Thomas Pynchon, INHERENT VICE -- the new one by the author of one of the half dozen greatest 20th century American novels, Gravity's Rainbow.
Qiu Xiaolong, DEATH OF A RED HEROINE -- the first in a series of novels about a detective in contemporary China; the author is a Tiananmen refugee. (I haven't read them but my wife, a connoisseur of the genre, recommends them.)
Penelope Fitzgerald, THE BLUE FLOWER -- or anything else by the late English novelist, one of the best.
George MacDonald Fraser, FLASHMAN &, ETC. -- remarkable (and funny) historical novels, often about Afghanistan then, by an English veteran and autodidact "who could read Punch for 1850 and get all the references."
Anthony Powell, A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME -- Perry Anderson thinks this roman fleuve is the best social novel of the British 20th century.
Ursula K. Le Guin, THE DISPOSSESSED -- I was recently reminded of one of the best anarchist novels.
J. K. Rowling, HARRY POTTER &, ETC. -- Really quite good and covertly theological.
Pat Barker, REGENERATION -- one of a trilogy on the author's constant topic, the social effects of WWI; her others are good too, most recently LIFE CLASS.
Evelyn Waugh, BRIDESHEAD REVISITED - my favorite 20th c. novel in English; the recent movie is awful; the series from 25+ years ago is brilliant.
CounterPunch collected "A Summer Reading List" from a number of contributors a few years ago: see <http://www.counterpunch.org/novels06212003.html>.
Bon voyage, CGE