Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace It’s kind of cliche for a white male nerd of a certain age, but it has stuck with me. How imaginative the book is, the huge mix of characters and stories in the book, and the style of writing are incredible. The pace of interesting ideas is very fast and engrossing, and the language used to describe things is complex but not overly so.
It’s on my to-read list, but starting is daunting. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again (the essay collection) was amazing. I think about it often.
At least read the first chapter. I've never read anything like it (and I've read a lot). It was an experience more than anything. It became abundantly clear to me that I was reading something could only have been written by a true genius. No other author has a command of the modern English language like DFW did. The way he combines humor, wit, and wordplay was magic. It really showed me the power of writing.