So, were you allowed to have that books? I am not allowed. I have it "underground".
Once, I asked one elder who serves in bethel, how he feels about this:
*** w96 4/1 p. 22 “Work, Not for the Food That Perishes” ***At that time Mom and Dad were newlyweds and living in a tent in Arizona. A Bible Student, as Jehovah’s Witnesses were then called, came by and offered Mom the series of books written by Charles Taze Russell, entitled Studies in the Scriptures. She stayed up all night reading them and soon realized that this was the truth she had been looking for. She could hardly wait for Dad to return from searching for work.
I asked him, if it was the truth then, was that truth changed, or can we say that was "old truth", like we usually say "old light"? The truth is true in any period of time, any era, any generation...
I was told to be humble, and accept the advice to avoid those books with old light, and like you were told, "not waste my time reading old literature"