This is the first science fiction book that I've read in a long time: The Android's Dream by John Scalzi. A great story, with many twists and turns and some really funny parts. Highly recommended! And here is a nice list of scifi books -- a place to start if you're new to the field or like me, just getting reacquainted with it: Top 10 science fiction novelists of the '00s -- so far.
And I've just started reading this book, but it is already very engaging: The Best American Essays 2000 edited by Alan Lightman. The Foreword itself is a delightful essay. Just reading it makes me want to become a better writer. I had the same feeling after I read these two books, way back in college: The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan by Robert Kanigel and The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth by Paul Hoffman. I never knew math could be so much fun. Here is a nice essay by Alan who talks about the Foreword and much more, all very interesting stuff: Interview with Alan Lightman.