Well don't know if you are into this, but I got a book for a friend birthday that I read before sending it to her, from the author Anne rice. She has quite a collection as what I have seen too.
Childe Cycle Gordon R. Dickson... First book is titled "Dorsai!"Don't thank me, if you read them you might hate me as it's an unfinished series thus far... ~row
Before Bill Bryson's book I read Life of Pi by a Canadian (which should earn him some points in your book!) author Yann Martel which I also really liked.
Without a doubt, the Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson. It's an ongoing series, and it's at 7 novels now (will be 10). The first is called Gardens of the Moon.Harlas recommended them to me last year summer and after I read the first one I was hooked and bought the others that were available as well.Usually with a lot of fantasy novels, you can already more or less guess how things will turn out, not with these and that's what makes them so good. You always want more and it has cost me a lot of sleep "Just one more chapter and then I'll really go to bed...."