All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you: the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer.
Focus on making yourself better, not on thinking that you are better.
You know a book is well-written when it makes you read it over and over again, and in every time you enjoy the events, interact with the conflict, and continue to the ending. It teaches you new lessons every time and uplifts your spirit, reminding you with needed humanitarian feelings.
Any book is better than no book. Slowly, surely, one will lead you to another, which will lead you to the best.