It's hard to give a definitive answer to this because I've been reading an insane amount since I was a really young child! I'm sure it's the cumulative effect of many authors over time. I read tons of fiction when I was young: E.B. White, Harry Potter. I studied classics so I read a lot of the ancient epics. I have always read a ton of fiction and I love the voice of authors like Jhumpa Lahiri and Hisham Matar today. It's a big mix 🙂
Another thing that has definitely shaped my writing hugely is just having really good editors. Some of them were in high school, some of them were in college, and some of them are now! Last year I wrote my first piece for the New York Times and I still learned so, so much from my editor, both in terms of tiny nitpicks and overall feedback. There are small things people have told me that stick in my head — things like being succinct, not overusing adjectives, making sure There are always transitions between paragraphs, making sure that the thesis of a piece is always clear, not using too many gerunds or gerundives — a lot of stylistic things that I think aggregate to good writing!
I think for reading, varying genres is a great idea. If useful, in terms of books I think could be helpful for someone trying to get into writing, I think Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott is a great resource and a classic.
