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The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
May. 29th, 2012 09:34 pmI think writing about the past week or so is still just a little beyond me. Or maybe we should just say I'm exploring my other modalities...
For this week's Jubilee Read... Alan Bennett's Uncommon Reader about what happens when QEII discovers literature in mobil library.
Quotable moments:
"...briefing is not reading. In fact it is the antithesis of reading. Briefing is terse, factual and to the point. Reading is untidy, discursive an perpetually inviting. Briefing closes down a subject, reading opens it up." (p21-2)
"The appeal of reading, she thought, lay in its indifference: there was something undeferring about literature. Books id not care who was reaing them or whether one read them or not. All readers were equal, herself included. Literature she thought, is a commonwealth; letters a republic... It is only now she understood what it meant." (p30-1)
"You don't put your life into books. You find it there." (p101)
Also some hilarious nasty bits about how boring and self-centered authors are. Mr. Bennett should know!
Not sure I agree with all this, but I enjoyed it, particularly because it was short. (Though the fantasy at the end... phew! A political discussion for another time!)
For this week's Jubilee Read... Alan Bennett's Uncommon Reader about what happens when QEII discovers literature in mobil library.
Quotable moments:
"...briefing is not reading. In fact it is the antithesis of reading. Briefing is terse, factual and to the point. Reading is untidy, discursive an perpetually inviting. Briefing closes down a subject, reading opens it up." (p21-2)
"The appeal of reading, she thought, lay in its indifference: there was something undeferring about literature. Books id not care who was reaing them or whether one read them or not. All readers were equal, herself included. Literature she thought, is a commonwealth; letters a republic... It is only now she understood what it meant." (p30-1)
"You don't put your life into books. You find it there." (p101)
Also some hilarious nasty bits about how boring and self-centered authors are. Mr. Bennett should know!
Not sure I agree with all this, but I enjoyed it, particularly because it was short. (Though the fantasy at the end... phew! A political discussion for another time!)
