The Uncommon Reader: A Novella
by Alan Bennett
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Book Summary Information
Author: Alan BennettEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-09-18
ISBN: 0374280967
Number of pages: 120
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Book Reviews of The Uncommon Reader: A Novella
Book Review: An Uncommon Book
Summary: 5 Stars
Blame it on the corgis. They discover a bookmobile parked near Buckingham Palace and get the Queen's attention when they start yapping. Since she is every inch a queen, HRH borrows a book, a novel by Ivy Compton-Burnett even though she has previously left liking books to other people. Although she finds Compton-Burnett rather dry with the characters all sounding like each other, the fire has been lit. The Queen becomes hooked on reading; neither she nor eventually England will ever be quite the same in Alan Bennett's quietly humorous short novel THE UNCOMMON READER. The Queen discovers Jean Genet, Nancy Mitford, E. M. Forster, Emily Dickinson, Alice Munro, Proust, Charles Dickens, Dostoevsky. She has difficulty with Jane Austin because that writer is so concerned with social distinctions. She at first is put off by the verbosity of Henry James, something she has in common with any reader I have ever known ("'Am I alone,' she wrote, 'in wanting to give Henry James a good talking to?'" Later, however, James' "divagations she now took in her stride," opining that "'novels are not necessarily written as the crow flies.'" She even reads the memoirs of Lauren Bacall and is envious of her. In the beginning the Queen reads indiscriminately as one book leads to another, but she eventually becomes a very discerning reader.
Reading this little book as delicious as an English trifle, I was reminded of how gentle Mr. Bennett is with his velvety barbs and so different, for instance, from American writers like Molly Ivins or Calvin Trillin when they harpoon the current resident of the White House. There is much here to make you smile. The dogs, for example, destroy an Ian McEwan novel, "the James Tait Black Memorial Prize notwithstanding." Also in the past when the Queen is out in her kingdom meeting her subjects, before her obsession with reading, she would have asked them questions perhaps about what mode of transportation they used to get to their meeting with her. Now she asks what is the latest book they have read. Since they invariably answer that they have read nothing-- although one did say the Bible-- she produces a book from that handbag that is always on her arm-- now we know what she carries it it-- and gives to the surprised nonreader who later sells it on eBay.
THE UNCOMMON READER is quite a joy to read, from start to its surprising ending. Emulate HRH and purchase this British treasure or check it out from your local library.
Summary of The Uncommon Reader: A Novella
From the author of The History Boys and The Clothes They Stood Up In
A deliciously funny novella that celebrates the pleasure of reading. When the Queen in pursuit of her wandering corgis stumbles upon a mobile library she feels duty bound to borrow a book. Aided by Norman, a young man from the palace kitchen who frequents the library, Bennett describes the Queen's transformation as she discovers the liberating pleasures of the written word. With the poignant and mischievous wit of The History Boys, England's best loved author revels in the power of literature to change even the most uncommon reader's life.
A deliciously funny novella that celebrates the pleasure of reading. When the Queen in pursuit of her wandering corgis stumbles upon a mobile library she feels duty bound to borrow a book. Aided by Norman, a young man from the palace kitchen who frequents the library, Bennett describes the Queen's transformation as she discovers the liberating pleasures of the written word. With the poignant and mischievous wit of The History Boys, England's best loved author revels in the power of literature to change even the most uncommon reader's life.
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