Doesn't your hubbie have an assload of comics?

My favorite fictional works are Hemingway, with the Old Man and the Sea being my absolute favorite ever. Everything else he wrote is also good. A great non-fiction book is In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Mere Christianity by CS Lewis fits in the religious area well. On the Shoulders of Giants by Stephen Hawking would be a great science read albeit verrrrry long. I am currently reading George Orwell's 1984 and it is an enjoyable read (little bit crazy)

Two other SciFi that haven't been mentioned yet are:

Enders Game
Dune

These both easily fit your stated criteria.

Life of Pi is great if you haven't read it...if you can handle deeper reads, the Brothers Karamazov is amazing.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Nine

The Aeneid

I rode with Stonewall

The Satires

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Don't waste your time reading Forster's starchy end of empire Edwardiana, FFS. If you want to read a "classic" that's still relevant today, try Ulysses, Crime and Punishment, Brothers Karamazov, or any well known Conrad...

or this

I don't read nearly enough but right now I'm reading a book called Guns, Germs, and Steel - The Fates of Human Societies and I'm liking it but it's definitely 'historical'. But then I'm on a history kick right now. It won a Pulitzer Prize.

Another book I'm listening to on CD during the morning commute is Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead and even though I just started it I like it so far. Someone told me I reminded them of the main character so that piqued my curiosity. After this I'll probably listen to or read Atlas Shrugged. I probably should have read both long, long ago. Someone recently told me that if a list of the most important literary works of all time was made that Atlas Shrugged would be second on many literary scholars list...behind the obvious #1.

Then there's always Harrington on Cash. I should be getting my copy of both volumes very soon.