The Uncommon Reader

After a particularly boring stint of no work, no play, I decided to hit the bookstore. While the walk did me a lot of good, the merchandise has since worked wonders for my mood. Alan Bennett's The Uncommon Reader is a brilliantly tight work, funny and bold. Once I started reading it, I couldn't stop - it had to be finished. What does the Queen finally do? And of course, the love for reading, such a basic sentiment, like holding a friend's hand. The way she hides her books from those who don't want her to read and how she finds them to be mysteriously disappearing. Reminded me of the times I used to hide fiction behind the bulky, boring school books in my school bags. Someone described it as a fairy tale of adults. And I now know why. It is a delightful treatise on English literature through the eyes of the monarch, and at the same time, it is an introduction to the world of books through a quaint little mobile library. If there is one book you read this summer, it has really got to be The Uncommon Reader.

On to The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid now. Man! Am I enjoying this unplanned break! :-)