Thursday, August 30, 2012

Rec. #260: The Uncommon Reader


What: Alan Bennett devises a clever premise --- the Queen of England discovers the joys of reading via a library bookmobile parked at the palace kitchens --- and he executes the premise delightfully.

Comparable to: Bennett's first novella, The Clothes They Stood Up In, is a similarly stripped-down modern fable.

Opening lines: "At Windsor it was the evening of the state banquet and as the president of France took his place beside Her Majesty, the royal family formed up behind and the procession slowly moved off and through into Waterloo Chamber."

Representative quote: "Once I start a book I finish it. That was the way one was brought up. Books, bread and butter, mashed potato --- one finishes what's on one's plate."

You might not like it if: Given how quick a read this novella is, you'll be done with it before you could decide you didn't like it (which is unlikely, anyway).

How to get it: Buyable, borrowable, Kindle-able

Connections to previous Wreckage: Find more Alan Bennett in The History Boys (Rec. #115) and The Clothes They Stood Up In (Rec. #169).

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