I usually dig satire, biographies, fantasy books. Lately, I've been into essay collections:
"Diversity Dialogues," edited by Dr. Lee Gutkind, is essays written by people who have experienced different types of prejudice. The reason this is an important book, is the essays aren't just about racism, or even about things you'd typically think about. [I'm also lucky enough to have since developed a professional relationship with the editor/author, a VERY COOL GUY who heads the Creative Nonfiction department at the University of Pittsburgh's graduate program in writing.] Truly important book, for those of you who care about diversity and social issues, it raises important questions and really makes you think.
"The Bitch is in The House," another collection of essays from popular American female writers about the drawbacks of being a woman in modern society. These essays, also, are pretty varied. SEVERAL of them, I read and was nodding my head. Others, I was like, "shut up and quit whining, you've caused your own problem here." But anyway, it was a book I found myself totally able to relate to, as a former single mom, as a current married mom who works full time, as someone who used to contemplate having children or not, as someone who used to wonder about the institution of marriage, as someone who wonders how I will deal with growing old. Gotta say, regardless of whether I sympathized with each writer or not, the book as a whole left me with that whole "Grrrrl Power" vibe, and that was damn cool.
Writers I recommend: Joe Queenan, Ted Rall, Steve Martin, PJ O'Rourke. Columnists Tony Norman and Gene Collier of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and of course, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times (very important, pertinent to the "Oscar Buffs" thread). I also have been known to like Anne Rice's early work, like before she had any plastic surgery, and Stephen King's earlier stuff, before "IT." I also have a guilty pleasure...JK Rowling...I bought "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" to read to my kids, thinking I'd read it first to see if it was appropriate...and enjoyed it immensely (though thik it's still a bit scary for kids their age). Madeleine L'Engle books are also great reading even as an adult.
[EDIT: missed a prime opportunity to plug a friend's book...Jayne Hitchcock, president of a national organization called Working to Halt Online Abuse, or WHOA, is a front-line expert on internet abuse, cyberstalking, identity theft, etc. She has a new book out called "Net Crimes and Misdemeanors" which every internet user should read. One of the stories she tells in the book, is MINE, though my name was changed. Had I known what I know now in 1998, I could have saved a lot of problems...Jayne was a huge help, and by reading this book you can learn how to protect yourself on the web.]
Writers I avoid like the plague include Tom Clancy (too scary these days), John Grisham (got a D in his college creative writing course), Danielle Steele (utter garbage), VC Andrews (and her obsession with incest), and any book that has to do with men being from Mars and women being from Venus.
[And of course, nodding toward sarcednavel and boardrgirl, I aspire to be a writer also.]
