De Quincey's Confessions
In another of my random reading fits, I grabbed De Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium Eater (which I have owned these past seven years or more but am yet to read), opened it to a page at random, and read a couple of pages. He was describing a religious service using a peculiar simile: he compared Christianity's harnessing of the human spirit to rhabdomancy.
goliard was right; the man's a genius, and the reading's a joy. Alas, I will have to wait who-knows-how-many more months before finding time to indulge in reading unrelated to my studies.