Friday 1 May 2009

Alan Bennett: The Uncommon Reader

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.
An uncommon story about uncommon readers written in an uncommonly sweet and funny way. This is not only the story about the Queen's passion for reading and the consequences of the same, it is also an author's perception regarding the processes of reading and writing as such! Very entertaining and surprising, too!

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