Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 26-30 of 95
 Gorgeously clever, funny and delightful July 1, 2008
Julia Flyte (Seattle)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
The premise of this gorgeous novella is that the Queen, a woman previously devoid of hobbies, suddenly discovers the joy of reading. She starts seizing every opportunity to pick up a book - declaring a sick day or surreptitiously reading in the coach on the way to open Parliament. On walkabouts, instead of asking people whether they've come far, she asks them about what they're reading. This disconcerts and displeases almost everyone around her: her staff, her visitors, the Prime Minister, even her corgis (who get fewer walks).
"The Uncommon Reader" is a deliciously funny book. (I particularly enjoyed the portrayal of the Duke of Edinburgh.) The details are well researched and the premise somehow feels both totally believable and quite fantastic. It's a love letter to reading but also in a way a love letter to the Queen. Plus, the ending is perfect. It's a glorious book that only takes a couple of hours to read, but one of the best that I've read all year.
Uncommonly good June 30, 2008
M. A Newman (Alexandria, VA United States)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This probably is one of the most charming books I have read in a long time and by one of the UK's greatest comic geniuses. I have long admired Alan Bennett for his theatrical pieces and in particular the monologues, but this is something delightful in a different sense. Bennett is following much in the footsteps of Flaubert by showing us how reading can change the life of a heroine. In the case of Flaubert, Emma Bovery is destroyed by the false expectations raised by the novels she consumes. The Queen on the other hand, the "Uncommon Reader" of the title, really comes into her own as a person with thoughts and ideas and most dangerously opinions. This upsets any number of interested parties including the Prime Minister and various members of the royal household. This leads to a rather unsuccessful attempt to deprive her of her literary guide, a nice young man from the kitchen named Norman, whose tastes tend to run to gay writers, much to the dismay of her secretary, a New Zealander named Kevin, the Prime Minister, and even the French President. Having a monarch whose idea of conversation is to inquire as to one's thoughts on Jean Genet is something unsettling to that narrow clique who make up "the great and the good."
What Bennett does in this wonderful little book is to show how reading can really change a life if approached in the right way and how it arouses suspicious in the mediocrities who surround the monarch. However it is with reading that the Uncommon Reader discovers writing, something that at the end of the book presents its own dilemmas.
I picked this book up because it was this summer's selection in Fairfax County Virginia's summer reading selection. I found it to be one of the most pleasant surprises provided by a work of fiction in a long time. All I can say in conclusion: "Long Live the Queen and Long may she read!"
 `Hobbies involved preferences and preferences had to be avoided..' June 13, 2008
J. Cameron-Smith (ACT, Australia)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Reading this novella was a wonderful way to spend an hour last night. Wondering about the Queen and her reading habits caused me great concern, though. Democratizing influences could prove to be so unsettling, and one does prefer one's figureheads to remain remote and untainted by populist pursuits.
I jest (well, at least in part). I could think of nothing better than discussing `A Tale of Two Cities' or the merits of `Wuthering Heights' with Her Majesty when next she visits. In fact, I think I should like to compile a reading list for her consideration.
Long live the Queen!
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Short easy read - LOVED it! May 31, 2008
Kisane (Singapore)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Whatever you do, don't skip to the end, leave the room if a smart alek friend starts raving about this book and avoid any reviews that don't come with a spoiler warning (there are none here so don't worry!). Yes, you definitely don't want to have one of the best endings in bookdom which happens on the VERY last page of this delightful novella, spoilt for you.
The Queen discovers reading, and pursues this new passion with much gusto to the horror of her private secretary, prime minister and others. She reads everywhere and to the point where it interferes with her royal duties. Her reading choices are remarkable, guided in part by a kitchen helper who first introduces gay-themed books for Her Majesty's reading pleasure. But before long, she is onto to other authors, one book leading to the next. I was most indignant when her royal staff ganged up to stifle this new hobby, but her royal resourcefulness discovers that reading leads to an even more interesting hobby: writing. I closed it with a satisfying chuckle, wondering if someone would pass this gem to the Queen. It definitely earns the "You have no idea how much fun this is" award.
Hail to the Queen! May 21, 2008
Princeton333 (Princeton, NJ)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a quick delightful read. Wasn't as enamoured with it as others who had recommended it, but I did find myself chuckling out loud several times. Based on a quirkly premise of the Queen's introduction to reading for enjoyment rather than duty. Disliked the ending.
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