I found that reading Villette, after I had read Jane Eyre, richly rewarding. The subsequent reading of Villette made me dwell in that realm, and the mind of Charlotte Bronte. It was a profound experience.
Have you had similar examples with traditional or contemporary authors?
I rarely read books by the older authors so read a lot of modern novels. I tend to find I read something by an author and if I like it I will read more of their work. I liked Catherine Cookson and Danielle Steele books some years ago but found they all ended much the same (or the ones I read did). More recently I read Jodi Picoult, Sophie Kinsella, Jane Wenham Jones, Marianne Keyes etc, many of which include humour which I enjoy and they have characters I can relate to. I have a kindle so have downloaded debut novels from several authors but I have struggled to get into the books and have failed to get past the first chapters. This has been good for me though as it has made me realise how I want to grab readers attention quickly when I write my books.