Table for Two

 

Table for Two by Amor Towles

Fiction

2024

Finished on June 1, 2025

Rating: 3.5/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

From the bestselling author of The Lincoln Highway, A Gentleman in Moscow, and Rules of Civility, a richly detailed and sharply drawn collection of stories set in New York and Los Angeles. 

The millions of readers of Amor Towles are in for a treat as he shares some of his shorter six stories set in New York City and a novella in Los Angeles. The New York stories, most of which are set around the turn of the millennium, take up everything from the death-defying acrobatics of the male ego, to the fateful consequences of brief encounters, and the delicate mechanics of compromise which operate at the heart of modern marriages. In Towles’s novel, Rules of Civility, the indomitable Evelyn Ross leaves New York City in September, 1938, with the intention of returning home to Indiana. But as her train pulls into Chicago, where her parents are waiting, she instead extends her ticket to Los Angeles. Told from seven points of view, “Eve in Hollywood” describes how Eve crafts a new future for herself—and others—in the midst of Hollywood’s golden age. Throughout the stories, two characters often find themselves sitting across a table for two where the direction of their futures may hinge upon what they say to each other next. Written with his signature wit, humor, and sophistication, Table for Two is another glittering addition to Towles’s canon of stylish and transporting historical fiction.

I very rarely read short stories mainly because I don't enjoy them as well as novels. I feel that by the time I'm invested in the plot, and have come to care about the characters, the finale is upon me. I did, however, enjoy Amor Towles's stories in this recent release, many of which have an O. Henry feel to them with an unexpected twist at the conclusion of the tale. 

The second half of Towles's book is a novella that picks up where his debut novel, Rules of Civility, ends. I wish I had re-read that book before reading Eve in Hollywood. Towles provides some backstory, but I would have liked more. It's been over six years since I read the author's Rules of Civility, and the details are more than a little fuzzy. Also, the ending of the novella felt convoluted, and I wish I had kept better track of the role of each of the characters. Thus, the less than stellar rating. I must say, though, that his writing is marvelous, filled with subtle wit, and vivid imagery that places his reader directly into the setting. I'm tempted to read his earlier works again!

Speaking of which, you can find my reviews for those tooks here:

Rules of Civility (4.5/5)

A Gentleman in Moscow (5/5) - read twice

The Lincoln Highway (3.5/5)

Small Things Like These

 

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Fiction

2021

Finished on December 14, 2024

Rating: 4.5/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church.

Already an international bestseller, Small Things Like These is a deeply affecting story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically lauded and iconic writers.

Once again, Claire Keegan has authored a spare story that will tug at your heartstrings, while making you believe in the good of humanity. Inspired by true accounts of the Magdalen Laundry scandal in Ireland, Keegan conveys the cruel acts of the Catholic nuns with lean, yet powerful, prose. Both Foster and Small Things Like These belong in everyone's permanent collection. 

It seemed both proper and at the same time deeply unfair that so much of life was left to chance.

A Note from the Author:

This is a work of fiction based in no part on any individual or individuals. Ireland’s last Magdalen laundry was not closed down until 1996. It is not known how many girls and women were concealed, incarcerated and forced to labour in these institutions. Ten thousand is the modest figure; thirty thousand is probably more accurate. Most of the records from the Magdalen laundries were destroyed, lost, or made inaccessible. Rarely was any of these girls’ or women’s work recognised or acknowledged in any way. Many girls and women lost their babies. Some lost their lives. Some or most lost the lives they could have had. It is not known how many thousands of infants died in these institutions or were adopted out from the mother-and-baby homes. Earlier this year, the Mother and Baby Home Commission Report found that nine thousand children died in just eighteen of the institutions investigated. In 2014, the historian Catherine Corless made public her shocking discovery that 796 babies died between 1925 and 1961 in the Tuam home, in County Galway. These institutions were run and financed by the Catholic Church in concert with the Irish State. No apology was issued by the Irish government over the Magdalen laundries until Taoiseach Enda Kenny did so in 2013.”

Joni Mitchell wrote "The Magdalene Laundries" after reading an article shortly after the discovery of 155 bodies of "fallen women" in a mass grave in Dublin. 

I was an unmarried girl

I'd just turned twenty-seven

When they sent me to the sisters

For the way men looked at me

Branded as a jezebel

I knew I was not bound for Heaven

I'd be cast in shame

Into the Magdalene laundries 

 

Most girls come here pregnant

Some by their own fathers

Bridget got that belly

By her parish priest

We're trying to get things white as snow

All of us woe-begotten-daughters

In the steaming stains

Of the Magdalene laundries

 

Prostitutes and destitutes

And temptresses like me

Fallen women

Sentenced into dreamless drudgery

Why do they call this heartless place

Our Lady of Charity?

Oh charity!

 

These bloodless brides of Jesus

If they had just once glimpsed their groom

Then they'd know and they'd drop the stones

Concealed behind their rosaries

They wilt the grass they walk upon

They leech the light out of a room

They'd like to drive us down the drain

At the Magdalene laundries

 

Peg O'Connell died today

She was a cheeky girl

A flirt

They just stuffed her in a hole!

Surely to God you'd think at least some bells should ring!

One day I'm going to die here too

And they'll plant me in the dirt

Like some lame bulb 

That never blooms come any spring

Not any spring

No, not any spring 

Not any spring

Bravo, Claire Keegan (and Joni)! Highly recommend.

Oprah has chosen Small Things Like These for her book club selection. You can see her interview Claire Keegan here. I don't care for the big Starbuck's sponsorship push, but I enjoyed hearing Keegan's thoughts about her novella.

Recitatif

 

Recitatif by Toni Morrison

Fiction

First published in 1983 (new edition in 2022)

Finished on December 8, 2024

Rating: 3.5/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

A beautiful, arresting short story by Toni Morrison—the only one she ever wrote—about race and the relationships that shape us through life, with an introduction by Zadie Smith.

Twyla and Roberta have known each other since they were eight years old and spent four months together as roommates in the St. Bonaventure shelter. Inseparable at the time, they lose touch as they grow older, only to find each other later at a diner, then at a grocery store, and again at a protest. Seemingly at opposite ends of every problem, and in disagreement each time they meet, the two women still cannot deny the deep bond their shared experience has forged between them.

Written in 1980 and anthologized in a number of collections, this is the first time Recitatif is being published as a stand-alone hardcover. In the story, Twyla's and Roberta's races remain ambiguous. We know that one is white and one is black, but which is which? And who is right about the race of the woman the girls tormented at the orphanage?

Morrison herself described this story as "an experiment in the removal of all racial codes from a narrative about two characters of different races for whom racial identity is crucial." Recitatif is a remarkable look into what keeps us together and what keeps us apart, and about how perceptions are made tangible by reality.

I took the advice of another reader and saved Zadie Smith's extensive introduction until I had finished reading Morrison's short story. Recitatif is a work that would be best read and discussed in a book group (or perhaps in a college literature class). The story is straightforward enough, but the underlying themes about race (and the perception of racial codes), as well as memory, are deep and thought-provoking. Smith's erudite analysis is helpful, although at times it was too cerebral. Again, one to discuss with others.

Looking Back - Of Mice and Men

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Fiction - Classic

1937

Finished on March 6, 2002

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

“I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.”

They are an unlikely pair: George is "small and quick and dark of face"; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a "family," clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation. Laborers in California's dusty vegetable fields, they hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. But George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own.

While the powerlessness of the laboring class is a recurring theme in Steinbeck's work of the late 1930s, he narrowed his focus when composing Of Mice and Men, creating an intimate portrait of two men facing a world marked by petty tyranny, misunderstanding, jealousy, and callousness. But though the scope is narrow, the theme is universal: a friendship and a shared dream that makes an individual's existence meaningful.

A unique perspective on life's hardships, this story has achieved the status of timeless classic due to its remarkable success as a novel, a Broadway play, and three acclaimed films.

  

My Original Thoughts (2002):

I read this with the Banned Book Group (online). Quick novella. It's been awhile since I've read anything by Steinbeck. I enjoyed this straight-forward story about George & Lennie. I'm sure I read it in high school, but didn't remember any of the details except the scene with Lennie and the mouse.

My Current Thoughts:

I'm surprised I gave this book such a high rating. It's not one of my favorites by Steinbeck, and I doubt I'll read it again. Someday, I would like to make time to reread The Grapes of Wrath, though.

The House on Mango Street

 

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

Fiction - Classics

1984

Finished on January 10, 2024

Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Here is Sandra Cisneros' greatly admired and best-selling novel of a young girl growing up in the Latino section of Chicago. Acclaimed by critics, beloved by children and their parents and grandparents, taught everywhere from inner-city grade schools to universities across the country, and translated all over the world, "The House on Mango Street" has entered the canon of coming-of-age classics even as it depicts a new American landscape.

Sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous, "The House on Mango Street" tells the story of Esperanza Cordero, whose neighborhood is one of harsh realities and harsh beauty. Esperanza doesn't want to belong - not to her run-down neighborhood, and not to the low expectations the world has for her. Esperanza's story is that of a young girl coming into her power, and inventing for herself what she will become. "The San Francisco Chronicle" has called "The House on Mango Street" "marvelous... spare yet luminous. The subtle power of Cisneros' storytelling is evident. She communicates all the rapture and rage of growing up in a modern world." It is an extraordinary achievement that will live on for years to come.

Part poetry, part novella, Sandra Cisneros' classic coming-of-age story is easily read in one sitting. I chose to read a few vignettes every night, allowing the beautiful prose to sink in, appreciating the visual imagery presented by Cisneros. I wish I had read this while in school, as I think there is much more below the surface. Maybe it's one to discuss with a book group. Lyrical. Nuanced. Spare. Eloquent. Recommend.

Earl works nights. His blinds are always closed during the day. Sometimes he comes out and tells us to keep quiet. The little wooden door that has wedged shut the dark for so long opens with a sigh and lets out a breath of mold and dampness, like books that have been left out in the rain. This is the only time we see Earl except for when he comes and goes to work. He has two little black dogs that go everywhere with him. They don't walk like ordinary dogs, but leap and somersault like an apostrophe and comma. 

Bella: An Appalachian Love Story & Jagged Dawn: Logan's Beginning

 

Bella-An Appalachian Love Story and Jagged Dawn-Logan's Beginnings by Valerie Davisson

Fiction - Novellas

2020 Vaughn House Publishing 

Finished on November 17, 2023

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

For the first time ever under one cover, enjoy these two companion stories-prequels to the Logan McKenna Mystery series.

BELLA: An Appalachian Love Story

Over fifty years ago, high in the hills of Appalachia, Bella's story begins. Norah, Logan McKenna's great-grandmother, falls in love with Giovanni, a young immigrant from Italy searching for his place in the world. Each must face trials they never expected, but from their love, Giovanni creates his masterpiece--Bella, a hand-crafted violin with unparalleled sound that accompanies each generation that follows.

JAGGED DAWN: Logan's Beginning

Unexpected events launch faithful wife and mother, Logan McKenna, battered and wounded, into an unknown future and a life she would never have predicted. A lesser woman wouldn't survive, but with inner strength grounded in the love of family and friends, Logan not only faces her problems head on, but also rediscovers the joy of living--including playing Bella, her beloved violin, and cruising down the Pacific Coast Highway in her gleaming, sapphire-blue '58 Corvette.

Easily read in a single sitting, I allowed myself to linger over these stories, which transport fans of Davisson's Logan McKenna mystery series back to both Red Sleeve, West Virginia and Irvine, California. The first novella alternates between past and present, with details about Logan's great-grandmother's youth, as well as the budding relationship between Norah and Giovanni, the talented craftsman from Italy. I found the second (contemporary) novella more engaging, most likely due to my familiarity with the location (I grew up in Southern California), as well as the dramatic turn of events and likeable main character. Both of these novellas present an engaging back story that makes the reader want to know more about Logan McKenna and what happens to her in the series to come. Valerie Davisson has written nine novels in this mystery series, and I look forward to reading the first installment, Shattered. 

Looking Back - A Christmas Carol

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Fiction/Classic

1938 The John C. Winston Company (first published in 1843)

Finished on January 2, 2002

Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens. It was first published by Chapman & Hall on 19 December 1843. It tells the story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation resulting from a supernatural visit by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Yet to Come.

The novella met with instant success and critical acclaim. The book was written and published in early Victorian era Britain, a period when there was strong nostalgia for old Christmas traditions together with the introduction of new customs, such as Christmas trees and greeting cards. Dickens' sources for the tale appear to be many and varied, but are, principally, the humiliating experiences of his childhood, his sympathy for the poor, and various Christmas stories and fairy tales.

My Original Thoughts (2002):

OK. Nothing great since I've seen so many versions on TV. The illustrations are very good, though.

My Current Thoughts:

I'm sure I've read this more than once, but I have no desire to read it again.

Evenings at Five

 

Evenings at Five by Gail Godwin

Illustrations by Frances Halsband

Fiction

2003 Ballantine Books

Finished on January 18, 2023

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Every evening at five o'clock, Christina and Rudy stopped work and began the ritual commonly known as Happy Hour. Rudy mixed Christina's drink with loving precision, the cavalier slosh of Bombay Sapphire over ice shards, before settling across from her in his Stickley chair with his glass of Scotch. They shared a love of language and music (she is an author, he a composer, after all), a delight in intense conversation, a fascination with popes, and nearly thirty years of life together.

What did I think, that we had forever? muses Christina, seven months after Rudy's unexpected death. While coming to terms with her loss, with the space that Rudy once inhabited, Christina reflects on their vibrant bond - with all its quirks, habits, and unguarded moments - as well as her passionate sorrow and her attempts to reposition herself and her new place in the very real world they shared.

In this literary jewel, a bittersweet novella of absence and presence and the mysterious gap between them, Gail Godwin has performed a small miracle. In essence, Evenings at Five is a grief sonata for solo instrument transposed into words. Interwoven with meditations and movements, full of aching truths and a wicked sense of humor, it exquisitely captures the cyclical nature of commitment - and the eternal quality of a romance completed.

A dear friend gifted me this lovely book fifteen years ago, and while I know I read it sometime in early 2008, I didn't have any memory of the story when I picked it up again last week. Having just finished two exceptionally long novels (Coming Home and A Fine Balance), I was ready to read something not quite so long. I began with Foster by Claire Keegan, and was so pleased with that novella, that I searched my shelves for something else that I could read in one evening. Evenings at Five was just the ticket. Like Foster, the book is roughly 5x7, fitting neatly in one hand. With a mere 114 pages (many of which include lovely line drawings, spanning across the spread of two pages), this was a perfect choice for a quick, yet thoughtful, read. 

I'm not sure if it's due to my more mature age (I was 47 rather than 61 when I first read Evenings at Five), but the characters and their lives resonated with me much more this time around. My husband and I are now both retired and have a similar "happy hour" ritual each evening at five. This tender story could easily be overwhelmingly depressing, but I found it lyrical and filled with love, and one which I will return to in the future.

Foster

Foster by Claire Keegan

Fiction

2022 Grove Press (first published in 2010)

Finished on January 17, 2023

Rating: 5/5 (Outstanding)

Publisher's Blurb:

An international bestseller and one of The Times' "Top 50 Novels Published in the 21st Century," Claire Keegan's piercing contemporary classic Foster is a heartbreaking story of childhood, loss, and love; now released as a standalone book for the first time ever in the US.

It is a hot summer in rural Ireland. A child is taken by her father to live with relatives on a farm, not knowing when or if she will be brought home again. In the Kinsellas' house, she finds an affection and warmth she has not known and slowly, in their care, begins to blossom. But there is something unspoken in this new household--where everything is so well tended to--and this summer must soon come to an end.

Winner of the prestigious Davy Byrnes Prize and first published in the New Yorker, Claire Keegan's Foster has sold over 120,000 copies in the UK and Ireland, where it is also required reading in schools. A story of astonishing emotional depth now expanded and newly revised in a standalone edition, Foster showcases Claire Keegan's great talent and cements her reputation as one of our most important and prodigious storytellers.

Typically, I don't care for short stories, preferring to immerse myself in a novel and become fully acquainted with the cast of characters. However, Claire Keegan's brilliant novella pulled me in from the opening lines and I didn't stop reading until the final page, at which I flipped back to the beginning and re-read the first chapter. Keegan's spare prose and tender relationships bring to mind Kent Haruf's beloved Plainsong; I can see how Foster garnered tremendous popularity in 2022. 

Foster is deeply moving and a treasure of a book. I can hardly wait to get a copy of Small Things Like These, which has been equally popular among readers. Thank you, Ann Patchett, for bringing Keegan's books to my attention on Parnassus' Friday stories ("If You Haven't Read These Books, They're New to You") on Instagram. My to-be-read list keeps growing thanks to these recommendations!

“She is able to tell a story in a paragraph, or to compress a novel into a few thousand words,” said Deborah Treisman, the fiction editor at The New Yorker, which published an abridged version of “Foster” in 2010. “There’s such a precision to what she notices.”

If It Bleeds

If It Bleeds by Stephen King

Fiction/Novellas

2020 Simon & Schuster

Narrated by Danny Burstein, Steven Weber & Will Patton

Finished on January 29, 2022

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Readers adore Stephen King’s novels, and his novellas are their own dark treat, briefer but just as impactful and enduring as his longer fiction. Many of his novellas have been made into iconic films, including “The Body” (Stand By Me) and “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” (Shawshank Redemption).

Four brilliant new tales in If It Bleeds are sure to prove as iconic as their predecessors. Once again, King’s remarkable range is on full display. In the title story, reader favorite Holly Gibney (from the Mr. Mercedes trilogy and The Outsider) must face her fears, and possibly another outsider—this time on her own. In “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone” an intergenerational friendship has a disturbing afterlife. “The Life of Chuck” explores, beautifully, how each of us contains multitudes. And in “Rat,” a struggling writer must contend with the darker side of ambition.

If these novellas show King’s range, they also prove that certain themes endure. One of King’s great concerns is evil, and in If It Bleeds, there’s plenty of it. There is also evil’s opposite, which in King’s fiction often manifests as friendship. Holly is reminded that friendship is not only life-affirming but can be life-saving. Young Craig befriends Mr. Harrigan, and the sweetness of this late-in-life connection is its own reward.

When I downloaded this audiobook, I didn't realize that it is made up of four novellas and I was initially disappointed since I was enjoying the first story so well and didn't want it to end. I needn't have worried. "Mr. Harrigan's Phone" was perfect in length and the conclusion came at the right moment. Any longer and it would have lost its magic. I loved it and know it will stay with me for a long time. Stephen King is such an great storyteller. As I listened, I found myself reminiscing about other stories and books of his that I've read over the years. His young characters are so well drawn and their youthful innocence stirs up memories of my own childhood and the freedom we had as kids. 

"The Life of Chuck" starts off as a disturbing look at where we might wind up if we don't take climate change more seriously, but after the first part of the story, the narrative takes a surprising turn. This novella is comprised of three "acts" and the chronology is reversed, which makes for an interesting read.

Just as I was about to begin the third story ("If It Bleeds"), I discovered that the main character also plays an important role in another Stephen King book. Anyone who reads King knows about these type of cross-overs, but I wasn't familiar with Holly Gibney until I added this book to my Goodreads list. I spotted the Holly Gibney #2 notation and realized I was about to begin this story out of order. I quickly paused the book and downloaded The Outsider, which I reviewed here. Once I finished listening to that book, I returned to "If It Bleeds." I'm glad I didn't read the books out of order, as I would have learned several spoilers about The Outsider. (I've since learned that Holly also makes an appearance in Mr. Mercedes, but I'll just have to live with those spoilers.) "If It Bleeds" is an entertaining, albeit, creepy story and I enjoyed learning more about Holly, who has quickly become a favorite character. 

"Rat," which is the final story in this collection, was my least favorite and had I not been listening to the audio edition, I might have just skipped it. Do we really need another story about a struggling writer?

All in all this was an entertaining book and I'm eager to read more by King. He never fails to entertain!

I received a complimentary copy from Libro.fm. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Elevation

 

Elevation by Stephen King

Fiction

2018 Scribner

Finished on September 30, 2020

Rating: 2/5 (Fair)

Publisher's Blurb:

Although Scott Carey doesn’t look any different, he’s been steadily losing weight. There are a couple of other odd things, too. He weighs the same in his clothes and out of them, no matter how heavy they are. Scott doesn’t want to be poked and prodded. He mostly just wants someone else to know, and he trusts Doctor Bob Ellis.

In the small town of Castle Rock, the setting of many of King’s most iconic stories, Scott is engaged in a low grade—but escalating—battle with the lesbians next door whose dog regularly drops his business on Scott’s lawn. One of the women is friendly; the other, cold as ice. Both are trying to launch a new restaurant, but the people of Castle Rock want no part of a gay married couple, and the place is in trouble. When Scott finally understands the prejudices they face–including his own—he tries to help. Unlikely alliances, the annual foot race, and the mystery of Scott’s affliction bring out the best in people who have indulged the worst in themselves and others.

The last time I picked up a Stephen King novel was in 2014 when I read 11/22/63. It's a great book, especially for those who enjoy speculative fiction or time travel stories. I wish I could say the same of Elevation, which I initially borrowed from the library for my husband, but decided to add to my RIP XV reading challenge stack. This small volume is more of a novella and can be easily read in one sitting, for which I was thankful; I doubt I would have continued, had it been any longer. It started out fine, and I was curious about what evil forces could be causing Scott's unnatural weight loss, but after a couple of chapters, I felt it was too trite and sappy, as if Nicholas Sparks and Mitch Albom had gotten together to write a horror story. When it's time to compile my year-end summary, Elevation will go down as the weirdest book I've read since Aimee Bender's bizarre novel, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake.

I read Elevation for the RIP XV Challenge.

And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer

And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman
Fiction
2016 Atria Books
Finished on January 16, 2019
Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Grandpa and Noah are sitting on a bench in a square that keeps getting smaller every day. The square is strange but also familiar, full of the sweet scent of the hyacinths that Grandma loved to grow in her garden.

As they wait together, they tell jokes and discuss their shared love of mathematics. Grandpa recalls what it was like to fall in love with his wife--and what it was like to lose her. She's as real to him now as the first day he met her, but he dreads the day when he won't remember her.

This peculiar space that is growing dimmer and more confusing all the time is where they will learn to say good-bye, the scent of hyacinths in the air, nothing to fear.

Fredrik Backman has rendered an exquisitely moving portrait of an elderly man's struggle to hold onto his most precious memories and his family's efforts to care for him even as they must find a way to let go.

This little book with a big message is sure to be treasured for generations to come.

It's been over four years since I first read A Man Called Ove. I loved that novel, but haven't gotten around to reading anything else by Backman's until this week when I spotted this slim book on the shelf at the library. Unlike many of my friends who have read the novella, I didn't fall in love with the story, nor did I shed any tears when I was finished. It's a tender tale about an older man dealing with Alzheimer's and I was just as confused as he, spending too much time trying to sort out whose point of view was being shared. At times it was obviously Grandpa's, but there were other moments when I wasn't sure if I was reading about Noah (the grandson) or Noah's father Ted (as a young boy). I may have to read it again.

The Uncommon Reader

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
Fiction
2007 Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Finished on February 19, 2018
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

From one of England's most celebrated writers, the author of the award-winning The History Boys, a funny and superbly observed novella about the Queen of England and the subversive power of reading.

When her corgis stray into a mobile library parked near Buckingham Palace, the Queen feels duty-bound to borrow a book. Discovering the joy of reading widely (from J. R. Ackerley, Jean Genet, and Ivy Compton-Burnett to the classics) and intelligently, she finds that her view of the world changes dramatically. Abetted in her newfound obsession by Norman, a young man from the royal kitchens, the Queen comes to question the prescribed order of the world and loses patience with the routines of her role as monarch. Her new passion for reading initially alarms the palace staff, and soon leads to surprising and very funny consequences for the country at large.

Oh, this is one every book-lover and Anglophile should own! It's a quick read and quite witty. Having recently watched The Crown, I could hear the Queen's distinctive voice as I read. Here are a few favorite passages:

"Pass the time?" said the Queen. "Books are not about passing the time. They're about other lives. Other worlds. Far from wanting to pass, Sir Kevin, one just wishes one had more of it. If one wanted to pass the time one could go to New Zealand."

and

The appeal of reading, she 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. Actually, she had heard this phrase, the republic of letters, used before, at graduation ceremonies, honorary degrees and the like, though without knowing quite what it meant. At that time talk of a republic of any sort she had thought mildly insulting and in her actual presence tactless, to say the least. It was only now she understood what it meant. Books did not defer. All readers were equal, and this took her back to the beginning of her life. As a girl, one of her greatest thrills had been on VE night when she and her sister had slipped out of the gates and mingled unrecognised with the crowds. There was something of that, she felt, to reading. It was anonymous; it was shared; it was common. And she who had led life apart now found that she craved it. Here in these pages and between these covers she could go unrecognised.

and 

It was this sense of making up for lost time that made her read with such rapidity and in the process now making more frequent (and more confident) comments of her own, bringing to what was in effect literary criticism the same forthrightness with which she tackled other departments of her life. She was not a gentle reader and often wished authors were around so that she could take them to task.

"Am I alone," she wrote, "in wanting to give Henry James a good talking-to?"

"I can see why Dr. Johnson is well thought of, but surely, much of it is opinionated rubbish?"

It was Henry James she was reading one teatime when she said out loud, "Oh, do get on."

I'm going to treat myself to a copy for Christmas. This is one to be read more than once!