The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
“’You don’t put your life into your books. You find it there.’”
The Uncommon Reader is a fictitious story about Queen Elizabeth II and her discovery of her love of books and reading. She stumbles across a traveling library because of her dogs and meets a young gentleman, Norman. The Queen ends up taking a liking to this young man and invites him up from the kitchens as one of her aides. He starts off suggesting books for her to read and becomes a person that she discusses books with. Not everyone associated with the royal household is fond of her newfound love of reading. It ends up distracting her from her duties and diminishes the excitement she used to get from them. Now, she is found with a book in her hand always. We follow her through her journey and how her love of reading morphs due to her surroundings and external pressures. We learn a lot about books, reading, and how they can affect things.
Alan Bennett is so clever and witty. This book was funny and very relatable. I laughed out loud especially when Kama Sutra was mentioned. I love reading so much and I found myself nodding along with the nuggets of wisdom that were sprinkled throughout this great piece of work. I love how nonchalantly gay authors and subject matter were just rolled into the conversations with Her Majesty. I do not remember stopping to look up as many words while reading a book as I did with this one. There were so many words that I loved too like Opsimath and Amanuensis. It was so well written and very intelligent. There were lots of mentions of writers and historical notes. The author did bring in some tension and not likeable characters which helped to drive the story and make me care more. I was just thinking let people be and enjoy what they enjoy without hurting others. I wish this in the real world too. Reading and books were talked about beautifully. It was a sort of love letter to the written word. A ton of things that were said I thoroughly enjoyed. “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.” It really speaks to what reading can bring into a person’s life and how they can benefit from it. “Books are not about passing the time. They’re about other lives. Other worlds.” It brings you in contact with things and places and people you might not have otherwise been introduced to. This book took no time at all to read as it was short and perfectly delightful. I highly recommend people who love books and reading pick this up to have a lot of our thoughts about our love of reading reflected back on us in charming ways.
Affiliate Link:
https://amzn.to/4ed0n53
View all my reviews