David Hare comes to Books at Noon this week to discuss his latest work, The Blue Touch Paper: A Memoir.

When and where do you like to read? 

On holiday, on trains, or on planes, sustainedly. I hate interruption. Simenon said you should be able to read a good book in a sitting.

What were your favorite books as a child?

Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie, and Oscar Wilde. The Guinness Book of Records. The Beano Annual.

What books had the greatest impact on you? 

Raymond Williams’s Culture and Society determined the path of my life—literally. I read it and decided to go and study with the man who wrote it, because its definition of what culture is and what it should be is so generous and inspiring. As my life has gone by, Raymond’s influence on me seems to have grown.

Would you like to name a few writers out there you think deserve greater readership? 

I campaigned for a couple before they were widely known in the UK—I read Richard Yates a long time ago, and I also championed Stefan Zweig. There are some great young playwrights out there these days—Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, Anya Reiss, James Graham, Barney Norris.

What was the last book you recommended? 

Oh, I just read Robert Dowling’s biography of Eugene O’Neill, and before I could put it down, it was taken from me by a companion who couldn’t wait. As Tennessee Williams says “O’Neill lived for the American theatre, and he died for it.” The story of his life is extraordinary and inspiring.

What do you plan to read next? 

Edna O’Brien’s got a new novel out called The Little Red Chairs. I bet it’s good. And I have to read Purity by Jonathan Franzen. He’s one of the few writers I really can’t wait to hear from. I want to know what he’s thinking now, because I know it’s going to be worth taking on board. I feel as readers once did of Dickens, that you can’t wait for the next installment.