I just read Bill Bryson's Notes From a Small Island and really enjoyed it. It's amazing how much has changed in a relatively short time (7 years) since it was first published - I'm thinking of details like the smoking ban in pubs and restaurants, for example which instantly make a book feel 'historical' if they are mentioned. It made me laugh out loud a few times which doesn't happen very often.
I'm reading a book of short stories called
The West: Stories from Ireland which I picked up because I saw a post from the author in the kindle forums on Amazon. I'm glad I did, they're beautifully written; timeless stories of an Ireland left behind as its citizens emigrate to America or shuttle back and forth to England to find work.