Into it

... Reading

Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire [by Niall Ferguson]. It's a stunning work. There is more knowledge on each page than I have accumulated in 54 years. He's turned me around a bit on things like Iraq. He's pro-empire. I have been anti-empire, but now I'm beginning to wonder. Though what a mess over there.... [Also], anything by Christopher Hitchens, whom I consider the greatest living essayist in the English language. And absolutely anything by P.J. O'Rourke, whom I consider the funniest – and brightest – writer in the language. I [also] confess to an enduring tropism toward the Drudge Report.

... Watching

I watch TCM [Turner Classic Movies]. I love Robert Osborn's introductions, and the movies are, by and large, excellent. I watch ABC Evening news with Charles Gibson and NBC [news] with Brian Williams, then finish off with Jeopardy, quite my favorite show of all. I have of late realized that all the ads on the evening news shows – Gas-X, Lipitor, Lunesta, and a remedy for something I didn't even know existed called "Restless Leg Syndrome" – are aimed at me. Oh, dear....

... Listening toClassical, mainly.

I play the same darn CD over and over: flute music from the 12th century, played in Sainte Chapelle, the amazing church in Paris built by King Louis to house the Crown of Thorns (which he had purchased at great expense from a very clever Arab). Soothing stuff. [And] Frank Sinatra. Nothing makes me happier than to be in a car with someone I love, listening to Sinatra belt out, "You make me feel so youngggggg!"

Christopher Buckley is the editor of ForbesLife magazine and author of "Thank You for Smoking." His new novel is titled "Boomsday."