Name: The Uncommon Reader
ISBN: 9781846681332

Alan Bennett

The Uncommon Reader is none other than HM the Queen who drifts accidentally into reading when her corgis stray into a mobile library parked at Buckingham Palace. She reads widely (JR Ackerley, Jean Genet, Ivy Compton Burnett and the classics) and intelligently. Her reading naturally changes her world view and her relationship with people like the oleaginous prime minister and his repellent advisers. She comes to question the prescribed order of the world and loses patience with much that she has to do. In short, her reading is subversive. The consequence is, of course, surprising, mildly shocking and very funny.

The Uncommon Reader

A Novella

Elisavet Rozaki 

Lots of boring moments but an amazing and unique ending!

Deepika Ramesh

https://worncorners.wordpress.com/201...

A couple of years before turning 80, The Queen discovers the pleasure of reading. She falls in love with it so much that she begins detesting her royal duties. Her corgis are ignored. She doesn’t care about her appearance. (She repeats her dress twice in a fortnight. What a cardinal sin!) Instead of waving at the folks gathered at parades, she buries her nose into a book, much to the chagrin of the Duke.

Her Majesty, who used to employ her usual pack of questions like, “Did you travel far? How’s the weather? Was the traffic bad?” which always kept the conversations going, is now curious of what her visitors are currently reading. The Prime Minister dreads his rendezvous with her, for she shoves books in his hands every time, and to his dismay, she asks questions from the books when he visits next time, only to ensure that he read it.

Everyone, including her personal secretary Sir Kevin and her equerries, reckon that the Queen’s newly-acquired love is not becoming, and they begin to believe that her tendency to ignore her duties must be the symptoms of Alzheimer’s. Bennett observes, “Thus it was that the dawn of sensibility was mistaken for the onset of senility.” They try to steer her attention towards royal duties, and their futile attempt makes her realise her love for writing. Ah, how beautiful, heartwarming, this book was!

Alan Bennett, in his charming way, makes one understand the benefits of reading. The Queen becomes more patient and empathetic. She pays attention to others’ expressions. Above all, Bennett kindly highlights how much she has missed despite having the biggest share of the world.

Reading does that to us, doesn’t it? It makes us content and greedy; all at the same time.

I particularly enjoyed the interaction between Her Majesty and her amanuensis, Norman Seakins. The young man, who’s deployed in the kitchen, is promoted by the Queen herself after she finds him borrowing books from a mobile library. From recommending her next read to packing her travel reading-suitcase to frequenting the London Library to borrow books for her, he does everything to quench the Queen’s literary-thirst.

I envy Norman Seakins. I have finally found my calling. Seakins’s is the kind of job that I want to do. :) How wonderful life would be when I sit in a corner and read all day, and pick up more books for somebody! If you are willing to offer that sort of job, please consider this my personal application. ;)

The Queen and I have something in common. That’s really saying something, but I am trying hard to be modest. :) Our love for reading flowered late. If she married reading in her late seventies, I met the right books when I was 21. In Her Majesty’s words, we are opsimaths. And, she is certainly an adorable one at that.

  What she was finding also was how one book led to another, doors kept opening wherever she turned and the days weren’t long enough for the reading she wanted to do.

‘I can understand,’ he said, ‘Your Majesty’s need to pass the time.’ ‘Pass the time?’ said the Queen. ‘Books are not about passing the time. They’re about other lives. Other worlds. Far from wanting time to pass, Sir Kevin, one just wishes one had more of it…’

Had she been asked if reading had enriched her life she would have had to say yes, undoubtedly, though adding with equal certainty that it had at the same time drainer her life of all purpose.

You go to a book to have your convictions corroborated.

‘You don’t put your life into your books. You find it there.’

Patricia Nelson

This is a novella with a premise that the Queen of England takes up reading, and was a really fun romp. She discovers that she has never been encourageed to have an opinion but quite likes it; her staff stumble to figure out what she is doing and even get rid of her reading valet behind her back. She becomes more empathetic and understanding of her people and is dismayed when others don't also have knowledge about books. Very fun very quick read - would make for a lively book club discussion about the power of the books we read, or don't read.

Sarah Erle

Kayleigh hughes

I'm going to try really hard not to adopt the book's regal tone in this review but it's going to be really difficult because the one word I really want to use to describe it is quaint, and that just sends me down all kinds of dangerous pretentious, semi-vague, mock-English pathways. Also, I'll be wary not to use charming, sweet or cute, although all three words are screaming out at me demanding to be used.

Tom's lovely nana demanded recommended I read this short novella, herself using many of my forbidden words to sell it to me. Not that I've ever really needed to be sold on a book, but she made it sound so damn delicious and so teeny tiny (a piddly 120 pages) that I decided it needed to be read sooner rather than later. Actually, if I had simply been told the plot I might have needed a little selling. The royal family, at least, this incarnation (the blood-thirty royals of old were awesome) bore me senseless. They might be nice people but...YAWN! So the idea of a book, regardless of how short and sweet, focusing on the oldest and perhaps dullest of the bunch...well, I probably wouldn't have rushed to pick it up on my own. Nevertheless, I'm a sucker for a recommendation and with my busy schedule tiny books are all the more appealling and I felt like reading something completely different from my recent picks so TADA! Here I am.

In this novella the Queen finds herself coming across a mobile library on the grounds during one of her regular walks, and what begins as the acceptance of a book because it's the polite and proper thing to do becomes an obsession. After years of obedience, duty and very little time spent lost in a book the Queen falls hopelessly under the spell of books (something I imagine you can all relate to here!). With the help of her personal book selector, Norman, to find all the books she could desire, the Queen's voracious appetite for books begin to get in the way of her duty and responsibilities. Her attention to her outfits falter, she begins to arrive late to events and perhaps worst of all, she makes people uncomfortable by daring to try and discuss books with award-recipients, dignitaries and palace workers!

The book is ultimately a mix of the Queen's reflections on the wonder of reading and literature, a collection of quotes, names and story recaps and interactions with countless people who just do not understand this little late in life hobby. While I enjoyed the quips at the expense of her primary advisor, Simon (a New Zealander - therefore the natural enemy of this Australian reader!) the real beauty of this book is her reflections espousing the wonderment that reading provides anyone lucky enough to fall under its spell. Some of my favourite quotes were;
"Briefing is not reading. In fact, briefing is the opposite of reading. Briefing is terse, factual, and to the point. Reading is untidy, discursive and perpetually inviting. Briefing closes down a subject, reading opens it up." (page 22)
 "Books are not about passing time. They're about other lives. Other worlds. Far from wanting time to pass...one wishes one had more of it." (page 29)
 "It was anonymous; it was shared; it was common. And she who had lead a life apart now found that she craved it. Here in these pages and between these covers she could go uncovered." (Page 31)
"A book is a device to ignite the immagination." (Page 34)
I adored the idea that someone who had had a life where every minute was ruled by appointments, commitments and public events, could finally find solace and escape in the pages of books. Not only that, but as her reading continued she realised exactly how stifling her previous life was the way she was living, and how amazing an experience it could be. Once she began reading she tried to actually connect with the people she met at events (although in most instances they weren't particularly pleased with this!), and she began to notice smaller details and changes in the emotions and attitudes of people around her - something she'd closed herself off to a long time ago. I also couldn't help but relate with her obsession and desire to constantly read all the time and read anything she could get her hands on. God only knows how often I've sat reading a book when I desperately needed to get work done, get some sleep or get ready to catch a bus.

In contrast with the happiness reading brings the Queen, everyone else seems to look at it as either a novelty or some horrific addiction akin to heroin. For some, like the Prime Minister and her advisor, they're annoyed that they don't have her full attention any more, while others seem honestly worried that reading, which is a luxury for many of the time poor, would further alienate an already alienated rich old lady. I might not be queen, but I've certainly faced people who are either incredulous that I have time to read or who see it as a waste of time, money and effort.

It's far from a perfect novel, there's this weird fascination with her reading "advisor" Norman being gay and always selecting homosexual writers for the Queen to read. Seriously, just about every section that he features has some mention of his "preference" - as it's sometimes referred to. Also, in trying to capture the voice of the Queen there is a lot of high-faluting language where one discusses what one's schedule has one doing for every minute of one's day.After a while, We are not amused. But they're pretty small annoyances, and since the book is so short they don't really have enough time to build into anything too frustrating.

So I've gotten this far without breaking any of the rules I set in the first paragraph, but I'm not sure how much longer I can hold back so I'll wrap up here. If you're a reader (which I know you all are) then this is a sweet little ode to reading and the fantastic contribution it makes to all of our lives. To set it apart from the many declarations of love we make on a daily basis though, it's wrapped up with an interesting little tale of a hobby discovered at the most unexpected time of life in a particularly uncommon reader. A pleasant, quick and sweet little read.

The Queen of England comes across a travelling library and ends up taking out a novel. One read leads to another and a passion awakes, resulting in a decline of her public duties.

Sarah Ryan

A mischievously funny novella about the Queens’s unexpected discovery of the joys of reading, and how it changes her.

Safiya 

Rachel Benton

This is the book of the month for my book at the library. I neither disliked like this or liked this. My feeling about it are somewhere in the middle. This book is centered around Queen Elizabeth II who come stumbles upon a book mobile one day and it changes her life. She borrows a book and pretty soon she starts to become an avid book reader. I can relate definitely to some of the situations that she encounters in this story. The first part of this book is amazing, loved it. I love the character of Norman who she befriends, and is a fellow book nerd like herself. But by the end of the book it started to slow. In all honesty I didn't like how this book ended. I thought the book lost sight of the premise at the start of it.

Michael Chen

hannah 

The Uncommon Reader is none other than HM the Queen who drifts accidentally into reading when her corgis stray into a mobile library parked at Buckingham Palace. She reads widely ( JR Ackerley, Jean Genet, Ivy Compton Burnett and the classics) and intelligently. Her reading naturally changes her world view and her relationship with people like the oleaginous prime minister and his repellent advisers. She comes to question the prescribed order of the world and loses patience with much that she has to do. In short, her reading is subversive. The consequence is, of course, surprising, mildly shocking and very funny.

The Uncommon Reader

Reviews

Highlights