My all time favorite author is Wilbur Smith. He writes books on historical events in Africa, with fictitional charactors. Mostly he spins his stories around one particular family, but he'll go back two hundred years and the events of that time, and the decedents of that original family into the mid 20th century. None of the books rely on each other, but after reading a few of them, some of the characters are mentioned from his other books.
Another favorite is W.E.B. Griffin who wrote a series of books about the Marine Corps in WWII. It's called The Corps, and really a good read.
I enjoy most of the big names, but will also try somebody new if it sounds like an interesting story. I've also found that the classics are really good. The Three Muskateers is an absolute favorite book. It's just totally unexpected and while similar to all the movies, it's also way different. I've read quite a few of them, and Mobey Dick was the only one that I gave up on. That book was just too much effort!! LOL
For fun, I enjoy going to Barns & Noble. Steph and I do this after dinner all the time. We also like to going to the used book stores, Good Will and the other charity type stores that sell books. I'm into hard cover books and have a dream of one day having a library full of books that I've read. I give away paper backs, but have quite a few hard covers that are first editions in good condition that I've paid over $100 for some of them.
Eddie