Is it bad, as a preacher, that I don’t read all the must-read Christian books?
Is it bad that, after studying all day long, that I don’t want to read the lastest Lucado? OK, that’s a bad example. Is it bad that I don’t want to read the latest title churned out by mainstream Christian publishing?

Don’t get me wrong. I still read a lot of Christian material. I spend all day in commentaries, the text itself, etc. I just finished Garry Wills’ What Jesus Meant and thoroughly enjoyed that. I read anything by Yancey, McLaren, and a host of others (There’s a lot of great scholarly Christian writers out there. Alas, they aren’t on the best-seller lists).

But often, at the end of the day, I want something else. Here is what is on my stack right now:

• Self-Made Man: One Woman’s Journey Into Manhood and Back Again by Norah Vincent. Vincent goes undercover to see what life like a man is truly like.
• American Vertigo : Traveling America in the Footsteps of Tocqueville by Bernard-Henri Lévy. Views of America by a Frenchman? Come on! That’s great stuff.
• Pillar of Fire : America in the King Years 1963-65 by Taylor Branch. I just finished Parting the Waters : America in the King Years 1954-63, the first volume in this trilogy, and found it to be one of the best books I have ever read. I can’t wait to delve into this volume.

So, am I weird? If so, what should I be reading? What are you reading right now?