I have several times in my life sat down to read the Bible cover-to-cover, but I always get lost in the Begats and give up. Still, I have read a good deal of the book over the years, though I only retained a fraction (endlessly complicated and completely lacking in narrative thread).
My main reason for reading it was to construct arguments, which is kind of a stupid reason to read anything, but one has to be able to argue on the terms with which one is being oppressed. If they're going to quote the Bible to me, I shall quote the Bible to them.
Nevertheless, it's fascinating to me how many Christians I've met who haven't ever read the damned thing on their own. They just accept whatever their preachers say without investigating anything. That kind of intellectual sloppiness strikes me as sinful. Why did God give us brains if He didn't want us to use them?
I don't believe in any of the Bible, though. I can't... it simply doesn't make sense, I cannot comprehend an omnipotent and ominpresent God who would have a relationship only with one tiny race of mankind, and then would intervene in world affairs to such an extent, and in such an inefficient manner, as to send His son (or Self, whichever way you look at it) for such a short period in such a small part of the world, then set down His will for perpetuity in the Gospels, Acts, and Epistles. I think a God who could design Creation could have come up with a better method for disseminating His will... if indeed He was interested in bending us to His will, which I seriously doubt.
So anyway, I still read it every now and again, I attend church with my Grandmother and find myself enjoying the lessons a good deal; and if I get bored, I'll dip into some of the Old Testament's more gothic bits (Kings, Judges, and Chronicles are bloody and fun).
Like any mythology and any philosophy, there is much to be learned by interpreting the texts and adapting them to one's own life. But as literature, I'd rather read Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet or Plato's Symposium. Clear stylistic progression is always more interesting than a higgeldy-piggeldy of mistmatched ancient texts sewn together with a variety of different editorial agendas at work at once. Messy, messy, messy.