53 pages • 1 hour read
Alan BennettThe Uncommon Reader
Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 2007A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Introduction
The Uncommon Reader
- Genre: Fiction; novella; satire
- Originally Published: 2007
- Reading Level/Interest: College/adult
- Structure/Length: Approx. 126 pages; approx. 2 hours, 27 minutes on audio
- Protagonist/Central Conflict: When the Queen’s corgis wander into a mobile library near Buckingham Palace, she feels duty-bound to borrow a book, unlocking a joy of reading that changes her routines—and her worldview, which impacts the entire country.
- Potential Sensitivity Issues: References to sexual intercourse
Alan Bennett, Author
- Bio: Born in 1934; English playwright, author, actor, and screenwriter; attended Oxford University and graduated with a degree in history; performed with the Oxford Revue; taught and researched medieval history at Oxford; rose to fame with the stage revue Beyond the Fringe, where he wrote and performed with Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller, and Peter Cook; spent the rest of his career writing and acting in plays for the National Theatre and BBC television; treated for colorectal cancer in 1997, which he called a “bore”; plans to donate his entire archive of work to the Bodleian Library as a thank you to the British welfare state for subsidizing an education he wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise
- Other Works: Beyond the Fringe (1962); The Lady in the Van (1990); Untold Stories (2005); A Life Like Other People’s (2009); Keeping on Keeping On (2016)
