I think by the time I graduated from high school it must have been well into the hundreds of books read for personal pleasure. The library was my best friend. And I've read many hundreds since.
Nowadays, though, I can't see to read a physical book. I'm confined to what I can afford to buy for my e-reader. I can borrow them from the library, as well, but their titles are limited.
It's nice that so many older books are in the public domain, because those are free! Edit - BTW, the titles for e-readers at the library tend to be mostly for kids and teens. They are the same ones that cost like 99ยข on Amazon.
Most of those are just junk reading - romance, zombie and horror stuff. Not up my alley. You'd have to pay me to read those.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.