Wonderful short romp about the Queen messing up her court by ....gasp....READING!
Sweet and funny and so believable and the ending comes as a little tickle under the chin. Read it! ( )

This was a delightful read, a fictional account of Queen Elizabeth of England and what happens when she discovers the joys of reading. With some laugh-out-loud funny observations and quips, this novella was a quick read with a helluva a zinger at the very end that made me go "Ha!" because I never saw it coming. ( )

I loved this little books. Feelings of Sue Townsend's 'The Queen and I' for me. A delicious little treat and some very good tongue in cheek humour. Highly recommend. ( )

This is a short fiction, a fairy tale really, about Queen Elizabeth II becoming a bookworm late in life. As the Queen immerses herself in literature her attitudes to the world around her begin to change, much to the alarm of her advisers and the Prime Minister (who she keeps bombarding with entirely unwanted reading lists).

With his usual light touch, Alan Bennett makes a profound statement about the transformative nature of literature. The way that fiction changes the reader and reality; how burying your head in a book can make you more aware of - and dissatisfied with - the world around you, and your own place in it. A funny, subversive and wonderful love letter to the liberating power of reading. ( )

An enchanting treasure! A celebration for readers, especially for readers who have discovered the joy of reading later in life! And now becomes a sweet remembrance of the late Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Oh, the corgis! The scampering corgis decided to turn around and continue frolicking when a footman failed to be at their beck and call to answer the door. Delightfully (as they knew she would), Queen Elizabeth II followed their paw-steps and made a discovery previously unknown. It was a Wednesday afternoon, the time of day the City of Westminster’s traveling library stopped at Windsor. The Queen learned this when she stepped onboard the van and met Mr. Hutchings and one of the kitchen staff named Norman Seakins. Life for the Queen and Norman was never the same.

I loved this novella. I laughed out loud, reading some pages, surprising my husband, and our cat’s expression indicated she didn’t appreciate the interruption of her feline dreams. It was a spontaneous reaction beyond my usual quiet smile as the descriptive writing capturing the joy of reading and knowledge of Queen Elizabeth’s dry humor captivated my imagination.

I wish we could know whether Queen Elizabeth II ever had the delight of reading this book published in 2007, or as the novella "originally appeared, in a slightly different form, in the ‘London Review of Books’ on March 8, 2007." My sense is that she would have laughed out loud too. We’ll never know, but you can take the opportunity for a delightful travel-by-book excursion to Windsor. It’s mesmerizing armchair travel! I’d award more than 5 Stars if available! ( )