I had to finish this book in one setting, considering it was a short read – around one hundred and twenty odd pages and yet every page brims with reading wisdom and anecdotes from The Queen. He explores the effects of reading and writing on our lives through a warm and sometimes funny novella. She is delayed in opening the Parliament and converses less with people (unless the conversation is steered toward reading) and this leads to dire consequences being taken by the Prime Minister and her private secretary.Īlan Bennett conjures a world of reading and writing and how is it accessible to everyone. The Queen forgets her day-to-day duties and activities under the influence of the ‘book’ or many ‘books’. She moves him from there and makes him her personal reading guide. At the beginning of the book we see her making acquaintanceship with Norman Seakins, a young man who works in the royal kitchen. She chances upon a mobile library at the back of her castle by chance and as all things go by chance, she starts devouring books and loves them for what they are. The ‘uncommon’ reader in question in the book is none other than Queen Elizabeth II, who takes a fascination to reading and books. And with this thought I now pen my thoughts on the magnificent little gem titled, “The Uncommon Reader” by Alan Bennett. It doesn’t matter what kind of reader you are – common or uncommon, the book chooses you.

Books have to choose you and only then can you read them. It was there next to me, all the time and I did not pick it up.

I do not know why I had not read this book in a long time.

The uncommon reader review