“The Subterraneans” by Jack Kerouac. You couldn’t live in San Francisco in the 1980s and not feel the ghosts of the Beat Generation. I lived up the hill from North Beach and spent a lot of time at the Caffe Trieste imagining a jazz trio playing as poetry was being spoken. The book is a stream-of-consciousness dream. You need to be in the right mood but if you are in that mood, it’s a great afternoon read.
