Here's my two cents worth:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, by Mark Haddon. A "can't put it down" book about an autistic boy investigating the murder of a neighborhood dog.

Bill Bryson--all of his travel writing is hysterical. There's one passage in a "Walk in the Woods" that is so funny I get belly laughs no matter how often I read it.

Patricia Highsmith's "Ripley" series is a fun read. How often do you get to enjoy the exploits of the "bad guy"?

Though they are very strange and I hesitate to recommend them without knowing somebody very well, I read everything Chuck Palahniuk publishes. He wrote the book that the movie "Fight Club" was based on, if you want an idea of what to expect.

For some biting, and at times very funny, non-fiction, don't forget the late, great Hunter S. Thompson.

And another recommendation for the Phillip Pullman series.