The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennet is a thoroughly delightful book––a novella (short fiction)––that suggests how at age 70 the Queen of England herself became a reader.

Clever use of the word “uncommon” since in British hierarchy a commoner is distinguished from royalty as anyone without a title of nobility.

No one ranks higher than the Queen.

Rhetorical questions:

But does the Queen have time to read? Does the Queen need to read? Has the Queen read so much that relates to the business as head of state that the last thing she would want to do is read a book?

To read for pleasure? To explore? To develop interests and gain insight from the vast tributaries of knowledge, insight and wisdom?

To get acquainted with characters who take on a life beyond the pages of the book the writer wrote, simply by imagining and creating?

Does Sherlock Holmes exist now that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle made him seem real?

Is it possible to have so many responsibilities that the joy of reading bypasses the Queen?

Intriguing answers

This book examines possibilities through a lens of discovery as the Queen comes to realize what she has been missing. Books.

The Joy of Reading

“… Books are not about passing the time. They’re about other lives. Other worlds. Far from wanting time to pass … one just wishes one had more of it. If one wanted to pass the time one could go to New Zealand. …

The appeal of reading, she [the Queen] thought, lay in its indifference: there was something undeferring about literature. Books did not care who was reading them or whether one read them or not. All readers were equal, herself included. Literature, she thought, is a commonwealth; letters a republic … it was anonymous; it was shared; it was common.

What she [the Queen] was finding also was how one book led to another, doors kept opening wherever she turned and the days weren’t long enough for the reading she wanted to do. … 

… Briefing is not reading,[she realized]. In fact, it is the antithesis of reading. Briefing is terse, factual and to the point. Reading is untidy, discursive and perpetually inviting. 

Briefing closes down a subject, reading opens it up.”

Doors keep opening

When reading, you start down one path, only to discover other avenues of interest. Ideas intersect and like the roads on a map, you can get almost anywhere from someplace else.

Go back in time and visit the past. Go forward in time and imagine the future. Stay in the present and become better informed about contemporary concerns.

Pick a place to read and the book in your hands can take you anywhere.