You might be surprised at what Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito reads in his spare time

The American Spectator has a profile of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in its May issue that is an enjoyable read.

In the article titled "Samuel Alito: A Civil Man," interviewer Matthew Walter asks Justice Alito what type of materials he reads. Alito's response is perhaps contrary to what you might assume.

Here's the passage:

"Always self-deprecating, he [Alito] has described himself as “nerdy” and “a very boring person.” When I ask him what he reads, he mentions Willa Cather, not Politico, and he tells me that he has never heard of Mark Leibovich or This Town. He says that he gets his news mainly from both of the Washington papers and the Wall Street Journal. His idea of a social outing is taking his entire staff at the Court to a Nationals game."

Cather, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, is best known for her often-elegiac novels on frontier life in the Great Plains, including "O Pioneers!," "My Antonia" and "The Song of the Lark."

The 20th century author, who passed away in 1947, won the Pulitzer Prize for her "One of Ours," which covers a young man's experience the First World War.

For more on Alito's life, work, perspective on President Obama's criticism of the Supreme Court during the 2010 State of the Union Address, thoughts on law schools and affinity for baseball, read the full piece here.