Stephen Clarke's books about life in France are a laugh. If you've never read them and you like thrillers, then all the Hannabal Lecter books are good, especially Red Dragon! Also really enjoyed a book recently called Captain Alatriste, but can't remember the author. It's recently been translated from Spanish to English. At first I thought it would be a rubbish swash buckling adventure, but there's a lou more to it, and it was a good read... Would just like to say that most of my reading is done on the journey to and from work, so that's why mine are the type you can escape in for a while and forget reality ;-)