Alan Bennett Boeken

Bij toeval - ze rent achter haar honden aan - ontdekt de Engelse koningin een bibliobus die geparkeerd staat bij de keuken van Windsor Castle. Ze voelt zich verplicht een boek te lenen en alhoewel ze van plan is het de volgende week ongelezen terug te brengen, begint ze te lezen. En ze zal niet meer ophouden. Het leesvirus heeft zich van haar meester gemaakt. De koningin maakt kennis met Proust, Sylvia Plath en Alice Munroe; schiet - faux pas - tijdens een staatsbanket de Franse president aan over Jean Genet; en vindt in haar eigen bibliotheek (veelal gesigneerde) werken van Thakeray, Dickens, Hardy en George Elliot. Maar het lezen maakt de koningin tot een ander mens, tot een koningin die niet gewenst is. De ongewone lezer is geestig en schrijnend. Alan Bennett schreef een schitterende satire op de cultuur van ontlezing, maar tegelijkertijd ook een ode aan de literatuur. Alan Bennett (1934) is auteur en acteur. Hij werd beroemd in 1960 tijdens het Edinburgh Festival met de satirische voorstelling Beyond the Fringe, met onder anderen Dudley Moore en Peter Cook, speelde in televisieseries als A Dance to the Music of Time, Little Dorrit en The Madness of King George, waarvoor hij ook het scenario schreef. Zijn toneelstuk The History Boys won drie Olivier Awards in Engeland en zes Tony Awards in de VS. In 1988 weigerde hij een koninklijke onderscheiding, in 1996 weigerde hij verheffing in de adelstand. Hij werd in 1987 wel Honorary Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, maar hij accepteerde geen eredoctoraat van dezelfde universiteit enkele jaren later, uit protest tegen het instellen van een door Rupert Murdoch gefinancierde leerstoel. Hij woont met zijn partner Rupert Thomas samen in Londen.

The book commemorates four decades of Alan Bennett's insightful diaries published in the London Review of Books. It offers a rich tapestry of reflections on life, culture, and society, showcasing Bennett's sharp wit and keen observations. Readers can expect a blend of personal anecdotes and broader commentary, capturing the essence of contemporary British life through Bennett's unique lens. This collection serves as both a tribute to his enduring legacy and a deep dive into the thoughts of one of Britain's most beloved writers.

Alan Bennett sealed his reputation as an acute observer of British life with a series of six monologues. At once darkly comic, tragically poignant and wonderfully uplifting, these modern-day classics invite us to explore 12 very different but very real characters and their lives.

This audio cassette comprises both volumes of Alan Bennett's acclaimed monologues in a slipcase.

Available for pre-order now The gorgeous, pocket-sized edition of the two brand-new Talking Heads As seen on BBC1 and iPlayer 'Given the opportunity to revisit the characters from Talking Heads I've added a couple more, both of them ordinary women whom life takes by surprise.

The vivid account of a war correspondent shot down over Germany and taken prisoner.

'Writing Home' is a wonderfully entertaining collection of Alan Bennett's prose writings. Bringing together his diaries for 1980-1995, with reminiscences and reviews, the diary he kept during the production of his very first play, together with hilarious accounts of his many television plays. From his now-legendary address at Russell Harty's memorial service to recollections of growing up in Leeds, 'Writing Home' gives us a unique and unforgettable portrait of one of England's leading playwrights.

'I seem to have banged on this year rather more than usual. I make no apology for that, nor am I nervous that it will it make a jot of difference. I shall still be thought to be kindly, cosy and essentially harmless. I am in the pigeon-hole marked 'no threat' and did I stab Judi Dench with a pitchfork I should still be a teddy bear.' Alan Bennett's third collection of prose Keeping On Keeping On follows in the footsteps of the phenomenally successful Writing Home and Untold Stories, each published ten years apart. This latest collection contains Bennett's peerless diaries 2005 to 2015, reflecting on a decade that saw four premieres at the National Theatre (The Habit of Art, People, Hymn and Cocktail Sticks), a West End double-bill transfer, and the films of The History Boys and The Lady in the Van. There's a provocative sermon on private education given before the University at King's College Chapel, Cambridge, and 'Baffled at a Bookcase' offers a passionate defence of the public library. This is an engaging, humane, sharp, funny and unforgettable record of life according to the inimitable Alan Bennett.

Alan Bennett's A Life Like Other People is the core of his collection, Untold Stories. It is a poignant memoir of his parents marriage and his own childhood, recalling Christmases with Grandma Peel and the lives, loves and deaths of his unforgettable aunties, Kathleen and Myra. With the sudden descent of his mother into depression and, later, dementia, a long-held family secret is uncovered in this heart-rending and at times irresistibly funny work of autobiography by one of the best-loved English writers.