On the lighter, the most recent book I read was "I'm a stranger here myself" by Bill Bryson. If I ever return to the states, I gonna end up like that fellow!
Timewise, I prefer short stories. Ain't got time for absorbing 500+ pages.
I really loved reading books from Fred Chappel, particularly "Brighten the Corner where you live".
Oh science fiction, Ray Bradbury and Isaac A for science fiction. Prolly prefer bradbury. Andres Dubus (not Andres Dubus III) is quite good, but too depressing for my tastes but Beautiful in its loniless - Dancing after hours. Also Flannery O'Connor for short stories. Her humour is sometimes a bit too sharp for me, but its good stuff. Ah, and Arundhati Roy- God of Small Things.
I've read some Budhist stuff (tibetan book of the dead, bits of "7 story mountain" by Merton, Hare Krishna writings) and some offbeat esoteric stuff lately too.
Does this include technical manuels as well?