Alan Bennett being brilliant as usual.

RABCK on the way to Portugal to celebrate St George's Day 2015

Thank you so much for this beautiful edition of this book, Deltic :)
and a lovely postcard, as well!

What a fun different read! :)
I've been going through a reading slump, but I managed to read this book in one sitting.. The plot is so unique and well written.. it was a great read!

This book is now available to travel :)

The book is now on its way to irus.

Enjoy :)

Arrived today and already started reading it.
Thanks Janeka

Loved this little book, about the discovery of queen Elizabeth II of the pleasures of reading, and all the consequences of this new hobby of hers in the palace, on her duties and even on the talks she has when visited by prime-ministers of other countries.
Its a funny, witty and a very pleasurable way of spending one or two afternoons.

"Nor initially did she discuss her reading with anyone, least of all in public, knowing that such a late-flowering enthusiasm, however worthwhile, might expose her to ridicule. It would be the same, she thought, if she had developed a passion for God, or dahlias. At her age, people thought, why bother? To her, though, nothing could have been more serious, and she felt about reading what some writers felt about writing, that it was impossible not to do it and that at this late stage of her life she had been chosen to read as others were chosen to write".

It was not hard for irus to persuade me to bring this small book with me, even though I have an obscenely long TBR pile waiting for me... I hope to read it soon, because it looks so inviting...

I loved this imagined account of a late found love for books by Queen Elisabeth II when she inadvertently comes across a travelling library van parked in the palace’s gardens.

‘We have a travelling library,’ the Queen said to her husband that evening. ‘Comes every Wednesday.’
‘Jolly good. Wonders never cease.’

The language and the wit made me laugh out loud, but also google some early XXth century writers I had never heard of before. The description of Ivy Compton-Burnett, for instance, is very accurate ;)

‘She’s not a popular author, ma’am.’
‘Why, I wonder? I made her a dame.’
Mr. Hutchings refrained from saying that this wasn’t necessarily the road to the public’s heart.
The Queen looked at the photograph on the back of the jacket. ‘Yes. I remember that hair, a roll like a pie-crust that went right round her head.’ She smiled and Mr Hutchings knew that the visit was over.

What a treat of a book, thanks, irus!

I will get it back to you as soon as we can arrange to meet again.

As I think some other readers will appreciate it, it will travel for a while in a booking:

- Dukesa
- ladylouve
- conto
- back home

Arrived today, can't wait to read it! Since it's a bookring, I'll try not to take too long with it.
Thank you so much, irus! :*

This book is small but I didn't find it very easy to read. There were many words I didn't know, which posed a challenge, but I loved the story. I found it very amusing to imagine what the Queen's life is like behind the scenes.
Reserved to be sent to LadyLouve.

Travelling to ladylouve :)

Sorry for taking so long to JE, the book is with me sound and safe. I'm very excited to read it!

Thank you for the ring!

I absolutely adored this book! Funny, witty, charming, a perfect example of a great story well told. I read it in an instant, so sorry for taking so long to make a JE. Thank you so much for the share, it was one of my favourite books of the year so far!

My review (in portuguese) in my blog: https://naomeapeteceestudar.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-uncommon-reader.html

Thanks again!

Just got it!
I guess it must have been sitting on my mailbox for a while, sorry for that. I was supposed to have come pick it up a week ago but a stay in the country just got longer than expected ;)
Thanks for sharing irus and thanks for sending it this way, lady. I'll try not to stall it, even if I've become a quite slow reader...

Absolutely loved this as well.
Several things. For one, the title, and the play on the phrase "common reader" (meaning a person who reads for pleasure, not a scholar, or a set text or book that everyone in a group is expected to read, but also relating to common as vulgar and to commoners, as in anyone other than royalty or nobility). But also how such a little book can show once more how one doesn't need hundreds and hundreds of pages to put together a brilliant well told story. It was, by the way, first published in the London Review of Books and only later in book.
I also rejoiced at the way the queen's courtiers hate her new habit, perceiving that reading is "elitist", at the same time as she gets more and more into it, thus getting closer to her subjects in a way. Such a great image of humankind. And if we think a bit about it all, this book isn't even really about the queen at all but about literature, about books, writers and readers alike, about the growing up of a reader as such and the way one book can, at times, be unreadable and a total bliss.
Thank you so much irus, once more again, for the treat! ;)
It'll be going back home soon.

I'm glad so many of you enjoyed the book and took care of it so well.
It will now go to another reader hands and then stay on the shelfs for the delight of many others, I hope.