The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. Before reading it, I kinda spoke English, but after this series I was fluent. Too many metaphors, absurds and hyperbole to teach you the nuances of the language. Every single page full of irony, filled with mind provoking ideas, Adams had such a great talent for writting in perfect flow, just an overall amazing demonstration of technique.
Have never met anyone who didn’t praise it. I did meet some people that didn’t like it since it wasn’t for their taste, but even they agreed Adams was a virtuoso.
There may exist a compatibility problem here; Hitchhiker to me has one of the greatest flows in sci-fi, maybe the greatest. Adams was a virtuoso in writing crazy ideas and new concepts as it was as easy as reciting the alphabet. The ideas and absudism are the main characters though, like many said before, do not go into it expecting something more standard, The Hitchhiker series is, after all, satirical.