this subject has been discussed before, and I am sure that someone more computer savvy than I will link to it, but my favorite light reading books are probably Trillin's "Tummy trilogy," or Jim Harrison's "The raw and the cooked." For learning about food, I would recommend Steingarten's two books, or any of the John Thorne books. If you liked Choice Cuts, then you would probably like the "Best food writing of 2004" or other years, although unlike CC, they are all current articles, and depending on how many food magazines you read, you may have seen a lot of the articles before.
-Will