A book that I found engrossing in the history category is "The True History of the Conquest of Mexico" by Bernal Diaz de Castillo. If you want to read Tom Robbins Hi Milo!, start with "Jitterbug Perfume". I just read a delightful little book by Sandra Cisneros titled "The House on Mango Street".
Another thing I would recommend is attending "performance poetry" performances (i.e. Stone Circle*, slam poetry contests, storytelling etc) to get a feel for the rhythm of words. When the writing is right, there is a definite rhythm.

*That's in lower northern Michigan. I'm sure there must be other venues that have the same type of thing going on.