I'll give you some advice that's contrary to what you're getting on this thread: make a commitment to finish a certain amount of books by the end of the month/year and dont start a new book until you finish the one you opened.

What it comes down to is a commitment. If you set a clear goal you'll feel pressured to keep up/bad if you fall behind. If you don't start a new book then you'll want to read the one your on faster in order to get through it. You have to make the conscious decision to put down your phone and read but it gets easier the more you do it.

Might also help if you read nonfiction, classics, or popular novels? That way you can talk to other people about it and be in the loop with your reading ("I just learned x" or "now i get that reference to y" or "I also read that new book/I need to finish this book before the next one comes out")

Jane Austen's works were actually pretty fast paced for the time period, the writing norms of that time are just completely different then what we see today. You've probably already seen a few changes in writing style in your life time (I know a lot of new books during the 2000s-early 2010s had text lingo written in, now that's considered out dated). The fact that you can see flashes of brilliance even though her books are centuries old show that she was a great writer.

It seems you're confusing good literature with personal preference. I personally don't enjoy Faulkner or Steinbeck (hated east of Eden and grapes of wrath, as I lay dying was super morbid and a waste of time for me) but they are inherently outstanding authors because of how their books impacted people when they were published and how they continue to be relevant to people today (very few people know what the great depression was like but people can still get lost in a pilgrimage of a family trying to survive a hard time).

Aismov's foundation might have some antiquated writing techniques or prose but try to listen to how other people are reading and understanding it. They might point out something that proves why it's an enduring piece of literature. If people didn't gleam something from it, it would have been forgotten and would not be considered the classic people deem it to be.

I'd personally buy a few nicer editions of books I know I love/have been coveting if I had a chunk of change devoted just to books laying around. I'm good at saving money but bad at giving myself permission to spend a lot of money on one item. I'll happily spend $50 on 5 books (what a steal!) but spending $50 on one book would make me pause. Also not sure what your financial situation is but if you usually don't have as much money to spend on books it's worth considering how long you'd have to save/restrain from buying other books to buy the nicer editions you want.

It can also just be fun to pick up a few cheaper books you know you want every once in a while (as opposed to a ton at once). Feels a lot easier to say 'ive wanted this book for a while and now I have it' then to say 'ah yes I just spent x amount of money on books I've never seen before'.

It's a nice historic/activist book store with cats!

Subterranean books is also a good one in stl

It was a pleasure to burn.

Phenomenal way to describe the MC's journey, how he burns through his old life in order to seek genuine pleasure. The surface level meaning of enjoying his work too is also really clever since his work reinforces conformity/cheap thrills (which is something Guy grows past very quickly/the main thing he shuns when he develops as a character).

Oh see I hated the death of Ivan Ilyich, to me it was extremely dry and straight to the point. I didn't even really understand why it was written because the point was so straight forward/I didn't have to really think deeper to understand it.

Faulkner is on the opposite end of the spectrum, he writes through implications and pastoral descriptions. I still remember the chapter where the daughter went to get an abortion and her little brother waited outside. The reader isn't directly told what's happening but we all figure it out in a way that a careless writer wouldn't have been able to pull off. Same with the ending and dad getting his new teeth, the reader can imagine what happens next and what happened leading up to it without it being explicitly explained.

It's definitely written in a way that looks clumsy but that makes the relevant information that much more hard hitting.

The dark humor got me. The auger scene in the beginning and the ending of the book just seem gratuitously cruel. I know some people love dark humor but it was too much for me!

Otherwise I can appreciate the book for what it is and what it does. Gorgeous writing and interesting topics but just not handled in a way I personally enjoy.