What to Read? What to Read?

Selecting a book to read is an extremely important and overlooked process. This is an author you are going to spend anywhere from 4-30 hours with (sometimes more). Because of that, you don't want to look back and feel like those hours were a complete waste of time. As a voracious reader, too many times have I put down a book wishing I would have given my time to something (anything) else!

Charles Bridges in "The Christian Ministry" (which I never thought I would be quoting) said this:
"There is an art and benefit in the right choice of books, which we should be familiar, as there is in the election of other friends or acquaintances with whom we may most profoundly converse. No man can read everything; nor would our real store be increased by the capacity to do so. The digestive powers would be overloaded for want of time to act, and uncontrolled confusion would reign within. It is far more easy to furnish a library than our understanding."

Over the past two years I have been trying to be more selective in my book selection. One of the ways I am protecting my time is by not selecting every new book that looks interesting, but weighing very heavily trusted friends opinions and seeing if the book will add any value to my life rather than just useless knowledge or redundant opinions. Just because it says 2007 does not mean I have to read it. In fact, with the ever increasing publication of books and seeing all of the crap that comes out, I am becoming more skeptical of newer books. C.S Lewis was on to something when he said for every new book you read you should read one old book. Wise.

So, for me to read a book, it's got to be either...
A. Ground-breaking (something that 35 books haven't already said in a different way)
B. An author I respect and know to be consistent.
C. A classic novel (Dostoevsky, Steinbeck)
D. A book or author that is a hot topic of conversation (N.T. Wright, Mclaren, Da Vinci Code)
E. A book I know I will disagree with. I do this to keep myself thinking critically.
F. A book that reflects the attitudes and values of our time (keeps me up to date).
G. Spiritually challenging (Merton, Peterson, Willard, Nouwen, Foster)
H. A book or series that is just absolute fun (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings)

Just having some type of criteria helps me from just picking up whatever is new at the bookstore that looks interesting and then realized I wasted my time. This is basically why I only read about 1% of current fiction. There is SO much coming out that how much could possibly be good? Does anyone else feel cheated a majority of the time they read popular fiction?

What's your criteria?