I am in the middle of Shanghi Girls by Lisa See...and will definately read more of hers.
Water for Elephants was a wonderfull read.
I loved The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseni.
I recenlty finished The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown...3rd installment to the Da Vincci Code....really a page turner, but I think if there is more, I may get bored of the character.
I really enjoyed Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet and have the sequel to that (can't think of the name right now)
For a classic read, you can't beat John Steinbeck....East of Eden
I picked up a selection by Katherine Govier who is a Canadian author, it is called Three Views of Crystal Water. I loved the story of a young Canadian girl who moves to a small Island in Japan and learns the traditional way of being a pearl diver.