Rereading William Burroughs' Nova Express while I grade finals. Wonderfully big short novel that's brutal, super funny, upsetting, and terminally sweet by turns. Lost its Nebula to the publication of Dune, and named for a bit in a Legion of Superheroes comic.
The Gods Themselves is grand stuff. Funny, slick, and he kind of gets all his favorite approaches together in a strongly unified way, combining his love of extrapolation, humor, witty poetry, and elevating his audience into, as you say, "not an easy read," but always an inviting read.