My kids love the Potter books (and I end up reading them eventually), along with the Lemony Snickett series. My sons dyslexia has caused me to read a hell of a lot of books to him that other kids would read themselves.
Anything that gets kids thinking is a good thing, though I don't understand the adult fasination with the HP series. Without having kids I simply wouldn't have bothered, but it has helped me pass a lot of otherwise dull hours.
As for Phillip Pullman & the Dark Materials trilogy, well theres so much real church history (and dislike for religion) that I wouldn't count it as a 'kids' book, though the 1st book is a real slog (in my opinion)
My own reading at the minute though is the Derren Brown book, and The God Delusion (Richard Dawkins)
TBH the only popular fiction I dislike is Dan Brown and the pseudo quality literature like Captain Correllis Mandolin (and other Richard & Judy sh1te)
Recent fiction has been
The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stepenson
http://www.amazon.co.uk/System-World-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0099463369 an excellent romp around 17th & 18th century world.
The Illumantis Trilogy (again), no wonder my mind is a little damaged
The Wheel of Time series (11 books), not my usual reading, and was bought by weight rather than quality, but easily digestable on 15 hour bus journeys
Hmmm time to re read the Historical Illumantis Trilogy (again)