title: Public Library and Other Stories
author: Ali Smith
description: Smiths (<i>How to Be Both</i>) collection celebrates the communal impact of books through a breezy series of slice-of-life tales that highlight the casual inroads of life and literature, pairing ordinary readers with the writing that has shaped them. . . . Each of these is followed by a recollection by one of Smiths peers about their memories of public libraries, significant because this book appeared in the U.K. amid a tense battle over massive cuts to library funding. . . . Affecting. . . . This is a valiant project that depicts the everyday joy of books and makes a passionate plea for their preservation.<br /> <i>Publishers Weekly</i><br /> <br /> While Man Booker Prize finalist Smith (<i>How to Be Both</i>, 2014) was working on this collection of thoughtful, sensitive, imaginative, and acidly funny short stories about characters besotted by language and books, public libraries throughout the UK were being shut down. In protest, Smith asked other writers to share their thoughts about why public libraries are essential to a life fully lived, to community and democracy, and she sets clarion testimony in support of public libraries from Kate Atkinson, Helen Oyeyemi, Miriam Toews, and others, in-between her exceptionally nimble, disarming, and affecting tales. Smiths smart, discouraged loners are beset by difficult memories and grief, and driven to quiet acts of rebellion. In one wily and crackling tale, Smith juxtaposes her narrators fascination with D. H. Lawrence against her dismay over finding fraudulent charges on her credit card. Other arresting, emotionally incisive stories portray on-the-edge characters enthralled by Katherine Mansfield and Olive Fraser, a Scottish poet published only after her death. Smith has forged a uniquely artistic and piquant paean to the liberating and sustaining power of literature and libraries.<br /> <i>Booklist</i><br /><br />Thank goodness for Ali Smith, for who else could write a short story collection about libraries and make it wild. <i>The Times</i> (London)<br /><br />A series of wonderful stories on the power of books. Mary Beard, <i>The Guardian</i> (Best Books of the Year)<br /><br />Extraordinarily artful. . . . A triumph. <i>The Times Literary Supplement</i> (London)<br /><br /> Smiths own stories leap across space and time, delighting in unexpected connections. . . . Each of Smiths stories is a gem. <i>Financial Times</i><br /><br />A work of endless interventions. . . . Smiths great talent is her ability to produce on the page the effect of a human voice. Ian Samson,<i>The Guardian</i> (London)<br /><br /> An important book. <i>The Independent</i> (Books of the Year)<br /><br /> Superb. . . . [A] wonderful collection. . . . It has been Smiths unlikely triumph throughout her increasingly acclaimed career to combine a playful and experimental approach with material that is both moving and funnyand she has done it again. <i>Daily Mail<br /></i><br /> There are sentences that sing, or make you smile, and the conceit behind each of the stories is distinctively offbeat. <i>The Herald </i>(Glasgow)<i><br /></i><br /> Spritely, poignant. . . . Magical. . . . Alive to the ability words have to garland a life and make the ordinary bloom into something fresh and funny. <i>Mail on Sunday </i>(London)<i><br /></i><br /> Reading this collection is like spending an afternoon in a well-stocked library in the company of an erudite and playful companion. <i>TheDaily Telegraph </i>(London)<i><br /></i><br /> Smiths stories are so good as to be priceless. <i>Sunday Express </i>(London)<i><br /></i><br /> Beautiful. . . . Wonderful. Her prose dances. Her imagination lights up life and experience. This is a book to read slowly, to savour its vitality and variety, one to return to and find new pleasures with each reading. <i>The Scotsman<br /></i><br /> Endearing and affecting. The extraordinary is always rooted in the corporeal . . . and this lends Smiths voice much of its considerable charm. . . . The narration is often arch, winking at you from the pages, rightfully proud of its own showmanship and subtlety, and is fundamentally human. <i>TheLondon Magazine<br /></i><br /> A brilliant, comprehensive, unpredictable defence of public libraries. You can travel anywhere on Ali Smiths library ticket. Kate Kellaway,<i>The Guardian </i>(London)<br /><br /> Powerful. . . . Beautifully written. . . . A gentle, comforting, and thought-provoking read. . . . It is a blessing to have authors such as Ali Smith. <i>Stylist <br /></i><br /> Smiths world is incredibly generousits a place where all sorts of stories and human connections are possible. <i>Metro</i> <br /><br /> A series of spirited short stories, in an ingenious blend of fact and fiction. . . . The result is a love-song to literature that all readers will delight in dipping in and out of. Lucy Brooks, <i>Culture Whisper<br /></i><br /> A moving, surprising, beautiful collection. . . . So clever and so joyful. <i>Open Democracy</i>
zlib_text:   
  Project Gutenberg's Smith College Stories, by Josephine Dodge Daskam  
    
  This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with  
  almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or  
  re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included  
  with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org  
    
    
  Title: Smith College Stories  
  Ten Stories by Josephine Dodge Daskam  
    
  Author: Josephine Dodge Daskam  
    
  Release Date: January 17, 2013 [EBook #41858]  
    
  Language: English  
    
    
  *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SMITH COLLEGE STORIES ***  
    
    
    
    
  Produced by Melissa McDaniel and the Online Distributed  
  Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was  
  produced from images generously made available by The  
  Internet Archive)  
    
    
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  
  
  **Transcriber's Note:**
  
  
  Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. Inconsistent spelling and
  hyphenation in the original document have been preserved.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # SMITH C