Lately I've been keen on graphic anthologies. Like sets of short stories, but conveyed both visually and textually. The Flight series (many artists, edited by Kazu Kibiushi) generally delivers, with Vols 2-4 being the best so far. American Elf (James Kochalka) is always a good bet too, but you really need to read it all to get the whole feel, and that takes a while. I've just burned through the first Maus book (Art Spiegelman), and I really get what the hype is about. The art is fairly simple, almost sketch-like, but the storytelling is first rate. I can't wait to read the next in the series.
As far as book books go, The Raw Shark Texts (Steven Hall) is good for out-there 'is he crazy or is the world really magical' modern fantasy. Shantaram (Gregory David Roberts) has some of the best characters that I've ever read in a book-- probably since it's derived from the author's life story. And for some light pop-sci, Atom (Lawrence M Krauss) is a pretty cool tale of the universe as we think it may have evolved from the point of view of what eventually becomes a particular oxygen atom. Easy to read, but fun too.