My Current Favorite Book

I've recently -- for the thousandth time -- decided that there are far too many books to read in the world; and as it is impossible for me to read them all, I'm not going to even pretend that I have. Even if I am a bookseller and therefore expected to read it all. Further, I'm only going to read the ones I'm really interested in. (More of that below.) Enough of this trying to keep up! I can't and therefore I won't.

Enough ranting. The subtitle of this blog acknowledges the blurry line between books and life. I picked up Alan Bennett's novella The Uncommon Reader and quickly was walking that fuzzy line. (Did I mention I fell in love with reading all over again?) The Uncommon Reader is short (a huge plus these hurried days), funny (who doesn't need a laugh?), wise and succinctly written. He gets so much into so few words.!

The uncommon reader of the title is the Queen of England, who, after her misbehaved and bratty corgi tears through the mobile library parked on the palace grounds, feels she must go inside to apologize for her dog's bad behavior. And, of course not to be rude (a queen is never rude), she feels she must check out a book -- something she's never, ever done. She doesn't even know what to pick out. After getting suggestions from the librarian and the kitchen boy who frequents the mobile library, she checks out a work by an author she vaguely remembers making a dame of the British Empire.

She finds it a bit dry and checks out another -- again out of politeness. And then another. And so begins a whole new piece of her life. She is so often reading that she -- horrors! -- becomes habitually late, throwing the tightly scheduled palace household into complete disarray. She finds herself so engrossed with her reading that she assumes others must be equally engrossed.She begins to ask others their opinion of their current book at state occasions -- only to find they are totally discomfited because, in fact, they don't read. They are used to discussing traffic cones, road construction, and weather!

You're probably wondering if I'm going to get to the books/life thing. For one thing, Alan Bennett so perfectly captures the ins-and-outs of the royal household that it's tempting to think the whole thing is true! More importantly, his --and the Queen's -- reflections on how extensive reading broadens one's view of life is perfect. We can experience another life, another place through books as if we were there. As the song from The Lion King goes "there is more to see than can ever be seen, more to do than can ever be done." For many of us, books are the gateway to see and do those things we'll probably never see or do in our own lives. The Queen certainly comes to realize that!

I won't spoil it for you -- after all, you can read it yourself in about 2 hours! Treat yourself to a fun story by a masterful writer. Be prepared to laugh -- and then go check out that next book . . .
-posted by Janet