It is really unfortunate that people nowadays don't read the literature/classics (or books for the most part) unless and until they see/hear a movie (mostly bad) made from it. Nothing forces you to engage your imagination like a well written book. There are more insights and life advice buried in the "classic novels" than in shelves full of "Self Help" books most of which have only a single theme/idea fluffed up into hundreds of (useless) pages.
https://reasonabletheology.org/cs-lewis-on-reading-old-books...
Grabbing a small assortment of Penguin Classics in any bookshop is always a good option. Pick three that peak your interest. They’re small, cheap, and don’t spy on you.
Revisiting books you’ve read as a child is interesting as well. You no doubt see the world very differently now – observing the difference in one’s perception is fascinating.
Don’t be afraid of the seemingly trivial. Treasure Island is the source of every single pirate trope. That realisation alone was worth it for me.
Pay attention to the language. It matters so much. I often re-read passages in LotR for the imagery alone. It is so vivid, carries so much weight. Aeons are compressed in to a sentence.
And sometimes the story doesn’t matter. It’s a means through which to have a conversation with the author.
Lastly, what might be my favourite piece if writing: Blauer Schmetterling by Herman Hesse. [0] I prefer the original German, but this translation does it justice.
0 - https://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=119749&RF...
A core of truth, but terribly written. Zero imagination, neither wisdom nor joy. What they lack in depth they make up for with contrived examples.
While authors like Hesse, Kafka, Tolkien, Goethe, Dickens, Fry, and Wilde have given me so much more.
Sometimes it’s a sentence. Sometimes the mood of a chapter. Maybe a casual observation made by a side character or a short poem that carries the weight of many a novel.
Never directly relating to my work, but deep insights in to humanity transcend everything.
And if there’s nothing you find applicable, at least you’re left with beautiful language that is worth indulging in for its own sake.
(A euro-centric list, antiquated maybe. But timeless. Naturally, every period and culture has gifted us with comparable works.)