Which book is on your nightstand right now?

God, there’s such a stack. I think [one is] called Failure of Intelligence, about the CIA. Then I’ve got a book about Lord Cardigan and the Crimean War and The Charge of the Light Brigade. And then I’ve got my perennial favorite … book, called Archy and Mehitabel [by Don Marquis].

What magazines do you read regularly?

The Week and Harper’s, and whatever else I can get my hands on.

What’s your guilty-pleasure read?

Archy and Mehitabel.

Which books have most influenced your political philosophy?

The various Roosevelt biographies.

Which books about Washington should every member read?

Citadel and The Senate Nobody Knows.

Which author do you most often reference?

Churchill.

What are your favorite novels of all time?

A Confederacy of Dunces and War and Peace.