“Read anything that interests you” seems to be the consensus advice for aspiring readers. It is advice of the “something is better than nothing” variety, which is sufficient for some domains, like physical health.
This is not good enough for reading (specifically defined as reading with the goal towards understanding, as Mortimer Adler would say).
Why not?
Charlie Munger famously advised: ”Take a simple idea and take it seriously.”
If one accepts that this is a good principle for living, then one must have simple ideas worth taking seriously. And if one reads with a goal of having good ideas, then following a “whatever piques my interests” approach would not satisfy this goal.
Case in point: there is no set of airport books sufficiently large enough to serve as a foundation for a deep understanding of the world.
It is a failure to not have read the correct books and be exposed to the best ideas.
What are the correct books? For now, that question is left to you (and I).