The Uncommon Reader

The Uncommon Reader

• Genre: Fiction; novella; satire
• Originally Published: 2007
• Reading Level/Interest: College/adult
• Structure/Length: Approx. 126 pages; approx. 2 hours, 27 minutes on audio
• Protagonist/Central Conflict: When the Queen’s corgis wander into a mobile library near Buckingham Palace, she feels duty-bound to borrow a book, unlocking a joy of reading that changes her routines—and her worldview, which impacts the entire country.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: References to sexual intercourse      

Alan Bennett, Author

• Bio: Born in 1934; English playwright, author, actor, and screenwriter; attended Oxford University and graduated with a degree in history; performed with the Oxford Revue; taught and researched medieval history at Oxford; rose to fame with the stage revue Beyond the Fringe, where he wrote and performed with Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller, and Peter Cook; spent the rest of his career writing and acting in plays for the National Theatre and BBC television; treated for colorectal cancer in 1997, which he called a “bore”; plans to donate his entire archive of work to the Bodleian Library as a thank you to the British welfare state for subsidizing an education he wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise
• Other Works: Beyond the Fringe (1962); The Lady in the Van (1990); Untold Stories (2005); A Life Like Other People’s (2009); Keeping on Keeping On (2016)