The Uncommon Reader

A writer I like a great deal wrote a piece saying that he had stayed up far too late reading the new Alan Bennett novella in one fell swoop. This was good to hear; since the writer and I have similar tastes and Alan Bennett is a godlike wonder (The HIstory Boys, The Madness of George III and Talking Heads are among his most famous scripts), and, most importantly for me, I have run out of Simon Armitage and new YA fiction to read and everything else requires more time and mental energy than I currently possess.

So I popped into a bookshop and picked up a copy of the book on the way home. The Uncommon Reader, in which QEII finds herself in a mobile lending library at the back of Windsor and develops a passion for literature. It then proceeds through 124 small and beautifully typeset pages to a conclusion that was wholly startling and yet completely right. Like my writer friend, I sat down and consumed it. And, with a short break to consume dinner, 150 minutes later I have a very large smile on my face.

Bennett's writing is filled with delicious one-liners. Imagine Her Majesty pronouncing any of the following (I found it very easy to):

She read Ackerley's account of himself, unsurprised to find that, being a homosexual, he had worked for the BBC.

There were many who hoped for a similar meeting of minds by saying they were reading Harry Potter, but to this the Queen (who had no time for fantasy) invariably said briskly, 'Yes, One is saving that for a rainy day,' and passed swiftly on. [Pure Bennett editorialising there!]

It was Henry James she was reading one teatime when she said out loud, 'Oh, do get on.'

Men (and this included Mrs Thatcher) wanted show. [I think this was my favourite.]

( more ... )

The Uncommon Reader

A writer I like a great deal wrote a piece saying that he had stayed up far too late reading the new Alan Bennett novella in one fell swoop. This was good to hear; since the writer and I have similar tastes and Alan Bennett is a godlike wonder (The HIstory Boys, The Madness of George III and Talking Heads are among his most famous scripts), and, most importantly for me, I have run out of Simon Armitage and new YA fiction to read and everything else requires more time and mental energy than I currently possess.

So I popped into a bookshop and picked up a copy of the book on the way home. The Uncommon Reader, in which QEII finds herself in a mobile lending library at the back of Windsor and develops a passion for literature. It then proceeds through 124 small and beautifully typeset pages to a conclusion that was wholly startling and yet completely right. Like my writer friend, I sat down and consumed it. And, with a short break to consume dinner, 150 minutes later I have a very large smile on my face.

Bennett's writing is filled with delicious one-liners. Imagine Her Majesty pronouncing any of the following (I found it very easy to):

She read Ackerley's account of himself, unsurprised to find that, being a homosexual, he had worked for the BBC.

There were many who hoped for a similar meeting of minds by saying they were reading Harry Potter, but to this the Queen (who had no time for fantasy) invariably said briskly, 'Yes, One is saving that for a rainy day,' and passed swiftly on. [Pure Bennett editorialising there!]

It was Henry James she was reading one teatime when she said out loud, 'Oh, do get on.'

Men (and this included Mrs Thatcher) wanted show. [I think this was my favourite.]

( more ... )