Synopses & Reviews
From one of England's most celebrated writers, the author of the award-winning The History Boys, a funny and superbly observed novella about the Queen of England and the subversive power of reading
When her corgis stray into a mobile library parked near Buckingham Palace, the Queen feels duty-bound to borrow a book. Discovering the joy of reading widely (from J. R. Ackerley, Jean Genet, and Ivy Compton-Burnett to the classics) and intelligently, she finds that her view of the world changes dramatically. Abetted in her newfound obsession by Norman, a young man from the royal kitchens, the Queen comes to question the prescribed order of the world and loses patience with the routines of her role as monarch. Her new passion for reading initially alarms the palace staff and soon leads to surprising and very funny consequences for the country at large. Alan Bennett is a renowned playwright and essayist whose screenplay for The Madness of King George was nominated for an Academy Award. He lives in London, England. Longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary AwardAn Economist Book of the Year The Uncommon Reader is a 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 Queens transformation as she discovers the liberating pleasures of the written word. With the poignant and mischievous wit of The History Boys, one of Englands best loved authors shows that literature can change even the most uncommon readers life. "What if Queen Elizabeth at the age of 70-something were suddenly to become a voracious reader? What if she were to become an avid fan of Proust and Balzac, Turgenev and Trollope and Hardy? And what if reading were to lead her, in turn, to becoming a writer? Mr. Bennett's musings on these matters have produced a delightful little book that unfolds into a witty meditation on the subversive pleasures of reading . . . In recounting this story of a ruler who becomes a reader, a monarch who'd rather write than reign, Mr. Bennett has written a captivating fairy tale . . . that showcases its author's customary élan and keen but humane wit."Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
"Alan Bennett's The Uncommon Reader arrives like a sorbet. Trained in structure and economy by his decades of writing plays, and blessed with what can seem a peculiarly English gift for blurring fondness and irreverence, Bennett appears cowed not at all by the task of removing Queen Elizabeth II from her throne and brings her down to earth with an easy warmth and wit that allows her to keep her brisk authority while coming to seem as endearingly human as a somewhat distant aunt . . . Such as premise cannot be handled roughly, and Bennett develops it directly and efficiently through a few short pages, till we feel we are in a Beyond the Fringe skit that is evolving into a surprisingly touching portrait of how reading can extend the imagination, not always to happy effect . . . The deeper irony that Bennett teases out, without a single wasted breath, is that books, by enlarging and deepening the Queen, render her ever more unfit for her job. She has less and less patience for her workday duties, and feels ever more the constraints of her prosaic position . . . In one classic moment, the book she has brought along to read after opening Parliament (and hidden behind a cushion in her carriage) suddenly disappears. A young footman whom she questions thinks it has probably been exploded . . . The Uncommon Reader takes us into those blended moods in which we don't know what to think . . . Bennett's queen, wonderfully, alights on books that make no sense at all and play with one's sense of possibility."Pico Iyer, The New York Review of Books
"In The Uncommon Reader Mr. Bennett poses a delicious and very funny what-if: What if Queen Elizabeth at the age of 70-something were suddenly to become a voracious reader? What if she were to become an avid fan of Proust and Balzac, Turgenev and Trollope and Hardy? And what if reading were to lead her, in turn, to becoming a writer? Mr. Bennett's musings on these matters have produced a delightful little book that unfolds into a witty meditation on the subversive pleasures of reading . . . In recounting this story of a ruler who becomes a reader, a monarch who'd rather write than reign, Mr. Bennett has written a captivating fairy tale. It's a tale that's as charming as the old Gregory Peck-Audrey Hepburn movie Roman Holiday, and as keenly observed as Stephen Frears's award-winning movie The Queena tale that showcases its author's customary élan and keen but humane wit."Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
The Uncommon Reader, [Bennett's] new novella, is a kind of palace fairy tale for grown-ups. Once again he tells a story about an eccentric old lady, a character type he seems to enjoy . . . This time, his odd, isolated heroine is the queen of England. The story of her budding love affair with literature blends the comic and the poignant so smoothly it can only be by Bennett.”Jeremy McCarter, The New York Times Book Review
The delights of Alan Bennetts The Uncommon Reader begin with its title, a gentle but deft play on words, and flow forth in easeful perfection for the 120 pages that follow. (The infallible Mr. Bennett is the Brit responsible for such wonderful imports as Beyond the Fringe, Talking Heads and The History Boys.) The Uncommon Reader is quite lovely in ambition: a little cameo that, if you look closely, is about a very public woman waking up, late in life, to the fact that she has seen everything but the world.”Stephen Metcalf, The New York Observer
Clever and entertaining . . . In its witty, economical satire, The Uncommon Reader recalls the late work of Muriel Spark . . . The Uncommon Reader is a celebration of both reading and its counterpart, independent thinking.”Maud Newton, Los Angeles Times
In this charming novella Alan Bennett imagines what might occur if the sovereign of England, Queen Elizabeth herself, were suddenly to develop a ravenous passion for books. What might in less capable hands result in a labored exercise or an embarrassing instance of literary lèse-majesté here becomes a delicious light comedy, as well as a meditation on the power of print . . . You can finish The Uncommon Reader in an hour or two, but it is charming enough and wise enough that you will almost certainly want to keep it around for rereadingunless you decide to share it with friends. Either way, this little book offers what English readers would call very good value for money.”Michael Dirda, The Washington Post
The conceit offered here by Mr. Bennett, the beloved British author and dramatist, is that a woman of power can find and love the power in books. It is a simple equation and one that yields deep rewards. In what is a surprising and surprisingly touching novella, Mr. Bennett shows us why books matter to the queen, his uncommon reader and why they matter so much to the rest of us . . . By the time the book reaches its hilarious and stunning conclusion, which I wont reveal here, a reader leaves wishing for more.”Carol Herman, The Washington Times
What one wouldnt give to be a fly within Buckingham Palace walls. Only then could one witness the royal reaction to The Uncommon Reader, Alan Bennetts deliciously funny fantasia about Queen Elizabeth.”Kerry Fried, Newsday
"[Bennett] dispenses his observations on the purpose of reading . . . with the light hand of true authority."The Atlantic Monthly
The reader in Alan Bennetts hilariously and pointed novella, The Uncommon Reader, is a modern-day queen of England who happens upon a mobile library outside Buckingham Palace . . . The Uncommon Reader is a political and literary satire. But its also a lovely lesson in the redemptive and subversive power of reading and how one book can lead to another and another and another . . . The Uncommon Reader is an appreciation of reading not out of obligation, but purely for pleasure, without being preachy and pretentious . . . The Uncommon Reader is a lot of fun to read.”Bob Minzesheimer, USA Today
"Bennett has crafted a novella, of which the only complaint is that one wishes there were more, more, more of this charming, genteel, beguiling (and in one passage, gloriously bawdy) story."Greg Robertson, Woman's Day
Bennetts absorption with royalty in works like A Question of Attribution and The Madness of King George III has sometimes seemed more cosy than critical, as if he were anxious to join the very establishment he purports to mock. Subtler than either of these in its playfulness, The Uncommon Reader improves delightfully on an otherwise depressing reality, while slily arraigning the ambiguous British romance with the monarchy and its current avatar.”Jonathan Keates, The Times Literary Supplement (London)
"An exquisitely produced jewel of a book . . . a savagely Swiftian indignation against stupidity, philistinism, and arrogance in public places, and a passionate argument for the civilizing power of art."Jane Shilling, The Times (London)
"Bennett had the bright idea of giving the queen a life, and the genius of The Uncommon Reader is to propose that the only new life a lady approaching eighty might plausibly have is a reading life . . . George Eliot argued that reading novels exercises and strengthens the muscle of human sympathy, and that caring about people in books makes us more caring about them in life: thus do novel-readers learn what Dorothea Brooke more painfully learns in Middlemarch, that even the desiccated Mr. Casaubon has 'an equivalent centre of self.' In his deadpan offhand way, Alan Bennett echoes George Eliot's point . . . With charm and intelligence, The Uncommon Reader engages the usesand the declineof reading . . . Throughout The Uncommon Reader, wit compensates for the inevitable and inconceivable, and comedy trumps tragedy, debility, even banality. Like George Eliot's masterpiece, Alan Bennett's novella about reading serves as an advertisement for itself, as well as a lovely book about agingtender, forgiving, and even humorous in the face of death."Rachel M. Brownstein, Commonweal
A royal fable celebrating the transformative properties (and a few of the unsettling consequences) of reading as an obsession. In a country of commoners, the uncommon reader is the Queen. She has never been a reader, because reading isn't something that one (as she invariably refers to herself) does. Yet an unlikely incident involving her dogs and a mobile library making its weekly appearance outside Buckingham Palace moves her to borrow a book. And then another. And another, until reading has become her life's focus . . . There are some funny bits: her questioning of the president of France about Jean Genet (of whom he hasn't a clue) and the disdain she develops for the perpetually irritating Henry James. She also enjoys a lovely visit with one of her literary subjects, Alice Munro. Perhaps the keenest insight here concerns her difficulty with Jane Austen, whose novels pivot so frequently on class distinctions that the Queen herself has never experienced. Those who love reading will recognize the process of the Queen's enrapturing, how one book inevitably leads to another, and so many others, and that the richness of the reading life will always be offset by the recognition that time grows shorter as the list of books grows longer.”Kirkus Reviews
British screenwriter, playwright, and novelist Bennett, author of the Tony Award-winning play The History Boys, has written a wry and unusual story about the subversive potential of reading. Bennett posits a theoretical situation in which Queen Elizabeth II becomes an avid reader, and the new ideas she thus encounters change the way she thinks and reigns. Coming upon a traveling library near Buckingham Palace, Elizabeth, who almost never reads, decides to take a look. Mostly out of politeness, she begins to borrow from the library via a kitchen page. As she begins to view reading as her duty, a way to find out what people are like, she is exposed to increasingly sophisticated books and ideas that criticize society. As Elizabeth loses interest in the chain of ship launches and groundbreakings that make up her reign, her staff becomes resentful, and the story ends in an unexpected way.”Christina Bauer, Library Journal
"Briskly original and subversively funny, this novella from popular British writer Bennett sends Queen Elizabeth II into a mobile library van in pursuit of her runaway corgis and into the reflective, observant life of an avid reader. Guided by Norman, a former kitchen boy and enthusiast of gay authors, the queen gradually loses interest in her endless succession of official duties and learns the pleasure of such a common activity. With the dawn of her sensibility . . . mistaken for the onset of senility, plots are hatched by the prime minister and the queen's staff to dispatch Norman and discourage the queen's preoccupation with books. Ultimately, it is her own growing self-awareness that leads her away from reading and toward writing, with astonishing results. Bennett has fun with the proper behavior and protocol at the palace, and the few instances of mild coarseness seem almost scandalous. There are lessons packed in here, but Bennett doesn't wallop readers with them."Publishers Weekly
Review
"Alan Bennett is one of the greatest comic writers alive, and The Uncommon Reader is Bennett at his best--touching, thoughtful, hilarious, and exquisite in its observations."--Helen Fielding, author of Bridget Jones's Diary
"In The Uncommon Reader, Bennett poses a delicious and very funny what-if . . . a delightful little book that unfolds into a witty meditation on the subversive pleasures of reading. . . . Mr. Bennett has written a captivating fairy tale . . . a tale that showcases its author's customary èlan and keen but humane wit."--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
"Hilarious and stunning . . . The conceit offered here by Mr. Bennett, the beloved British author and dramatist, is that a woman of power can find and love the power in books. It is a simple equation and one that yields deep rewards. In what is a surprising and surprisingly touching novella, Mr. Bennett shows us why books matter to the queen, his "uncommon reader" and why they matter so much to the rest of us."--Carol Herman, The Washington Times
"Hilarious and pointed . . . The Uncommon Reader is a political and literary satire. But it's also a lovely lesson in the redemptive and subversive power of reading and how one book can lead to another and another and another. . . . But most of all, The Uncommon Reader is a lot of fun to read."--Bob Minzesheimer, USA Today
"One of the most subtly ingratiating prose stylists of our time . . . charming enough and wise enough that you will certainly want to keep it around for rereading--unless you decided to share it with friends."--Michael Dirda, The Washington Post
"Clever and entertaining . . . The Uncommon Reader is a celebration of both reading and its counterpart, independent thinking."--Maud Newton, Los Angeles Times
Review
"A delicious and very funny what-if.... a delightful little book that unfolds into a witty meditation on the subversive pleasures of reading.... Mr. Bennett has written a captivating fairy tale ... a tale that showcases its authors customary élan and keen but humane wit."--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times "Bennett's jokes are so beautifully modulated.... The Uncommon Reader is a piece of audacious lèse majesté which, in an earlier age, would have put its author's head on a spike.... Bennett knows what he is doing."--The Guardian "A kind of palace fairy tale for grown-ups.... [[Bennett's]] account of the queens adventures often made me laugh out loud."--Jeremy McCarter, The New York Times "Briskly original and subversively funny."--Publishers Weekly "[Bennett's] subtle wit and tonal command show why he is so beloved in his native Britain."--Kirkus Reviews
Review
“A prose stylist of disarming grace and sly humor . . . Surprising, funny, and deeply affecting.”—Charles McGrath,
The New York Times Book ReviewReview
“One of the greatest living English writers.”—David Thomson, The Nation
Review
“There is probably no other distinguished English man of letters more instantly likable than Bennett.”—Michael Dirda,
The Washington Post Book WorldSynopsis
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.
Synopsis
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 Queens transformation as she discovers the liberating pleasures of the written word. With the poignant and mischievous wit of The History Boys, Englands best loved author revels in the power of literature to change even the most uncommon readers life. Alan Bennett is a renowned playwright and essayist whose screenplay for The Madness of King George was nominated for an Academy Award. He lives in London, England. An Economist Book of the Year The Uncommon Reader is a 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 Queens transformation as she discovers the liberating pleasures of the written word. With the poignant and mischievous wit of The History Boys, one of Englands best loved authors shows that literature can change even the most uncommon readers life.
"In The Uncommon Reader Mr. Bennett poses a delicious and very funny what-if: What if Queen Elizabeth at the age of 70-something were suddenly to become a voracious reader? What if she were to become an avid fan of Proust and Balzac, Turgenev and Trollope and Hardy? And what if reading were to lead her, in turn, to becoming a writer? Mr. Bennett's musings on these matters have produced a delightful little book that unfolds into a witty meditation on the subversive pleasures of reading . . . In recounting this story of a ruler who becomes a reader, a monarch who'd rather write than reign, Mr. Bennett has written a captivating fairy tale. It's a tale that's as charming as the old Gregory Peck-Audrey Hepburn movie Roman Holiday, and as keenly observed as Stephen Frears's award-winning movie The Queena tale that showcases its author's customary élan and keen but humane wit."Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
The Uncommon Reader, his new novella, is a kind of palace fairy tale for grown-ups. Once again he tells a story about an eccentric old lady, a character type he seems to enjoy . . . This time, his odd, isolated heroine is the queen of England. The story of her budding love affair with literature blends the comic and the poignant so smoothly it can only be by Bennett.”Jeremy McCarter, The New York Times Book Review
Bennetts absorption with royalty in works like A Question of Attribution and The Madness of King George III has sometimes seemed more cosy than critical, as if he were anxious to join the very establishment he purports to mock. Subtler than either of these in its playfulness, The Uncommon Reader improves delightfully on an otherwise depressing reality, while slily arraigning the ambiguous British romance with the monarchy and its current avatar.”Jonathan Keates, The Times Literary Supplement
The delights of Alan Bennetts The Uncommon Reader begin with its title, a gentle but deft on words, and flow forth in easeful perfection for the 120 pages that follow. (The infallible Mr. Bennett is the Brit responsible for such wonderful imports as Beyond the Fringe, Talking Heads and The History Boys.) The Uncommon Reader is quite lovely in ambition: a little cameo that, if you look closely, is about a very public woman walking up, late in life, to the fact that she has seen everything but the world.”Stephen Metcalf, The New York Observer
Clever and entertaining . . . In its witty, economical satire, The Uncommon Reader recalls the late work of Muriel Spark . . . The Uncommon Reader is a celebration of both reading and its counterpart, independent thinking.”Maud Newton, Los Angeles Times
In this charming novella Alan Bennett imagines what might occur if the sovereign of England, Queen Elizabeth herself, were suddenly to develop a ravenous passion for books. What might in less capable hands result in a labored exercise or an embarrassing instance of literary lese-majeste here becomes a delicious light comedy, as well as a meditation on the power of print . . . You can finish The Uncommon Reader in an hour or two, but it is charming enough and wise enough that you will almost certainly want to keep it around for rereadingunless you decide to share it with friends. Either way, this little book offers what English readers would call very good value for money.”Michael Dirda, The Washington Post
Toward the end of The Uncommon Reader, Alan Bennetts vivid imagining of what things might be like if Queen Elizabeth suddenly discovered a passion for reading . . . The conceit offered here by Mr. Bennett, the beloved British author and dramatist is that a woman of power can find and love the power in books. It is a simple equation and one that yields deep rewards. In what is a surprising and surprisingly touching novella, Mr. Bennett shows us why books matter to the queen, his uncommon reader and why they matter so much to the rest of us . . . By the time the book reaches its hilarious and stunning conclusion, which I wont reveal here, a reader leaves wishing for more.”Carol Herman, The Washington Times
What one wouldnt give to be a fly within Buckingham Palace walls. Only then could one witness the royal reaction to The Uncommon Reader, Alan Bennetts deliciously funny fantasia about Queen Elizabeth.”Kerry Fried, Newsday
Alan Bennett, the celebrated English author of the play, The History Boys, explores the British analog to this conundrum in his breezy new novella, The Uncommon Reader. The conceit: Queen Elizabeth becomes a bookworm.”Michael Schulman, The New York Sun
The reader in Alan Bennetts hilariously and pointed novella, The Uncommon Reader, is a modern-day queen of England who happens upon a mobile library outside Buckingham Palace . . . The Uncommon Reader is a political and literary satire. But its also a lovely lesson in the redemptive and subversive power of reading and how one book can lead to another and another and another . . . The Uncommon Reader is an appreciation of reading not out of obligation, but purely for pleasure, without being preachy and pretentious . . . The Uncommon Reader is a lot of fun to read.”Bob Minzesheimer, USA Today
"Bennett had the bright idea of giving the queen a life, and the genius of The Uncommon Reader is to propose tat the only new life a lady approaching eighty might plausibly have is a reading life . . . George Eliot argued that reading novels exercises and strengthens the muscle of human sympathy, and that caring about people in books makes us more caring about them in life: thus do novel-readers learn what Dorothea Brooke more painfully learns in Middlemarch, that even the desiccated Mr. Casaubon has 'an equivalent centre of self.' In his deadpan offhand way, Alan Bennett echoes George Eliot's point . . . With charm and intelligence, The Uncommon Reader engages the usesand the declineof reading . . . Throughout The Uncommon Reader, wit compensates for the inevitable and inconceivable, and comedy trumps tragedy, debility, even banality. Like George Eliot's masterpiece, Alan Bennett's novella about reading serves as an advertisement for itself, as well as a lovely book about agingtender, forgiving, and even humorous in the face of death."Rachel M. Brownstein, Commonweal
British screenwriter, playwright, and novelist Bennett, author of the Tony Award-winning play The History Boys, has written a wry and unusual story about the subversive potential of reading. Bennett posits a theoretical situation in which Queen Elizabeth II becomes an avid reader, and the new ideas she thus encounters change the way she thinks and reigns. Coming upon a traveling library near Buckingham Palace, Elizabeth, who almost never reads, decides to take a look. Mostly out of politeness, she begins to borrow from the library via a kitchen page. As she begins to view reading as her duty, a way to find out what people are like, she is exposed to increasingly sophisticated books and ideas that criticize society. As Elizabeth loses interest in the chain of ship launches and groundbreakings that make up her reign, her staff becomes resentful, and the story ends in an unexpected way.”Christina Bauer, Library Journal
A royal fable celebrating the transformative properties (and a few of the unsettling consequences) of reading as an obsession. In a country of commoners, the uncommon reader is the Queen. She has never been a reader, because reading isn't something that one (as she invariably refers to herself) does. Yet an unlikely incident involving her dogs and a mobile library making its weekly appearance outside Buckingham Palace moves her to borrow a book. And then another. And another, until reading has become her life's focus . . . There are some funny bits: her questioning of the president of France about Jean Genet (of whom he hasn't a clue) and the disdain she develops for the perpetually irritating Henry James. She also enjoys a lovely visit with one of her literary subjects, Alice Munro. Perhaps the keenest insight here concerns her difficulty with Jane Austen, whose novels pivot so frequently on class distinctions that the Queen herself has never experienced. Those who love reading will recognize the process of the Queen's enrapturing, how one book inevitably leads to another, and so many others, and that the richness of the reading life will always be offset by the recognition that time grows shorter as the list of books grows longer.”Kirkus Reviews
"Briskly original and subversively funny, this novella from popular British writer Bennett sends Queen Elizabeth II into a mobile library van in pursuit of her runaway corgis and into the reflective, observant life of an avid reader. Guided by Norman, a former kitchen boy and enthusiast of gay authors, the queen gradually loses interest in her endless succession of official duties and learns the pleasure of such a common activity. With the dawn of her sensibility . . . mistaken for the onset of senility, plots are hatched by the prime minister and the queen's staff to dispatch Norman and discourage the queen's preoccupation with books. Ultimately, it is her own growing self-awareness that leads her away from reading and toward writing, with astonishing results. Bennett has fun with the proper behavior and protocol at the palace, and the few instances of mild coarseness seem almost scandalous. There are lessons packed in here, but Bennett doesn't wallop readers with them."Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
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. Alan Bennett is a renowned playwright and essayist whose screenplay for The Madness of King George was nominated for an Academy Award. He lives in London, England. An Economist Book of the Year The Uncommon Reader is a 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, one of England's best loved authors shows that literature can change even the most uncommon reader's life.
In The Uncommon Reader Mr. Bennett poses a delicious and very funny what-if: What if Queen Elizabeth at the age of 70-something were suddenly to become a voracious reader? What if she were to become an avid fan of Proust and Balzac, Turgenev and Trollope and Hardy? And what if reading were to lead her, in turn, to becoming a writer? Mr. Bennett's musings on these matters have produced a delightful little book that unfolds into a witty meditation on the subversive pleasures of reading . . . In recounting this story of a ruler who becomes a reader, a monarch who'd rather write than reign, Mr. Bennett has written a captivating fairy tale. It's a tale that's as charming as the old Gregory Peck-Audrey Hepburn movie Roman Holiday, and as keenly observed as Stephen Frears's award-winning movie The Queen--a tale that showcases its author's customary elan and keen but humane wit.--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
The Uncommon Reader, his new novella, is a kind of palace fairy tale for grown-ups. Once again he tells a story about an eccentric old lady, a character type he seems to enjoy . . . This time, his odd, isolated heroine is the queen of England. The story of her budding love affair with literature blends the comic and the poignant so smoothly it can only be by Bennett.--Jeremy McCarter, The New York Times Book Review
Bennett's absorption with royalty in works like A Question of Attribution and The Madness of King George III has sometimes seemed more cosy than critical, as if he were anxious to join the very establishment he purports to mock. Subtler than either of these in its playfulness, The Uncommon Reader improves delightfully on an otherwise depressing reality, while slily arraigning the ambiguous British romance with the monarchy and its current avatar.--Jonathan Keates, The Times Literary Supplement
The delights of Alan Bennett's The Uncommon Reader begin with its title, a gentle but deft on words, and flow forth in easeful perfection for the 120 pages that follow. (The infallible Mr. Bennett is the Brit responsible for such wonderful imports as Beyond the Fringe, Talking Heads and The History Boys.) The Uncommon Reader is quite lovely in ambition: a little cameo that, if you look closely, is about a very public woman walking up, late in life, to the fact that she has seen everything but the world.--Stephen Metcalf, The New York Observer
Clever and entertaining . . . In its witty, economical satire, The Uncommon Reader recalls the late work of Muriel Spark . . . The Uncommon Reader is a celebration of both reading and its counterpart, independent thinking.--Maud Newton, Los Angeles Times
In this charming novella Alan Bennett imagines what might occur if the sovereign of England, Queen Elizabeth herself, were suddenly to develop a ravenous passion for books. What might in less capable hands result in a labored exercise or an embarrassing instance of literary lese-majeste here becomes a delicious light comedy, as well as a meditation on the power of print . . . You can finish The Uncommon Reader in an hour or two, but it is charming enough and wise enough that you will almost certainly want to keep it around for rereading--unless you decide to share it with friends. Either way, this little book offers what English readers would call very good value for money.--Michael Dirda, The Washington Post
Toward the end of The Uncommon Reader, Alan Bennett's vivid imagining of what things might be like if Queen Elizabeth suddenly discovered a passion for reading . . . The conceit offered here by Mr. Bennett, the beloved British author and dramatist is that a woman of power can find and love the power in books. It is a simple equation and one that yields deep rewards. In what is a surprising and surprisingly touching novella, Mr. Bennett shows us why books matter to the queen, his 'uncommon' reader and why they matter so much to the rest of us . . . By the time the book reaches its hilarious and stunning conclusion, which I won't reveal here, a reader leaves wishing for more.--Carol Herman, The Washington Times
What one wouldn't give to be a fly within Buckingham Palace walls. Only then could one witness the royal reaction to The Uncommon Reader, Alan Bennett's deliciously funny fantasia about Queen Elizabeth.--Kerry Fried, Newsday
Alan Bennett, the celebrated English author of the play, The History Boys, explores the British analog to this conundrum in his breezy new novella, The Uncommon Reader. The conceit: Queen Elizabeth beco
Synopsis
The inimitable Alan Bennett selects and comments upon six favorite poets and the pleasures of their works
Synopsis
The inimitable Alan Bennett selects and comments upon six favorite poets and the pleasures of their works
In this candid, thoroughly engaging book, Alan Bennett creates a unique anthology of works by six well-loved poets. Freely admitting his own youthful bafflement with poetry, Bennett reassures us that the poets and poems in this volume are not only accessible but also highly enjoyable. He then proceeds to prove irresistibly that this is so.
Bennett selects more than seventy poems by Thomas Hardy, A. E. Housman, John Betjeman, W. H. Auden, Louis MacNeice, and Philip Larkin. He peppers his discussion of these writers and their verse with anecdotes, shrewd appraisal, and telling biographical detail: Hardy lyrically recalls his first wife, Emma, in his poetry, although he treated her shabbily in real life. The fabled Auden was a formidable and off-putting figure at the lectern. Larkin, hoping to subvert snooping biographers, ordered personal papers shredded upon his death.
Simultaneously profound and entertaining, Bennett’s book is a paean to poetry and its creators, made all the more enjoyable for being told in his own particular voice. its creators, made all the more enjoyable for being told in his own particular voice.
About the Author
Alan Bennett has been one of England’s leading dramatists since the success of Beyond the Fringe in the 1960s. His television series Talking Heads has become a modern-day classic. The History Boys has been performed at both the National Theatre, London, and on Broadway in New York, and has won many awards, including six Tony Awards. Also staged at the National Theatre were The Habit of Art, People, Hymn, and Cocktail Sticks. His collection of prose Untold Stories won the PEN/Ackerley Prize for autobiography. Recent works of fiction are The Uncommon Reader and Smut: Two Unseemly Stories. Bennett lives in Camden Town in London, UK.
Reading Group Guide
Discussion Questions
1. Does your group meet regularly? If so, how do you think the queen, as fountain of honor, would appraise your list of reading so far?
2. The queen says that she reads because, "One has a duty to find out what people are like." Yet she begins by reading Nancy Mitford and Ivy Compton-Burnett, hardly a stretch for Her Royal Majesty. How did you begin your reading career? Was it Anne of Green Gables or Barbara Cartland? What treasured books on your groups list closely reflect your own world and background? Do you read to understand others? Is anyone present at this meeting a member of the titled aristocracy?
3. Early in The Uncommon Reader, the queen explains that she has resisted reading because it is a hobby, and therefore an expression of a preference—preferences exclude people and are to be avoided. Why does she fear that reading will exclude people - havent we been brought together today by reading? Is your reading group very exclusive? Have you ever denied membership to someone who wanted to join?
4. "Herself part of the panoply of the world, why now was she intrigued by books, which, whatever else they might be, were just a reflection of the world or a version of it? Books? She had seen the real thing." Do you believe there is a difference between reading and experiencing? Isnt the act of reading a form of experience, or is that vein of thinking distinctly privileged?
5. At first the queen says that her purpose in reading is not primarily literary: it is for analysis and reflection. Why exactly do you read; is it a lofty endeavor or a fundamentally human one?
6. What do you think of the queens values as a reader, for example her insistence upon reading a book all the way through to the end, regardless her level of engagement? Surely most of us would put a book down if within fifty pages it proved to be a tedious waste of time. Have you ever attempted to discuss a book you havent read?
7. Authors, the queen decides, were probably best met within the pages of their novels, left to the imagination like their characters. Have you met any famous writers? What were they like? Was your experience anything like the queens?
8. The appeal of books, according to the queen, lay in their indifference: there is something undeferring about literature, she says. Books do not care who reads them or whether one read them or not. All readers are equal, herself included. Do you agree? Have you ever felt unequal to a book? Superior to one?
9. When the queen first meets the man in the book mobile, she refers to herself as a pensioner - this is clearly a joke. Talk about how Alan Bennett gives voice to the queen and draws humor from her. How had your feelings for this seemingly inaccessible figure changed by books end?
10. Why is Norman fond of Cecil Beaton, David Hockney and J.R. Ackerley, what do these three people have in common, besides being British artists and writers?
11. Should our leaders spend more time engaged in the arts, particularly in reading literature (for what its worth, Bill Clinton said he loved Walter Mosely)? What would be the effect?
12. When the queen begins to ask her subjects what they are reading, she is usually met with a shrug (or the Bible, or Harry Potter). Are people intimidated by reading, or are they just lazy and dim?
13. As the queen reads, she grows less interested in her royal duties, and even her appearance (the "permutations" of her wardrobe) goes into decline. Is she becoming more normal, more common? How has reading endangered her ability to carry out her role as a focus for British identity and unity? Isnt that role just a little too much for anyone to shoulder?
14. The queen finds that one book often lead to another; that doors opened wherever she turned ("the days werent long enough for the reading she wanted to do"). Has The Uncommon Reader opened doors for you? Has it inspired or emboldened you to try a book youve been putting off. Proust, perhaps?
15. At first the queen does not like Henry Jamess Portrait of a Lady ("oh, do get on!"), but she finds that reading is like a muscle that needs to be developed, and later she changes her mind about James. Have you ever had a similar experience, upon revisiting a challenging book? Would you consider reading The Uncommon Reader again, in order to glean further nuance from its pages?