currently struggling with Infinite Jest but the online summaries & concordances have been helpful. As for books so filled with great ideas that you instantly wanted to re-read them or recommend them to the whole world.
or that are just wonderfully fun
Paul Auster: The Brooklyn Follies, Oracle Nights then if you're hooked, the rest of his novels (except the ones that begin with a man sitting alone in a room)
but if you're willing to crack the 800-page plus novels, these are wonderful:
Wally Lamb: I Know This Much Is True, The Hour I First Believed
Jonathan Franzen: Both of his fabulous novels The Corrections and Freedom
Keep struggling on! I don't know what it is exactly about DFW, but just reading through his work makes me feel instantly smarter, and finishing something as epic as Infinite Jest just feels so, so great. Also check out his non-fiction stuff - some of it, such as his This Is Water speech (part of which is referenced in IF at one point, IIRC) or his take on Roger Federer is floating around online, whilst the rest are in his various collected works and are well, well worth reading. Interesting suggestions - Paul Auster is one of those writers I've never quite been able to entirely click with (I've read the New York Trilogy and Sunset Park: the former was pretty decent, but the latter was really deeply flawed and didn't really work, I felt), but I'm always willing to give people another shot. I've already read both of the Jonathan Franzen novels and they are indeed pretty excellent, and I know nothing about Wally Lamb, but definitely intrigued. Thanks for those choices!
I'm so sad when people start Paul Auster with the wrong books - and note: the New York Trilogy does begin with a man sitting alone in a room and has a character named Paul Auster. Cute, but not the best. so imagine you have never read those and try Brooklyn Follies some time. My first was actually Oracle Nights and I immediately wanted all my friends to read it. By the way, when it comes to finding used books abebooks is the best. Many many books for $1 + shipping -- although you may be an e-book reader. Have you ever heard of the book Ten Thousand Lovers by Edeet Ravel? It begins "A long time ago, when I was twenty, I was involved with a man who was an interrogator."
This book combines so many unlikely things into one of the most passionate and tragic love stories ever. So many books, so little time. Now back to DFW. Thanks for the encouragement.
Haha, I will definitely try to erase those books from my mind and start afresh then! And thanks for abebooks - it has a really good selection from what I can see (at surprisingly great prices), and has a UK outlet, which is perfect. I do admit that I tend to use my kindle more nowadays for convenience (especially as it has its built-in dictionary which is the best thing ever: seriously, try it with Foster Wallace if you can - that's how I first discovered it), but there is nothing really that beats the feel/smell/everything of a proper book, so I do try to mix and match where possible. Ten Thousand Lovers looks interesting - I can add that to my ever-expanding list of books to read. You're not kidding about how little time there is to read everything...