Q. What are you reading?

A. The first thing I do when I get up is read The Advertiser, the Bulletin, the LA Times, the Journal, CNN.com and Fox News, then watch CNN and MSNBC — that's my morning routine. Reading for me is luxury that I do when I travel, just like going to bed early. ... Lately I've been into the John Grisham novels — the most recent I just completed was "The Innocent Man." ... How this life of someone who was supposed be the next baseball hero just went spiraling down, then the fact that it's a true story, was amazing. ... Another is "The Bleachers," about a high school football team whose coach had died, and how they came back to the same high school to honor him. The other I pick up and put down because I get disgusted by it is "Fast Food Nation." ... It's a fascinating look at the whole food industry. The other book I've been looking at ... is Jim Collins' "Good to Great," about what it takes for some companies to go from good to great and why some do and others never become good, let alone great.

Q. What do you like about them?

A. I'm more a fan of fiction because when I do read, I want to get away from it all. "Fast Food Nation" I'll read a few hours on a plane to the Mainland. Fiction I can blaze through because it's good to lose myself in something that's fun or intriguing. Grisham's book was engaging because it was a true story. "The Bleachers" was something I could relate to as a former baseball player. And "Good to Great" was grounding to look at the business side and different philosophies of success.

Q. Does your off-work reading shape your interaction with viewers looking to you for true and engaging stories?

A. Not really — my reading is something I usually don't do in my normal routine. What I read, in going through different Web pages and reading the news, does shape my comments because to me, the most important reading is the reading that keeps you up-to-date in current events.