I used to read a lot, but now I rarely pick up a book. I have always like mysteries. The Stefanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich is funny -- or at least the first few books were, then they kind of got old. But she has some great characters in there.
Water for Elephants is a great book, but it can be hard to read in places were abuse is described, If you saw the movie, the book is MUCH better.
I grab my kindle and load it up with "mindless" books like the cozy mysteries that can usually be finished in a day. If I am traveling I load in something a little deeper to last throughout the trip. There are so many various authors that I read...some really bad but some really good.