Historical Fiction
Check out Wolf Hall & Bringing Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel. They two of some of the most highly rated books in recent years, historical fiction or otherwise. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett is also a fantastic historical fiction. It's a giant fat thing of a book and I read it in like 2 days, it was that engrossing. You just can't stop once you start. I really enjoyed Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey by Alison Weir too.

Series
If you want kind of a cheap, easy series that's still entertaining (ie: way better than Twilight), look into The Vampire Academy. I know, I know, vampires. But seriously, this series got me through 5 days of sneezing, wheezing sickness. It was great fun.

Set in Other Countries
My Life in France by Julia Child is great if you're into cooking or French culture at all. Same for The Sweet Life in Paris which is HILARIOUS.

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea is as "other" as you can get. Really fascinating look into the lives of the people trapped in North Korea. Heartbreaking stuff but also oddly uplifting.


Romance
The Fault in Our Stars for romance. Not the hot steamy sexy kind of romance. But the simple heartfelt kind that will melt or break your heart. One of my all time favorite quotes about love comes from this book:

“I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, then all at once.”

I mean c'mon. That's good stuff.

Romance AND Series AND set in other Country
Daughter of Smoke & Bone and the sequel Days of Blood and Starlight are some of my favorite Young Adult books I've read in recent years. Daughter of Smoke & Bone was especially good and it's set in Prague. The 3rd book in this series isn't out yet so I don't know if you want to join the rest of us in the OH MY GOD IS IT OUT YET?? Boat.

I could go on and on and on.

Regarding Chris' suggestion for The Sword of Truth, I would recommend you skip the books and just watch the show. The books are terrible and the show is so much fun.