The Alchemist by Michael Scott, easy reading and a lovely distraction from real life. Although after reading all in the series I found that I was a little disturbed when i saw the TV reports of dead birds falling from the sky!!! If you've read the book then you will know what I mean.
Also the Shantarem. What a cracker, an Australian bank robber escapes to India and ends up running a clinic for the poor whilst working for a crime gang, ends up in Afghanistan, falls in love and it's based on a true story. It's a huge read and very good.
The Book Thief. This book is narrated by the grim reaper and based on a German girl during the second world war. It gets a bit dry half way but the end is worth the wait. I usually read a book in about three to four days but this one took me ages, it's not very big but for some reason I took a whole month to finish it!
Anything by Lee Child. Lot's of gratuitous violence and the books all follow the same pattern. Good, but tough, guy gets into a scrape against bad guys. It's not a read I would normally go for but I tried him after finding out that he sells a book every 60 seconds! My wife likes them as well so give the first in the series a go, although you can drop into any of them no problem.
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Historical fiction based on a priory in early England, this sounds dry but it's a cracking read and has everything.
Fall of Giants, again by ken Follett. More of the same but based on the first World War. Like the Pillars of the Earth the book is entwined around the fate of several families. I love history but never understood the cause of the first world war until I read this book!