I’ll start by saying unequivocally that The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett is a total joy to read from start to finish. There, that’s my review… Okay, let’s rewind and dismantle that statement a bit, as I should probably say why I feel like that. The Uncommon Reader of the title is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and in this small, but beautifully formed novella (only 120 pages) Alan Bennett imagines that the Queen comes across a small mobile library on the grounds of Buckingham Palace one day while she’s out with her corgis. Always a stickler for etiquette, she borrows a book to be polite, and makes the acquaintance of a pretty unprepossessing kitchen boy called Norman. From such small beginnings, great national events are built. After a hesitant start the Queen begins to relish her forays into literature, aided and abetted by the redoutable Norman who is elevated to a position as a page, much to the chagrin of her private secretary Sir Kevin, a New Zealander of whom ...