Public Library and Other Stories

Surprisingly, there is no story actually entitled “Public Library” in the collection, but interspersed between the stories are different people, often librarians, describing their relationship with public libraries. Libraries represent a serendipity of learning, I like that observation, I learnt a lot from what I read in public libraries, strangely I am not actively using any public library now, maybe when the pandemic is over I will check out one of the libraries in Tbilisi. I had been a member of the Mediatek in Varketili, until we moved from Varketili in 2017 to the centre of Tbilisi, I had also used the library of the French Institute, but have read little in French lately. Now, I find YouTube is my destination for serendipitous learning.The collection of stories and musings isn’t confined to public libraries in the UK, there is an anecdote about an experience in a library in Toronto, also in 2002, post 9/11 security concerns obliged Pakistani authorities to close down the Karachi central library."Talk to Karachi’s citizens long enough about what that vast, troubled city of 20 million plus most needs and eventually you stumble on the phrase ‘places to escape to’. In other words, libraries."Once you tune into Ali Smith’s whimsical style, it is a joy to read, she clearly loves books, libraries and words. In a novel this style is too affected, but here it works if you allow it to. It could also be a swansong for the public library, four hundred libraries in the UK are in danger of closing, they are not valued by those who hold the public purse-strings. Ali Smith is defending the library – taking a stand for the difference they make in our lives.Democracy or reading, democracy of space: our public library tradition, wherever we live in the wide world, was incredibly hard-won for us by the generations before us and ought to be protected, not just for ourselves but in the name of every generation after us.The stories in Public Libraries and Other Stories are a heterogeneous mix of things/subjects, like in a real public library: a disabled woman trapped on a train, credit card identity theft, searching for “elsewhere”, D.H. Lawrence’s ashes, Dusty Springfield, an obscure Scottish poet…

If you love libraries

Both quirky and profound.

Ali Smith is not an easy author to read; although her prose is deceptively simple, the ideas are often complex and her narrative style takes some getting used to. She slips in out of a trend of thought and the overall effect is a casual conversation with a close friend, one that’s a little loopy but nonetheless the one with an outrageous idea she’s keen to share with you.In this collection of short stories, the topic of public libraries supposedly link them together, and this impression is created by the anecdotal pieces that look like introductory pieces to each story, but are actually more like “inter-pieces” that remind the reader of the role of libraries that Smith’s friends, made up of other writers and librarians, mused on.The stories themselves do not seem to be about public libraries per se, though writers like D.H Lawrence and Katherine Mansfield appear in them in rather imaginative ways (you have to read the stories to see this for yourself). The melding of fact and fiction is perhaps what gives Smith’s writing an authentic feel that these are not just stories she is writing, but notes about life. And it took me a while to discern why Smith named this collection thus when libraries don’t seem to be the theme of the stories - as I read on, it became clear to me that the stories are about the ideas we gain and make links and form associations with, because of what we read, thanks in large part to libraries that allow us to gain access to these disparate and seemingly random information all at once and in a continuous fashion throughout our lives. The stories are about resisting compartmentalisation, so that what we talk about when we talk about libraries is evident in the thoughts we gain between the covers of the books we’ve checked out. In a way, this collection of stories is a metatext that is in itself an artefact of the library even as it talks about itself in a self-referential manner.The other point I got from this collection is made apparent only in the last story, “And So On”. In it, Smith writes about a deceased friend and a story associated with her but then reveals that that story could actually be attributed to someone else, and so on. Th idea of transposition and “borrowing” comes through, showing that “we’re all in receipt of stolen goods” in the stories we read and tell.This is in the end, a clever book of stories that score for its intellectual engagement and ideas, but which I felt was a little too cerebral for me to enjoy as much, perhaps showing in my judgement, my failure to resist compartmentalising reading for enjoyment and reading for intellectual engagement.

Ali Smith's 'Public Library and Other Stories' is a collection of short stories interspersed with brief essays written by writers and friends of Ms Smith's on the importance of the library service. As an ode to the Public Library this little book works well and Ms Smith's semi-autobiographical short stories make this an even more interesting read. It is true that, as with many short story collections, there are definitely those here that are better than others - my particular favourite was 'The Ex-Wife' which focuses on a woman who is jealous of her lover's obsession with the writer Katherine Mansfield and of how, through her lack of understanding about her lover's preoccupation with Miss Mansfield, their relationship suffers. I also enjoyed 'The Definite Article' in which we meet a woman who risks making herself late for an important meeting by paying an impromptu visit to a London park, where she feels the benefit of taking the timeout to stop and stare. I also liked 'Grass' where a child tries to buy an electrical appliance with the wild flowers he has collected and is surprised when the young woman in the shop refuses him, a decision the woman later has cause to ponder upon. And the story entitled 'The Human Claim' where the author muses upon what might really have happened to D.H. Lawrence's ashes whilst she carries on a lengthy dispute with a credit company who have charged her for a flight she never took, was an entertaining one. It is true, as commented earlier, that I found some of these stories better than others and some lingered in the mind longer than others, but they were all worth reading and I applaud Ms Smith for her advocation of public libraries and for highlighting the marvellous resource they are - especially for those who may not be in the position to buy the books they'd like to read or who cannot afford access to the internet. And this collection is not solely an homage to public libraries but also reminds us of the significance of books and of the joys of reading. So, all in all, a worthwhile and interesting reading experience and a very good one for dipping in and out of.4 Stars.

whilst recognising the literary brilliance, I guess its just not my genre - I like a story to be, erm, a story. That's just my opinion though and I believe Ali to be a great writer.

A heartfelt cheer in myriad ways for the wonder that is our public library service - while being much much more besides.

Very happy to have received a hard back, signed, copy. Arrived on time and in the condition stated.

A great read. Thank you.