Michael Smerconish is the host of The Michael Smerconish Program on SiriusXM and is the host of Smerconish on CNN on Saturdays. He writes a column in the Sunday edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer, has been an on-air contributor with MSNBC and has guest-hosted Hardball for Chris Matthews. He practiced law for 10 years, and lives in Philadelphia, Pa., with his wife and four children. He has written five nonfiction books, including Muzzled: From T-Ball to Terrorism--True Stories That Should Be Fiction and Morning Drive: Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Talking. His first novel, Talk (Cider Mill Press, May 6, 2014), fictionalizes the political media's theater of performance artists, high stakes competition and often illicit influence on popular opinion and important election cycles.
On your nightstand now:
P.J. O'Rourke's The Baby Boom, Wooden: A Coach's Life by Seth Davis and The Triple Package by Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld.
Favorite book when you were a child:
The Adventures of Tom Hecklestone, which I wrote when I was 12 only to have it sent by my mother to every publisher in NYC, where it was summarily rejected.
Your top five authors:
Nelson DeMille, Jeffrey Archer, Tom Wolfe, Pete Hamill and Jane Leavy.
Book you've faked reading:
I really don't do that. I pride myself on reading the books of the authors I interview on radio and if I haven't read it, I say so.
Book you're an evangelist for:
So many I'll give you just five: Peter L. Bergen's Manhunt, Hellhound on His Trail by Hampton Sides, The Lost City of Z by David Grann, Act One by Moss Hart and A Secret Gift by Ted Gup.
Book you've bought for the cover:
John Grisham's The Firm, which explains why I'm so proud of the Whitney G. Cookman design for the cover of Talk.
Book that changed your life:
Dickon Among the Lenapes by M.R. Harrington. It was read to me by Mr. Reckner in fourth grade at Doyle Elementary and I never forgot it.
Favorite line from a book:
"Many years ago Moss Hart told me that relationships in our business are built on such strange personal emotions that they become three-sided: your side, my side, and the truth...." --Robert Evans, The Kid Stays in the Picture
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Gold Coast by Nelson DeMille, Primary Colors by Joe Klein or Semi-Tough by Dan Jenkins.