I'm going to repost a long comment I wrote a few weeks ago that I think could help you out. Specifically, the explanation of the reading list, but I think really everything here could be valuable to you:
tl;dr Read the next 2 paragraphs, then the final paragraph, and see what you think before ignoring this wall of text
I'll suggest something I've never seen mentioned on reddit: Susan Wise Bauer's "The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had."
If you're an English major then this probably won't do you too much good, but as someone who started STEM and picked up a non-English social science along the way, this book has in the past ~3 months completely overturned how I approach other books. In short, it teaches you how to read. Not in the technical sense, but as a critical exercise. If you don't understand why I think this could be important for you, read the final paragraph of my comment. If that strikes a chord with you, come back to the beginning and read the rest.
About the first half of the book is general commentary on the significance of reading critically, the weaknesses of speedreading, and, if you need it, a process from literally step one to get your reading up to the speed necessary to move forward.
After that the book is broken up into five parts: Novels, autobiographies, histories, dramas, and poems. Each of the five sections starts off with a ~30 page introduction into the structure and history of the genre being discussed, and then moves into the three different "stages" of reading and analysis, with each genre having a different approach, and different questions to keep in mind and answer upon completing the book. Finally, you're handed a list of what the author considers to be the backbone of that genre, arranged chronologically (the significance of which is also explained).
Maybe this isn't what you're looking for right now, but for months I found myself wanting to get better at "reading" and to start poking around the classics, but I felt overwhelmed and ended up fucking around a lot. This book is still very overwhelming (the novel section alone has a reading list of ~30 books), but the structure provides what I found to be an incredibly helpful starting point.
As for the analysis section, I'll just put it this way: This book began to show me within a month what I feel my English teachers tried and failed to do for almost twenty years. Analyzing what I read after finishing one of the books on the lists provided felt scary at first, even though you're led through it step by step, and afterwards felt kind of bullshitty. "Why do I care if the novel is self-reflective? Why do I care if the ending is a resolution or a logical exhaustion? What could I possibly purport to know about the author's take on the human condition just from reading this one book?"
And yet, literally every time I reach the end of my analysis, I feel that I have learned something new about myself, humanity, or the world, or that I have reinforced and can appreciate on a new level something that I already knew but did not fully realize. All of the analysis comes together and, without even knowing what's going on, I become aware of the fact that the book meant something to me, and that it showed me something about myself or the world. The first time it happened (with "Don Quixote," the first novel on the list), I freaked out and thought "Oh my God. This is what those teachers were trying to make me think about for years."
After reading the first two recommended novels, I read one not on the list that I had wanted to knock out for a few months, but did it using this same process as for the first two, and I genuinely believe that the slower pace demanded by reading process as outlined in "The Well-Educated Mind," as well as the subsequent analysis, led me to appreciate that other book on a level that was previously unknown to me.
To give you a taste of what I'm talking about, here's a page from the "Logic" stage of the analysis, which focuses on straightforward questions designed to make you realize smaller details about the book you're reading:
http://i.imgur.com/peAya7n.png
And a page from the "Rhetoric" stage -- the third and final step which is where you get into the territory of "There is no right answer; what does this mean to you?"
http://i.imgur.com/nCgLeOh.jpg
The lessons I've learned from reading (so far) just a handful of books from this perspective have literally changed my understanding of how I think life should be led, from the importance of being true to yourself ("Don Quixote") to having a purpose in life ("The Pilgrim's Progress") to allowing yourself some shortcomings and appreciating the importance of not being overly critical ("Against Nature," the book I mentioned that wasn't on the list) to redefining your understanding of what "perfection" may mean to you as a human ("Gulliver's Travels"). I'm excited and terrified by the idea that I'm really reading and understanding things for the first time ever -- my only regret is that nobody replaced my grade school English education by handing me a copy of "The Well-Educated Mind." For the first time I can have conversations with English majors about books, and for the first time I feel that reading is having an appreciable effect on my thinking besides a vague improvement in vocabulary and grammar. In short, I can genuinely say that this book is dramatically changing my life, and that scares the shit out of me, but excites me even more.
tl;dr Read the first 3 paragraphs, then the final paragraph, and see what you think before ignoring this wall of text
As much as I love the self-help style of book, even when stylized in a fun way (e.g., "The 48 Laws of Power"), they can be really dense since literally every page is advice on how to live your life.
With that being said I'll suggest something I've never seen mentioned on reddit: Susan Wise Bauer's "The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had.
If you're an English major then this probably won't do you too much good, but as someone who started STEM and picked up a non-English social science along the way, this book has in the past ~3 months completely overturned how I approach other books. In short, it teaches you how to read. Not in the technical sense, but as a critical exercise. If you don't understand why I think this could be important for you, read the final paragraph of my comment. If that strikes a chord with you, come back to the beginning and read the rest.
About the first half of the book is general commentary on the significance of reading critically, the weaknesses of speedreading, and, if you need it, a process from literally step one to get your reading up to the speed necessary to move forward.
After that the book is broken up into five parts: Novels, autobiographies, histories, dramas, and poems. Each of the five sections starts off with a ~30 page introduction into the structure and history of the genre being discussed, and then moves into the three different "stages" of reading and analysis, with each genre having a different approach, and different questions to keep in mind and answer upon completing the book. Finally, you're handed a list of what the author considers to be the backbone of that genre, arranged chronologically (the significance of which is also explained).
Maybe this isn't what you're looking for right now, but for months I found myself wanting to get better at "reading" and to start poking around the classics, but I felt overwhelmed and ended up fucking around a lot. This book is still very overwhelming (the novel section alone has a reading list of ~30 books), but the structure provides what I found to be an incredibly helpful starting point.
As for the analysis section, I'll just put it this way: This book began to show me within a month what I feel my English teachers tried and failed to do for almost twenty years. Analyzing what I read after finishing one of the books on the lists provided felt scary at first, even though you're led through it step by step, and afterwards felt kind of bullshitty. "Why do I care if the novel is self-reflective? Why do I care if the ending is a resolution or a logical exhaustion? What could I possibly purport to know about the author's take on the human condition just from reading this one book?"
And yet, literally every time I reach the end of my analysis, I feel that I have learned something new about myself, humanity, or the world, or that I have reinforced and can appreciate on a new level something that I already knew but did not fully realize. All of the analysis comes together and, without even knowing what's going on, I become aware of the fact that the book meant something to me, and that it showed me something about myself or the world. The first time it happened (with "Don Quixote," the first novel on the list), I freaked out and thought "Oh my God. This is what those teachers were trying to make me think about for years."
After reading the first two recommended novels, I read one not on the list that I had wanted to knock out for a few months, but did it using this same process as for the first two, and I genuinely believe that the slower pace demanded by reading process as outlined in "The Well-Educated Mind," as well as the subsequent analysis, led me to appreciate that other book on a level that was previously unknown to me.
To give you a taste of what I'm talking about, here's a page from the "Logic" stage of the analysis, which focuses on straightforward questions designed to make you realize smaller details about the book you're reading:
http://i.imgur.com/peAya7n.png
And a page from the "Rhetoric" stage -- the third and final step which is where you get into the territory of "There is no right answer; what does this mean to you?"
http://i.imgur.com/nCgLeOh.jpg
Now, if you've read my comment up until this point but are annoyed that this doesn't really address your desire to become happier, less judgmental, etc., let me say that the lessons I've learned from reading (so far) just a handful of books from this perspective have literally changed my understanding of how I think life should be led, from the importance of being true to yourself ("Don Quixote") to having a purpose in life ("The Pilgrim's Progress") to allowing yourself some shortcomings and appreciating the importance of not being overly critical ("Against Nature," the book I mentioned that wasn't on the list) to redefining your understanding of what "perfection" may mean to you as a human ("Gulliver's Travels"). I'm excited and terrified by the idea that I'm really reading and understanding things for the first time ever -- my only regret is that nobody replaced my grade school English education by handing me a copy of "The Well-Educated Mind." For the first time I can have conversations with English majors about books, and for the first time I feel that reading is having an appreciable effect on my thinking besides a vague improvement in vocabulary and grammar. In short, I can genuinely say that this book is dramatically changing my life, and that scares the shit out of me, but excites me even more.