On the lighter side, I discovered science fiction writer Connie Willis a few months ago when I happened to pick up Passage in the bookstore. I don't think I put it down again until the next evening, and since then I've eagerly devoured all the rest of her books available to me. Several of them were not quite worth my trouble, but for the most part she writes with a captivating style that makes it difficult to stop in the middle. For that reason I liked her short story collections (Miracle and Other Christmas Stories and Impossible Things) better, but Doomsday Book, Bellwether, and To Say Nothing of the Dog are well worth perusal. In general I prefer fantasy to science fiction, but Willis reminds me of Ray Bradbury with her general accessibility. A number of her books are about time travel, which I've always found particularly interesting, and deal with the difficulties very cleverly and seriously.