In terms of fiction, I like Salman Rushdie so would recommend Midnights Children. The language is quite complex so can take a bit of getting used to. I read a lot of Stephen King as a kid so they're probably quite good to start out on, the usual suspects such as IT or The Stand are good. I havn't read them but everyone raves about Harry Potter so they might have some value, likewise with the Philip Pullman books. Lord of the Rings is another good story that isn't too difficult a read.
Depends what you're into really, whether you want fantasy, sci-fi (William Gibson and Iain Banks are good), horror (King), war (War and Peace, Birdsong, Attonement). There are usually good books in whatever genre you want.
Personally speaking I wouldn't try and read Shakespeare as I regard his works as plays so best seen rather than read. There are some good 'male' classics (ie not heaving bosoms and all that Jane Austin). Jules Verne has some good ones, Gulliver's Travels is a good bit of satire, you could try Washington Irving (Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle are both good short stories).
Then when you're really confident you can try Ulysses by James Joyce
If you wanted non-fiction then it depends really the kind of thing you're interested in reading about.
