Untold Stories Part 3: Written on the Body

by Alan Bennett (Author And Narrator)

Untold Stories, Part 3: Written on the Body is both a reflection on Alan Bennett's childhood and schooldays and a meditation on writing in five short extracts. Written on the Body is a sideways look at Bennett's schooldays at Leeds Modern School, and a recollection of the growing pains of puberty. Seeing Stars is a nostalgic view of the movies of the Forties, seen by Bennett and his family in any one of the half-dozen cinemas in their district in Leeds, including the Western, the Clifton, the Picturedrome and the Lyric. Finally, Staring Out of the Window lets us into Bennett's creative process, which apparently consists of a good deal of ... well... staring out of the window.

Genres: Audiobook

3 pages, Audio CD

Published October 12, 2010

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Alan Bennett is an English author and Tony Award-winning playwright. Bennett's first stage play, Forty Years On, was produced in 1968. Many television, stage and radio plays followed, along with screenplays, short stories, novellas, a large body of non-fictional prose and broadcasting, and many appearances as an actor. Bennett's lugubrious yet expressive voice (which still bears a slight Leeds accent) and the sharp humour and evident humanity of his writing have made his readings of his own work (especially his autobiographical writing) very popular. His readings of the Winnie the Pooh stories are also widely enjoyed.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thoroughly depressing. The straightforward style of writing & deadpan deliverance by the author himself is at odds with the tragic information being imparted. I recommend if you are going to read this book that you avoid the audio version. I found that I needed more time to absorb & process the details of his mother's treatment for depression & his feeling of responsibility for his Father's death. Overall, I felt that it was an incomplete, potted history of his parent's marriage that I would rather have never read. I am left feeling very disenchanted.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another selection of stories written and read by Bennett.
Much about childhood and upbringing including the emerging realisation that he is gay and going to the pictures - not the cinema or the movies. Enjoyable.

[Jo Marchant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just Alan's voice lifts my day, I love these stories, great read!

[Sophie Bowns · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’d love to read more of Alan Bennett’s work!