It is still the place where risks can be taken. When on Earth did the West End ever do a new play which hadn’t been developed somewhere else – usually at the National or the Royal Court or the regions? Commercial managements just don’t take that sort of risk. My West End producer used to say to me, ‘We’re in the giggle business, darling.’ And I’d sort of agree with him, but while I’m all for giggles, I’d also hope that some of what we do would be remembered for a little bit more than just that.
Stevereads on BookTube
Steve Donoghue at Stevereads writes about BookTube, a YouTube community devoted to booklovers. It’s a fun survey of what he loves, dislikes, and questions about the community (why do so many of the vloggers tout Young Adult novels?).
But his joy in the community is in the members’ joy of sharing what they love, particularly the contents of their bookshelves and their bookhauls. Steve shares his own pile o’ books from a single day’s trawling and it’s truly breathtaking. I adore his aside that he doesn’t keep a TBR (“to be read”) pile, because they will all get read.
His haul reminds me of my 20s and 30s when my friend Scott and I would do a book-crawl through all the used bookstores in Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. I would often trudge home with bags o’ books, less than a third of which I ever read, probably. For me, it was always the thrill of the hunt and the serendipitous discovery – the actual sitting down and reading always seemed a little more dutiful and less fun. Which for a booklover and reader like myself is an odd thing to say, but true at the time. I had more time to read then, I think, but used it less.
In my defense, when my obsession for a particular author or subject took me over – like Chekhov or Hazlitt or Kotzwinkle or Montaigne or Delacroix – I would scarf down whatever I could till only crumbs were left.
Steve maintains an active YouTube presence where he shares years of his bookhauls, reviews, starter kits, a tour of his bookshelves, read-alongs (his fans love his readings of Trollope) and tons more.
Updated on 2026-01-10
Blogs I Like: Sitcom Geek
As Stephen Fry said once upon a time: when I was young, comedy albums were my rock albums. The first albums I remember buying were remaindered copies of "Another Monty Python Album" and, rather incredibly, Robert Klein's "Mind Over Matter" (I think because the cover just looked so out-there).
“We cannot think if we have no time to read, nor feel if we are emotionally exhausted, nor out of cheap material create what is permanent. We cannot co-ordinate what is not there.” (Cyril Connolly)
One of my favorite quotes of all time, probably my very favorite, is this one from Stanley Kubrick: “Sometimes the truth of a thing is not so much in the think of it, as in the feel of it.”