>>653514
there's a whole range of genres, not just history.
>>653512
Don't know what you're background/current understanding/level of knowledge is, but although you can go ahead and press on with the NT, I personally would hold off on the OT until you've done a bit of prep. There's a lot in there, and I would think without said prep a lot of it would go over a first-time reader's head. I haven't started it properly yet for this reason.
I've watched Bruce Gore's yt lecture series 'a history of philosophy and early christian thought' (or similarly titled) thats really good, and I also bought a big book of his called 'the historical and chronological context of the bible' which was a labour of love from him. Haven't read it yet.
What I found very useful for a grasp of the OT was the first 12 or 13 lectures of Chuck Missler's 'learn the bible in 24hrs' series, again on yt. Pretty sure he's a bit of a zany zionist but that doesn't play into the content of the lectures, which are very enlightening and provide a very extensive, but still seemingly brief, overview of the OT (I assume the NT lectures are just as insightful). I say still seemingly brief because although providing a good surface level overview interspersed with a good few snippets here and there, it really provides the indication that there is so much within the bible that you just know you have a lifetime of reading and studying and comtemplating and praying the word and due to said depth and breadth of what's within it will never get old and you'll always be discovering something new. It really whets the wistle.
I've heard good things about (((Robert Alter's))) book 'the art of biblical narrative' too, although there's some considered reviews on good reads setting out it's apparent limitations. But goes into more about the genres, literary styles, purpose and audience of the books of the OT I think, useful things to know like that.
Worth noting also that the relationship between the two testaments/covenants is sometimes phrased as 'the new is in the old concealed, the old in the new revealed,' i.e. to get the most out of the NT you need to understand the OT also, and goes without saying vice versa. I didn't find NT an especially easy read first time through, I had done limited prep which I thought would be useful. I had many questions, and still do to some extent. Sometime's I found it difficult to grasp what was being said in some of the epistles, I think due to Paul's writing style mostly, although this has become much easier on a second read with more background understanding and and just getting a better feel for how the text's syntax flows. also may have just been because I dumb.