I've loved for many years the books of Louise Dickinson Rich, especially "We Took To The Woods" which paints a word picture of her love of those savage mountains and her love and respect for the few other people who live there. She paints word pictures of the scenery and her friends that are unforgettable. And the next one, "Lucky The Land" tells of her heartbreak when alone in the vast wilderness with her husband, who dies suddenly between one word and the next, and her life without him.
"Cheaper By The Dozen" and the sequel, "Belles On Their Toes" tells of living with 11 siblings and strong minded parents, the inventors of motion study in the early part of the 1900s.
Donna Andrews, who writes one of the funniest series of murder mysteries ever, and the funniest to date is "We'll Always Have Parrots", and her other series about a computer generated person and a middle aged secretary who take over their company from bad owners!!!!
Anne McCaffree's series of SF books, all are fascinating in their own way...but after wasting money on two written by her son I won't do THAT again. Anne's books ask you to suspend belief in one or two things, then paints strong characters that we can love or hate!! And in 2012 there's going to be a movie made from the first one of the series.
Elizabeth Peters, who writes several series, but the main one is of a Victorian lady, strong minded Amelia who is an archeologist and solves crimes. Another series is about an interesting and also strong minded lady called Jacqueline Kirby and she's worth reading about.
Patrick McManus, who writes some of the funniest stories of camping and fishing I've ever read. I reread them often.
Tony Hillerman...his Indian Reservation stories are marvelous and have even won awards given by the Indians themselves.
Arthur Upfield, who writes about a half black, half white Aussie detective in the mid or earlier 1900s. Napoleon Bonaparte (Bony) goes into the bush and solves crimes by using his brains. This series has even been used in colleges as history helps.
Jill Churchill, writes mainly about a crime solving widowed housewife.
Mary Daheim writes more than one series, but the one about Judith, the Bed and Breakfast Inn owner is down to earth and interesting.
Charlotte McCleod, who wrote about a lot of fascinating people, I love rereading her books.
And then there's the original Science Fiction writer, Jules Verne and his marvelous Mysterious Island and the grand master, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clark, so many interesting books to read they take up far too much time that should be used sitting in front of the sewing machine.