Yeah most people's hatred for reading comes from the schooling system. But I think if you are forced to read (or forced to do anything for that matter) you will end up hating it. Which is a shame because if you have certain questions about a subject, books can provide the answers. Then it's up to you to apply that knowledge to your life. This is different to reading for the sake of an exam which you don't even want to do in the first place. When you go into a book with questions, the answers will stick in your head better because you were looking for that particular type of information rather than if you were just reading because you have to do an exam.

But if you aren't in a position to get books then pretty much all of your learning will be done through free stuff online. There's always the topic of piracy but I won't be able to provide any help on that front and I don't want it to seem like I'm encouraging you to pirate, I'll just offer my perspective. You might hear the argument that "all piracy is bad and shouldn't be done" but this is pretty much black/white thinking. If you are in a country where the economic situation is terrible but you pirate courses that can give you skills and resources which can lift you out of poverty and will allow you to provide more (more than working a regular job) to your community and family is that such a bad thing? I encourage you to think about this yourself because the conclusion you come to will be specific to your situation and will be more nuanced then "piracy bad, paying good". Anyway I don't want to shift the discussion to piracy, just an option to think about.

There's another point of advice that uncomfortable offered when I asked during one of the official critiques, this may or may not be useful to you but I'd figure I'd share it anyway.

"A lot of students will try and create a shopping list of concepts they "need" to learn. Instead of that, I'd leverage the 50% rule to actually produce pieces and use them to identify (whether yourself, through feedback from others, etc) what areas of weakness they reveal. Get into a habit of periods of doing your own work, followed by periods of attacking some of the areas of weakness through courses, followed by more of your own work, etc. That way you can focus on the concepts that are most relevant to you and your goals.

Always think about your education as an investment, and something to actually consciously budget towards - meaning, set aside whatever you can afford to each month. A lot of students tend to limit themselves to specific "tiers" of things. A student might feel that all they have to work with is free youtube videos. Another might feel that they can spare some money, but not a lot - so maybe an NMA subscription will work. And others of course can spend money on 10-week courses from places like CGMA, CDA, etc. Being aware of your budget is certainly important, but try not to lock yourself into what you can/can't work towards. To that end, remember that just as money is a resource, time is as well. I of course don't know anything about your situation - this advice is fairly generalized - but there's plenty of student artists I've seen who staunchly refused to, say, pick up a part time job, and instead do what they could focusing entirely on the resource of time. There are plenty of situations where picking up a part-time job for a few months to save up for a course may seem like something that'll hold you back - but where it may instead catapult you forward far more quickly by having access to knowledgeable instructors and effective resources. Not all expensive courses are worthwhile of course, but I myself spent 15 months working a mind-numbing job in order to save money to take courses in person at Concept Design Academy, and I do not regret it for a second. Sure, I could have gotten way more mileage in during that time on my own, but the guidance of those instructors was invaluable, expensive as it was, and it did make a huge difference. The 15 months of working + 6 months of classes helped me achieve what might have taken many years on my own."

Basically it boils down to, get a job to pay for your art education which is an alternative to piracy. But again, think about if this is even feasible for your situation.