![]() The Queen’s reading embarks her on a process of becoming specific, transforming from a symbol of authority to a person who can use that authority – though, fortunately, what she mainly uses it for is to obtain more books. The nice thing about The Uncommon Reader is that it takes a joke and weaves it into something a bit more layered, a reflection on the nature of reading and on the nature of the British monarchy. And when she actually starts talking about writing a book… ![]() ![]() Soon, the Queen is neglecting her ceremonial duties in favour of her books, and nonplussing her adoring subjects by asking them what they’re reading instead of where they’ve travelled from. It seems rude to leave without borrowing a book – so she does so and thus begins an obsession with the written word that plunges her advisors into despair. The titular uncommon reader is Queen Elizabeth II, who finds herself by accident (thanks to her unruly corgis) in a mobile library in the gardens of Buckingham Palace. ![]() Alan Bennett’s The Uncommon Reader isn’t really a novel it’s more of a long short story – a novella, perhaps – which first appeared in The London Review of Books in 2007. ![]()
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