I recently read a book called "Rumo: And His Miraculas Adventures" (by Walter Moers), it is funny, romantic (somewhat), action packed ad much more, another book by him is "The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear" which is a bit shorter but still a really good book. "The City of Dreaming Books" and "A Wild Ride through the Night" are two I also plan to get. (also by Walter Moers) They also have numerous illistrations. The Bluebear book also has som tpye of encyclopedia regarding almost every creature in the book!
I read the Halo series which was really good, I also read Narnia a while back. So many good books...
(They werewritten in German but, thankfully someone translated them.)