Two Besides - Alan Bennett

 

One always needs a bit of Alan Bennett in life. And there is nothing more useful (and simultaneously easy to read while remaining meaningful) than his talking heads. 

I read this book a few months ago, and unsurprisingly I have forgotten about the story of the two monologues, but I do remember the feelings: looking at people in their daily lives, reading about the objectionable things they do, seeing how they justify and absolve themselves, and then wondering whether I should cast some sort of judgement on them or not. 

Oddly enough, what I do remember best is the preface written by one of Bennett's longest serving collaborators (Nicholas Hytner). That was one of the most beautiful accounts of the impact of COVID-19 and how some people in the entertainment industry did their utmost best to keep on doing their jobs, in one way or another, in the face of unprecedented adversity. 

The Uncommon Reader – Alan Bennett

Probably my favourite book by Alan Bennett. The market is saturated with 90-page novellas that are meant to make readers laugh. This one didn’t make me laugh, but it did make me smile – and that’s probably a much greater accomplishment.

An even greater accomplishment is that, despite the fact that the monarch portrayed has probably got very little to do with the actual Elizabeth II, Bennett actually made me like the Queen a lot more (something that, at the London Olympics, also James Bond managed to do). I mean, who wouldn’t like to have a Head of State who sneaks out to read Dickens and Hardy (and Proust too, but why? Why? Why should anyone do that to him/herself?!?)

I wish there was someone in Italy capable of producing something this enjoyable. I’m not saying a masterpiece (this book is lovely, but it isn’t one), but something so delicate. Unfortunately, most Italian writers have spent their last 20 years copying themselves (at best) or failing to reinvent the wheel (at worst).

A Life Like Other People's - Alan Bennett

 

In many ways this is the book that inspired this project. Far from being my favourite Alan Bennett work, the author’s struggles with his mom’s dementia and depression nonetheless made me think of how even my own self-proclaimed prodigious memory is already (at 28) showing its fallacies. 

If someone asked me for my all-time 10 favourite books, one name I would definitely throw in there is Heinrich Böll’s The Clown. Yet, I now realize that – having read it more than a decade ago – I remember the way I felt when I was reading it, but I have no idea what its plot actually is. I have now decided to write down a few lines about pretty much every book I’ve read – despite the fact that, I’m afraid, I’ll probably have to use Wikipedia in order to remember what many of these books were about. This is more for me than for an audience, yet my wife suggested I make it a blog rather my usual spreadsheet.

Anyway, this book by Alan Bennett is about more than the depression and dementia of his author’s mother. Bennett raises a number of points that are crucial for everyone who has ever had to care for his (grand)parents: why do we do that? Shouldn’t they just be allowed to go? When their minds, or their capacity to express their emotions, appear to be lost, are they still the people we loved? Do we look after them for their own good, or simply to feel good (or at least ok) about ourselves? 

It’s not like these questions have never been asked, and Bennett’s answers (when he has them) are not exactly groundbreaking – but he just writes so beautifully.