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The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (view source)
Revision as of 14:34, 24 February 2018
, 14:34, 24 February 2018no edit summary
{{infoboxsortinfobox1
|title=The Uncommon Reader
|sort=Uncommon Reader
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=128
|publisher=Profile
|date=6 Sep September 2007
|isbn=978-1846680496
|amazonukcover=<amazonuk>1846680492</amazonuk>|amazonusaznuk=1846680492|aznus=<amazonus>0374280967</amazonus>
}}
One day, when the Westminster mobile library van makes its customary stop at Buckingham Palace, it is overrun by escaped corgis. Hot in pursuit, the Queen feels obliged to borrow a book to compensate for the pandemonium they cause. She chooses an Ivy Compton-Burnett and it turns out to be a rather duff read. When she returns it, she strikes up a conversation with a kitchen assistant, the carrot-topped Norman, who recommends a Nancy Mitford. It's the start of something new for the Queen, whose horizons suddenly open. Guided at first by Norman, dubbed by ERII an ''amanuensis'' and by her consort a ''ginger stick-in-waiting'', the Queen has a literary epiphany. She devours it all, from Nancy Mitford, through Thomas Hardy, Jean Genet, John Betjeman and well, just about everyone.
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{{commenthead}}
{{comment
|name=Magda
|verb=said
|comment= Y'know, I tried to read something by him, or even 2 or 3 somethings and just didn't manage at all.
But this sounds brilliant, so I am tempted.
}}
{{comment
|name=C.Brian
|verb=Ross (Rev) said
|comment= Having just listened, throughout the week, to Alan Bennett reading an abridged version of this book on Radio 4, it has gone right to the top of my "must read it for myself" list. An exemplary piece of literature.
}}