I'll start it off by saying The Corrections.  I was interested and engaged with every character, and the writing is impeccable. 

My favorites recently have been Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, The Kite Runner, Garden Spells, and a few others that I can't think of right now...

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides - hands down.

Water For Elephants, All The Numbers, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan,  Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

The Time Traveler's Wife, The Birth of Venus

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

I'm going with THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy as my number one.  My runner up is WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN by Lionel Shriver.  Both of these two are on my all-time favorite list.   

The Way the Crow Flies, Ann-Marie McDonald.

The Great Mortality (John Kelly)

No messy relationships, cats, star-crossed lovers, CIA henchmen, Middle East  commentary,  biomass,  dragons,  spiritual wrestling, more cats, smoking guns, or  right-wing diatribes.  Just  a completely engrossing and well-researched story of a comparitively brief event that changed history, warfare, science, religion, politics, economics, agriculture, the role of the commoner, and our outlook on the great power of the very small. Forever. If this book doesn't make you feel uneasy and yet marvel at the tenacious (and foolish) nature of humankind, you're reading too quickly.

Well, actually, there is a smoking gun of sorts...and I never considered the culprit. Hint: There's more to the steppes (so contends the author) than meets the eye.

Give it a go!

Water for Elephants was an excellent choice for this list!