The Uncommon Reader

When I was at the Connie Willis signing, one of the people in the audience asked her what books she would recommend to readers other than her own.  She suggested many books, several of them classics like Dickens, many of which went in one ear and out the other.  However, one lodged in my sulci and lingered in my thoughts.  She described The Uncommon Reader as a book for people who love books.  She summarized the basic plot as "The queen discovers a library at the kingdom's expense" and mentioned that there were many things in the book that would be almost in jokes to a regular reader.  This sounded like a book that I would like to read someday, so I made a mental note of it and told myself I would pick it up someday.

That very weekend, I saw it staring at me out of the shelves of my favorite new bookstore and, needing something that I would be able to finish in the few days before I was leaving town, scooped it up.  Not even a child would call this a long book, it is 120 pages at the outside, more of a novella than a novel but it delivers upon Ms. Willis' promise.

Anyone who is a voracious reader will easily emphasize with the queen as she reads her way across the kingdom, losing interest in some of the boring pomp and wanting only to talk about books.  Mr. Bennett manages to mention a great deal of writers, some directly and some indirectly, so this book has the quality of being more fleshed out the more you have read.

Near the end of the book, the queen says something really interesting: "Reading softens one while writing toughens one up".  I had never thought about reading and writing in those terms before.  I am not 100% sure I agree with the sentiment but it is certainly food for thought.

If you are someone who likes to read, you will enjoy this book.  If you fit into the preceding category and are well read too, then you will love this book.  Overall, I would give this book an 83% but if you can catch all of the references, which I know I didn't, it is probably more like an 87%.