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!