Not sure of what genre you're looking for, but I like reading Fantasy... One of my favorite series is the
Song of Fire and Ice series by George R.R. Martin (the first book being
A Game of Thrones):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Song_of_Ice_and_Fire In fact HBO will be releasing a new series based on these books in April. I really like that Martin has created a very gritty world full of political intrigue, assassination attempts, incest, etc. And character that you think of as being a "hero" in the series may suddenly be killed, making it feel very real and making all characters feel very vulnerable. The only problem is that because of its grittiness, it may offend some people (definitely not a good one for kids). Also, Martin has yet to release the final book(s?) in the series (ostensibly because of helping direct the HBO series).
Another fantasy book that I like is
The Golden Key that was co-authored by 3 female authors: Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Robertson, and Kate Elliot. It is a Fantasy / Romance that centers around a unique type of magic; that there are certain gifted painters that can actually effect reality. Couple that with the fact that official documents are retained thru paintings vs. a written document, and you have a very interesting world where things may not always be as it seems... What I really enjoyed about this book is that it takes pieces of our own Renaissance cultures and weaves it together in it's own world. A lot of the foreign words are actually a blend from different languages, yet it feels apt for the world. The characters are also very detailed, giving the world a very real feel. If you do happen to read this, I'd suggest listening to Nora Jone's
The Painter's Song... It's interesting to get a shiver down your spine when listening to a soothing love song! (I actually thought that if anyone were to make a movie out of this book, that this song would make the perfect theme / intro song for the movie)