“suggestions on other books I should read”: Have you read The Ethics of the Fathers (Pirkei Avot)? It is a collection of aphorisms by the rabbis of the mishnaic period (Tanaim) and the first chapter of the first of the six orders of The Mishna (the earliest section of The Talmud). A companion volume to Pirkei Avot is The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan, which relates narratives about the same rabbis and is a narrative commentary on Pirkei Avot.
“suggestions on other books I should read”: Have you read The Ethics of the Fathers (Pirkei Avot)? It is a collection of aphorisms by the rabbis of the mishnaic period (Tanaim) and the first chapter of the first of the six orders of The Mishna (the earliest section of The Talmud). A companion volume to Pirkei Avot is The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan, which relates narratives about the same rabbis and is a narrative commentary on Pirkei Avot.