I can’t think of a specific book right now, but I do this frequently. On my first reading of a book, I am typically absorbed in the story and don’t pay a lot of attention to the technique. After that, though, I enjoy digging in and making notes on things that jump out as being well done. I agree that it’s a great way to improve your own craft.
writing
writing
I know you said you can't think of a specific book, but what's one specific thing you remember learning this way?
Pacing, I think. When I’m not sure if my book is too slow (or too hurried) I look at a few in a similar genre and see if I’m in the ballpark. This works great for genre fiction. For example, I write cozy mysteries, and it’s good to look at other books to see where the first murder takes place. It can vary, but looking at how other people handle it can help me determine if my plan is going to work well.
Yes! I have absolutely done that too. I don't write mystery, but I write SFF so there's sometimes fight scenes (or "flee" scenes, lol), and sometimes when I'm scratching my head on how to approach it, I pull a book that I know has a similar scene in it, and I look at how dialog and narration are woven together, and how that sets pacing of the scenes.
So, obviously this technique works for both of us. For figuring out the book-wide pacing, with your cozy mysteries, and also the smaller-scale action-scene pacing that I do.