Susanna Clarke's footnotes
From the fifth footnote of the chapter "The Duke of Roxburghe's library" in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell:
It appeared to be, upon the hole, the history of a city in Faerie, called "Seven", but the information was presented in a very confusing style and the author would frequently break off from his narrative to accuse some unspecified person of having injured him in some mysterious way.
The way Susanna Clarke adds colour and texture to the world in which this story is set through the footnotes is mesmerising. Some of them are stories in their own right. Others make you go "huh, that's good to know", while others still make you laugh out loud. Like the one quoted above!
Reading these footnotes feels similar to perusing an online discussion forum comment thread. Sometimes someone just hit you with a completely unexpected, but entirely on point remark that captures the essence of the community.
Like memes before memes jumped the shark.