The Uncommon Reader |
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Alan Bennett
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Pages: 128 (Paperback)
ISBN: 1846681332
Pub: Faber & Faber / Profile Books
Pub date: 2008-06-26
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1067
Reader Reviews:
an uncommon gem (0/0 people found this helpful)
a charming book,worth reading and re-reading.Its funny and quaint and thoroughly enjoyable.I just wonder if the queen has read it.
Arise Sir Alan (0/0 people found this helpful)
Not pretending to be a great work of literature, for all that, this little book is a delightful celebration of the liberating and levelling power of literature. That the author displays it in this most creative, original and highly amusing way is what makes it such a reading pleasure.
Alan Bennett depicts the Queen, accurately, I suspect, as a very perceptive, clever woman, with a droll sense of humour, committed to the huge responsibilities, which have effectively sentenced her to life in a gilt prison. When for the first time, now in her 80s, with the unlikely connivance of the kitchen boy and the resolute disapproval of Sir Kevin from New Zealand, she makes independent decisions first to read whatever she wishes and then, surreptitiously, to embark on the unthinkably, namely to write a book, she threatens nothing less than the stability of the Realm.
A little gem that exposes the stiflingly constrained life of a constitutional monarch - with no apparent escape until literature comes along and like Red Bull "gives her wings".
Clever and amusing from page one, it is on the last page that it truly bursts forth with that delightfully devilish twist, that has each of us readers saying, as we put the book down: "nice one Lizzy".
The Queen reads. (0/0 people found this helpful)
H.M. joins the masses in the pursuit of both escapism and realism.
Brilliantly funny, yet touching account of what might have been.
Plaudits to Bennett again.
Bennett at his best.
Sheer joy! (1/1 people found this helpful)
This book is unalloyed delight from start to finish. It's a slight read - barely longer than a long short story - but it packs so much fun, philosophy and character observation within its pages a lesser author could have made it into a doorstop sized novel.
Bennett's main argument is about the transformative power of books. An argument that I did not need convincing of in the slightest, having lived my life through the written word since babyhood - thank you parents :o) He makes the argument far more wittily than anyone else on the planet (probably) could and although very erudite, never patronises his readers.
I wonder if HM the Queen is a reader? I'm not sure she would be - I can see her dipping into Agatha Christie and Dick Francis, possibly evena bit of Anitas Shreve and Brookner, but not Salman Rushdie or Hanif Kureshi.
Not amused (0/2 people found this helpful)
The book is funny in places but the language was sometimes wordy and there is a mocking tone at times. In places it is quite vulgar.
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Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Special Features -> Content Stores -> Prepare for Summer
Books -> Special Features -> Custom Stores -> Fiction
Books -> Special Features -> Custom Stores -> Fiction Complete
Books -> Special Features -> Regular Stores -> Independent Alliance Store
Books -> Special Features -> Enjoy Summer
Books -> Special Features -> Great Gifts in Books for Father’s Day
Books -> Subjects -> Fiction -> Authors, A-Z -> B -> Bennett, Alan
Books -> Subjects -> Fiction -> General
Books -> Subjects -> Fiction -> General AAS
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English
Books -> Refinements -> Format (binding_browse-bin) -> Paperback
Books -> Refinements -> Font Size (format_browse-bin) -> Regular Size