The Uncommon Reader – Book Review

Finished reading

The Uncommon Reader

by Alan Bennett

★★★★

Expectation

This book was a book club assignment. When it first came out I was not that impressed with it. It looked fancy and it was presented like a book lover book. But somehow I just was not interested enough to pick it up. What I liked about it now was the small size and page count.

Summary

First of all the Croatian translation of this book was a bit special. The hardcover edition had covers of red velvet. The spacing and the letter size was very luxurious as well. I actually felt spoiled using the book marker ribbon that was a part of this book. It was amazingly practical. It is in all a very beautiful edition.

“Reading is untidy, discursive and perpetually inviting.”
― Alan Bennett, The Uncommon Reader

At first I wanted to make a list of all the books and the authors that the main character started her love of reading with. But soon it was obvious that there were too many of them and the list would be irrelevant. Reading is a personal activity and our choice of books should not be evaluated by anyone but ourselves.

Conclusion

The authors background in play writing was obvious. Plot wise I would have preferred to see this book as a play. Other than that, the evolution of a reader was nicely depicted. I could summarize this book by a quote: