You might like the Bill Bryson travel books.
Try "Notes From a Small Island" (Britain), and "Down Under" (Australia). Also "A Short History of Nearly Everything".
Historical fiction: "The Remains of the Day", by Kazuo
Ishiguro. There's an excellent film of this, featuring Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins.
Historical non-fiction: "The Reason Why", by Cecil Woodham-Smith - the events leading up to the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava.
Thrillers: The Jack Reacher novels of Lee Child.
Detective: The books of Peter Robinson, set mostly in Yorkshire. And the books of Donna Leon, set in Venice.
Good Luck.