I suggest there are several reasons why these writings should be read.
Firstly, these texts were very important for many people in early Judaism and the early church so they should be for us, whether a Jew or Christian. In several communities, many of these works were authoritative and even considered scripture on par with the books that we now consider Scripture. The Dead Sea Scroll community (almost certainly Essenes) had more copies (and often luxurious ones) of 1 Enoch, Jubilees, and the Temple Scrol