t otherwise be, and you are exercising your imagination! Think of it like a workout for your brain. Also, as others have said, I encourage you to not read just because you think it looks cool or sexy. That is literally being a poser which is the opposite. The guy who reads at a bar because he wants girls to think he’s smart is a notoriously lame archetype.