Even for non-Bennett fans

Advantages: Will last you a long time! Entertaining, humourous, and poignant.
Disadvantages: Not a quick read.

...Alan Bennett was unknown to me before I picked up this book. All I knew was that he was a playwright. I acquired the novel from Asda at a very good price of £3.99. I was looking for an intellectual, stimulating and humourous read. I definitely got what I asked for. The book is long and the print is small so it takes a while to read. It is what it says it is though - it is a mix of journal entries and musings. Naturally, it is very well written, and is easy to follow - but it is clear that this something written for adults as the language can be quite complex. Bennett does not leave much to the imagination, it has to be said, and he reveals a lot of personal insight on his family life, and can be at times very critical of family members. So much so that as a reader I felt quite invasive, almost like an intruder, knowing so much...

jazzzza 06.09.2007 · Read review
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Review of Untold Stories - Alan Bennett

Hard going but worth it....Blood Royal - Vanora Bennett

Advantages: Enjoyable read
Disadvantages: Its a long book

......

jinxyjo 12.08.2009 · Read review
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Review of Blood Royal - Vanora Bennett

Wait to go, Bennett and Royle!

Advantages: Makes academic debates appealing to a wider readership
Disadvantages: Its conciseness means you're left wanting more!

...I may sound a little swotty, enjoying my literary criticism so much, but let me assure you that literary theory can be cool. Bennett and Royle prove this perfectly. This wonderfully accessible book is great for anyone studying English at undergraduate level, particularly if they have any papers in Literary Theory. Also very useful if you like reading and analysing texts, thinking about contextuality and intertextuality. (I was told in the 'Will you, nil you...' review I wrote that I shouldn't explain literary terms as it could patronise some review readers, so I won't explain that intertextuality means writers' references to other works of literature in their own works... oops... I guess I had to put it in there just in case an aspiring young soul who is about to embark on a degree needed a little explanation :) Anyway, moving on...

Prof.P 23.08.2005 (24.08.2005) · Read review
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Review of Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory - Andrew Bennett, Nicholas Royle

Reflections

Advantages: A wonderful collection
Disadvantages: Nothing major

...Untold Stories is an anthology of prose, family memoir, diaries, reviews and general writings by Alan Bennett. The book is over 600 pages long and recieved a glowing critical reception when it was first published in 2005. The book is certainly more candid and personal than the previous Bennett collections. While it was being put together and written, Bennett was battling cancer and given less than a 50% chance of survival. Bennett, aware that the book might well be published after his death, was inspired to tell some 'untold stories' about his family and his personal life so, for the first time, we are able to read Bennett's thoughts about being gay and his relationships as well as some bittersweet memories of his parents and a moving account of his mother's struggle with mental illness. Happily, Bennett confounded his Doctors by beating...

arthurpringle 02.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Untold Stories - Alan Bennett

Fishing - The store with more

Advantages: Mail order service, 6 months interest free credit
Disadvantages: Too far away for me just to pop in and browse

...I have shopped at Bennetts for a number of years now and cannot fault them. I use their mail order service which is brilliant. Goods always arrive well protected from damage and in the unlikely event that an item is out of stock they will notify you which is sadly something not all companies do these days. I do hate being left wondering when I will get my missing items. With Bennetts you know. They will send you a catalogue upon request and then provided you remain a customer they will send you out regular updates and offers throughout the year. They seem to have excellent customer relations. I recently ordered a rod which was out of stock and was no longer made, Bennetts sent me a similar but more expensive rod as a replacement with an excellent covering letter. To say I was pleased would be an understatement. Postage...

jonwhite 30.11.2000 · Read review
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Review of Bennetts of Shefield

The History Boy's Annual

Advantages: Compendium of short autobiographical stories, insights into plays, theatres and actors.
Disadvantages: Diaries can get a little tedious. Lectures not well illustrated.

...Alan Bennett likens his book ?Untold Stories? to one of those comic-book Christmas Annuals jam-packed with all sorts of stories, pictures and puzzles. ?Untold Stories? is indeed a compendium style book with its collection of autobiographical stories, diary entries, lectures, comments on plays / theatres & actors and photographs. And just like an annual, Untold Stories was published in readiness for Christmas in October 2005. Alan Bennett was diagnosed with cancer in 1977 and thought he was dying when he gathered together his works for the book. In his final story of the book, ?Another Rock Bun? which details his illness from his feelings on hearing the diagnosis through to his current state of remission, Bennett explains that he ?had no wish to travel or to see exotic parts of the world . . . so instead I began, I suppose, to tidy...

MAFARRIMOND 19.05.2007 · Read review
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Review of Untold Stories - Alan Bennett

Her Majesty's New Hobby

Advantages: A very enjoyable gentle read
Disadvantages: None

...I have to be honest and admit that while of course I know of Alan Bennett, I had not read any of his work until I read The Uncommon Reader, which is one of the latest books set for the reading group I go to monthly. Bennett has had a very distinguished career, as both a novelist and a playwright, but somehow I've never actually read anything by him. The Uncommon Reader is a novella of only 120 pages. It is a simple "what if" story - what would happen if the Queen, having come across a travelling library at the palace doors, became engrossed in reading? I don't want to give too much away, but that is the main premise of the story which is written in the blurb on the back of the book. She discovers the joys of reading, and how it can transport the reader elsewhere. Bennett has written a charming story which is easy to read and to...

eilidhcatriona 12.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett

Bennett?s finest hour?

Advantages: Compulsive reading from start to finish.
Disadvantages: Only that 2 pages of the introduction were repeated in a later Bennett collection.

...To say that I?m a bit of a Bennett fan is something of an understatement and it was this particular offering that holds the blame! Talking Heads, a set of six monologues, was published and televised in 1988 and held captivated a 15 year old with no particular interest in books or plays ? it has remained one of my favourite pieces of writing by any author ever since. Not that the ?stories? found within the book are plays in the strictest sense of the word. As Bennett (70 in May!) explains in the introduction, a play allows you to see things from the perspective of several featured characters. In a monologue you are reliant upon the viewpoints of a single character; you must read between the lines in order to draw your own conclusions. I think it is this aspect of Bennett?s work that first appealed to me? reading or listening to one of his...

Pozza 13.03.2004 · Read review
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Review of Alan Bennet - Talking Heads

The Tenderising of Elizabeth Regina

Advantages: Readable and amusing
Disadvantages: Does not come up to Bennett's usual standard

...with little success. However when the Prime Minister gets annoyed by Ma?am giving him books to read and subsequently questioning him on their content, things have gone too far and the great and the good in Downing Street demand that a stop is put to such behaviour. Sir Kevin enlists the help of Sir Claude, an elderly royal aide, in breaking this addiction and the Queen is quite taken with the old retainer?s tentative suggestion that she might take up writing instead. Thus begins her ?scribbling? stage which if anything absorbs her even more than the reading. The story progresses to a conclusion which is actually quite inevitable in retrospect but one I have to admit I did not see coming. Bennett weaves a wonderful and very readable tale and must be admired for packing such a horde of treasures into just one hundred and twenty short pages. His...

suesie 01.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett

dyslexia differently

Advantages: Lots of practical and easy to apply suggestions
Disadvantages: none

...Dyslexia Pocketbook is a very helpful little book. I don't know why the author insisted on omitting the definite article (the) before the title, but I wish they hadn't as it's so hard to teach grammar such as that to children with dyslexia. This is, however, my only real gripe, and it's a very very minor one. This is a very small book ? pocket-sized indeed ? aimed at teachers, teaching assistants and other professionals working with children with dyslexia. This book is useful regardless of the age of the children one works with (this is great as one book will serve any teacher, many other books are more age-specific, and with me working in a middle school I work with both primary and secondary level students). Julie Bennett used to work as a primary school teacher and according to the book she has more than 20 years experience working...

M.Newcastle 07.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Dyslexia Pocketbook - Julie Bennett