Might be more of a stage in your life thing than general life stages thing because fiction makes up about 60% of what I read well into my 30s. I only read 3 books published before 1900 this year, though - maybe you would find contemporary fiction a better balance of straightforward, informative, and enlightening. Or not - if you aren't into fiction, you aren't into fiction. No need to force it, but also doesn't make sense to me to extrapolate your preferences onto all readers. Everyone's different.