I like older books written in almost poetic language (and war stuff) help me out?

VERY PRETENTIOUS TITLE I KNOW

Sorry about that!! I just don’t know how else to describe it.

I read The Grapes of Wrath in highschool and got to listen to my then nearly retirement age british teacher read certain chapters to us, and it was an experience. (Nearly fell asleep at my desk just listening to him a few times because it was so soothing.) It made me really appreciate the language used and how different older books are from modern ones.

I also really like Dracula and am slowly working through it.

I might just be used to YA slop but I feel like a lot of modern books just don’t have that pizzaz that I’m looking for. The imagery in Dracula makes me stop and take a picture of the paragraph I’m reading so I can show my boyfriend every few pages.

If it’s something I can imagine an old british gentleman in a cold classroom reading aloud, then I want it. That man has great taste in books.

This same man also read some war poetry to us, which I really liked at the time, but I don’t remember the poets name. I then read Band of Brothers in my spare time (after watching the show) and I really liked it too.

So in short: - imagery so good i nut everywhere and feel the need to share it with someone else. but so good that i actually look pretentious for sharing it (in a “look at me im reading such an elevated work of literature that you could never dream of comprehending, i’m clearly so much better than you” way) - war related things (I prefer WW2 but am willing to try WW1 and other wars too) - rich language that makes me feel like the big brain wojak for understanding and appreciating it - preferably not YA as I read so much as a youth that i probably put a hole in my brain

(I also love how Harker is pretty consistently scared shitless, I want scared men!! Give me a range of emotions and not “i am so stoic and brooding and level headed”!)