I confess that I can sometimes be caught reading fluffy books. I'm a fan of a few romance/romantic suspense writers - Nora Roberts'
High Noon was just released and I'm halfway through. For a long time, it was good escapist reading, but I'm not nearly as into it as I was pre-Brokeback.
I'm looking forward to Suzanne Brockmann's new release -
Force of Nature - her gay FBI agent - Jules Cassidy - has another major subplot, maybe even a happily-ever-after!!

That's a huge step in the romance novel genre - she's breaking ground!
I am also very much into
noir - both the classics like Hammett and Chandler and the contemporary writers of crime fiction - Michael Connelly is my favorite, but I also enjoy Robert Crais, Dennis Lehane, like that. I've recently finished Connelly's
The Overlook and a collection of short stories by different authors entitled
Los Angeles Noir.I think what fascinates me about
noir is how integral the setting is to the story. It's similar to
Brokeback Mountain in that sense. For me, Sam Spade no more could have existed outside 1930's San Francisco than Jack and Ennis could have outside 1963+ Wyoming. Yet their stories speak to me and are timeless. There's the real mystery...