Author:Ali Smith,Ali Smith
Brought to you by Penguin.
A richly inventive new collection of stories from the MAN BOOKER PRIZE-SHORTLISTED and WOMEN'S PRIZE-WINNING author of How to be both and the critically acclaimed Seasonal quartet
Why are books so powerful? What do the books we read make of us? And what does the vanishing of public libraries say about us?
These stories are about what we do with books and what they do with us: how they travel with us; how they shock us, change us, challenge us, banish time while making us older, wiser and ageless all at once; how they remind us to pay attention to the world we make.
Public libraries are places of joy, freedom, community and discovery - and right now they are under threat from funding cuts and widespread closures across the UK and further afield. With this brilliantly inventive collection, Ali Smith raises her voice in defence of our public libraries, celebrating their essential place in our culture and history.
'Smith is dazzling in her daring. Sheer inventive power' Observer
'In Ali Smith we have a writer whose dazzling sophistication will surely be celebrated, studied and argues over hundreds of years after we're gone' Scotsman
© Ali Smith 2015 (P) Penguin Audio 2021
Publisher's description. A story collection from the peerless, multi-award-winning Ali Smith. What do we do with books - and what do they do with us? How do books shock us, change us, challenge us, banish time while making us older, wiser and ageless all at once? And how might they remind us to pay attention to the world we make?
—— PenguinSmith is dazzling in her daring. Sheer inventive power
—— ObserverAli Smith is a one-off. Her imagination and originality make her one of the most exciting novelists of her generation
—— Daily ExpressIn Ali Smith we have a writer whose dazzling sophistication will surely be celebrated, studied and argues over hundreds of years after we're gone
—— ScotsmanSmith's world is incredibly generous - it's a place where all sorts of stories and human connections are possible
—— MetroThe short stories are an excellent entry point for Murakami neophytes. If he has passed you by and you're trying to work out where to begin they'll give you an immediate taste for whether his tone and effect works for you or leaves you cold: without the pressure of hundreds of pages and epic scope, he's stripped back to the deeply human, deeply funny weirdness that defines his best work.
—— Sydney Morning HeraldAt his strongest he's like Kafka in Tokyo
—— HeraldThought-provoking: the essence of life, Murakami suggests, is grappling with the inexplicable
—— Anthony Gardner , Mail on SundayPhilosophical and mysterious, the stories in First Person Singular all touch beautifully on love and solitude, childhood and memory - all with a signature Murakami twist
—— SheerluxeA wonderfully surreal collection of short stories... Murakami has an ability to make the mundane fantastical and the fantastical mundane... First Person Singular is an engaging and enigmatic collection to savour and enjoy
—— Essential Marbella[First Person Singular is] sure to satisfy both hardcore Murakami fans and those looking for an introduction to his work
—— UK Press SyndicationMurakami fans will love this new collection of stories all steeped in a love of music
—— Sunday Times, *Summer Reads of 2021*The 15 stories in this collection from the stellar Margaret Atwood are book-ended by the touching, tender, grief-tinged tales of Tig and Nell
—— Eithne Farry , Daily MailThere are authors we turn to because they can uncannily predict our future; there are authors we need for their skillful diagnosis of our present; and there are authors we love because they can explain our past. And then there are the outliers: those who gift us with timelines other than the one we're stuck in, realities far from home. If anyone has proved, over the course of a long and wildly diverse career, that she can be all four, it's Margaret Atwood . . . Long may she reign
—— New York Times Book ReviewAs affecting as any of Atwood's strongest work
—— WiredIn Old Babes in the Wood, Margaret Atwood delivers her signature sci-fi with a human heart. It is a story collection that teems with playfulness and invention... reminding us of her skill in the short form
—— Emily Watkins , iA highly personal collection
—— Lisa O'Kelly , ObserverThe Tig and Nell stories... are subtle and poignant, written in grief and from the heart
—— The OldieDevastating and thought-provoking in equal measure, you will find yourself thoroughly entertained - and we're sure you'll return to these again and again
—— GlamourOld Babes in the Wood... [is] a clear demonstration of her prevailing skill as a writer
—— Arts DeskAs her short story collection Old Babes in the Wood debuts at the top of the fiction chart, Margaret Atwood can rest assured that she has reached literary legend status. It was one thing for The Handmaid's Tale to make it to No 1, but quite another for stories narrated by snails and aliens to do it
—— The Sunday TimesHer latest collection of short stories... proves once again she's also an impassioned observer of everyday people and their struggles, with a hilarious sense of humour
—— RTE *Book Of The Week*Each [story] is interesting in its own right...Atwood's imagination and mastery of storytelling is evident
—— UK Press Syndication[A] writer who is still so sparky and brilliant in the sudden ways she tips you into despair or delight. Whatever she's up to, I'll take more if it's going
—— Alys Key , SpectatorQuietly devastating
—— Suzi Feay , The TabletAny new publication by the estimable Atwood...is an event and this collection of 15 short stories is no exception
—— Evening StandardBracing, darkly funny and cheerfully unsentimental
—— Guardian, *Summer Reads of 2023*