Ooh, forgot about Jules Verne. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas was very good, but I’d also recommend some of his other well-known works, Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Mysterious Island and Around the World in Eighty Days (last one is pretty humorous). I also remember reading From the Earth to the Moon, it was a bit of a drag at the time I read it, maybe it would be better now that I’m older haha.
On the subject of crime/murder, I’d recommend The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. This book features like… a SUPER interesting juxtaposition between the construction and planning of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and the construction of H. H. Holmes’ (the “first modern serial killer”) “murder castle.” It’s also written fantastically well and I view Larson’s writing style as a direct inspiration to my own writing.
Anything by Larson in general, though. I haven’t read all of his works, but Isaac’s Storm (covering the 1900 Galveston, TX hurricane) and Dead Wake (about the sinking of Lusitania during World War I) were very good.
For stuff I read when I was younger and also view as greatly impacting my writing voice… Savvy by Ingrid Law and the few books that followed. The Starcatchers series by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, a very entertaining retelling of the Peter Pan story but with some additional fantasy/science fiction/slight horror elements thrown in, but like, you know, light enough to still be geared towards younger audiences. Loved those books! Seriously, they’re freaking good.
And while I was still very much in my talking animals phase after reading Redwall: the Poppy or Dimwood Forest series by Avi. Good stuff.