stephen: neither by ernest hemingway. you're a enormous fan of hemingway, true. >> yes, life long.phen: why do you think he's a great american master? why are kids forced to read this in school? >> well, i think of all of the books you may get forced to read in school this is one that is least painful. i think the thing about hemingway that stays with me. it has stayed with all of us over the years is the writing itself. the hemingway style. you talk about the spare, sparing use of adjectives. >> stephen: if he was paid by the word he would of starved to death. >> that's the thing he learned how to do it by working as a journalist. his innovation. if you pick up a book of early hemingway, from the 20s. it's free fresh, may of been written yesterday. the written is so lean. where as you pick up something, i love fitzgerald. but the great gatsby has a victorian, dated quality. eming way is utterly fresh and modern. i think that's because he invented the modern way of writing. he invented the american narrative voice. his shad oh he casts a long shadow through the 20th century. >> ste

rare, i will say, is the actor who has played ernest hemingway, a musketeer, and robin the boy wonderthe span of one career. but this one has. and you can see him going undercover with l.l. cool j, which is not as easy as it sounds, on the very popular show "ncis: los angeles." it airs tuesday nights on cbs. please welcome chris o'donnell. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ how's it going? >> it's going good. >> jimmy: hey, i want to ask you about this right away because you instagramed this photo this morning. this is you up in the corner here. >> that was 7:30 this morning. that was my wake-up. >> jimmy: you're really on the ledge there. >> i am. i have a little string on my back just in case. >> jimmy: now, i assume this means that l.l. cool j did not invite you to his post-grammy party? [ laughter ] or were you -- >> i was in bed early last night. i got that out of the way on saturday night. he had a pre-grammys party. i made it. >> jimmy: oh, a pre-grammys party. >> i would not have been in as good of a state this morning had i been at the post-grammys party. >> jimmy: that would be a bad

i was standing on mark twain's shoulders, ernest hemingway.t was just one on one, me talking with one of my students with my undivided attention and theirs, those were the moments that meant the most to me as well as them. but i'm surprised that mark twain got forgotten quite so easily. >> can we -- let me ask you, david, students aside. this happened back in 2006. what has life been the last seven or so years thinking you could die tomorrow? >> it's true. i am one of those people that has had to face my fate squarely. and my reality is that i have a brain tumor. it's not going to go away. but in some way, rather than taking that as a death sentence, it just gave me a sense of urgency that if there was living to be done, now is the time to do it. i mean, if i had waited to be fully healthy to take a trip around the country to visit my former students, i never would have gone. but with that sense of limitation on longevitity, i got off the couch and went right out to see them. >> let me ask you a question. i have never, ever, in my 12 or 13 yea