The Uncommon Reader: A Novella
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)

Alan Bennett. (2007). The Uncommon Reader: A Novella. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Alan Bennett. 2007. The Uncommon Reader: A Novella. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Alan Bennett, The Uncommon Reader: A Novella. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007.

Alan Bennett. The Uncommon Reader: A Novella. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007.

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• name: Alan Bennett

title

The Uncommon Reader

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1. • value: monarchy
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5. • value: satire
6. • value: Queen Elizabeth II
7. • value: funny
8. • value: England
9. • value: Great Britain
10. • value: Novella
11. • value: Humorous
12. • value: English literature
13. • value: Windsor
14. • value: black comedy
15. • value: British Literature
16. • value: books about books
17. • value: british humor

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1. • role: Author
   • fileAs: Bennett, Alan
   • bioText: Alan Bennett has been one of England's leading dramatists since the success of Beyond the Fringe in the 1960s. His work includes the Talking Heads television series, and the stage plays Forty Years On, The Lady in the Van, A Question of Attribution, and The Madness of King George III. His play, The History Boys (now a major motion picture), won six Tony Awards, including best play, in 2006. In the same year his memoir, Untold Stories, was a number-one bestseller in the United Kingdom.
   • name: Alan Bennett

publishDate

2007-09-18T00:00:00-04:00

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title

The Uncommon Reader

fullDescription

From one of England's most celebrated writers, 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.
With the poignant and mischievous wit of The History Boys, England's best loved author Alan Bennett revels in the power of literature to change even the most uncommon reader's life.

reviews

1. • premium: False
   • source: Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
   • content:

     "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 élan and keen but humane wit."

2. • premium: False
   • source: The Guardian
   • content: "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."
3. • premium: False
   • source: Jeremy McCarter, The New York Times
   • content: "A kind of palace fairy tale for grown-ups.... [[Bennett's]] account of the queen's adventures often made me laugh out loud."
4. • premium: False
   • source: Publishers Weekly
   • content: "Briskly original and subversively funny."
5. • premium: False
   • source: Kirkus Reviews
   • content: "[Bennett's] subtle wit and tonal command show why he is so beloved in his native Britain."
6. • premium: False
   • source: Helen Fielding, author of Bridget Jones's Diary
   • content: "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."
7. • premium: False
   • source: Carol Herman, The Washington Times
   • content: "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."
8. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     July 16, 2007
     Briskly original and subversively funny, this novella from popular British writer Bennett (Untold Stories
     ; Tony-winning play The History Boys
     ) 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. It’s a fun little book.

popularity

1258

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publishDateText

09/18/2007

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shortDescription

From one of England's most celebrated writers, 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.
With the poignant and mischievous wit of The History Boys, England's best loved author Alan Bennett revels in the power of literature to change even the most...

sortTitle

Uncommon Reader A Novella

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Farrar, Straus and Giroux

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