The Reader

by Ali Smith

From the acclaimed, award-winning author comes a sparkling, surprising collection of the writing she loves best—and without which she would not have become a writer. The Book Lover is a treasure trove of what Ali Smith has loved over the course of her reading life, in her twenties, as a teenager, as a child. Full of pieces from amazing writers like Sylvia Plath, Muriel Spark, Grace Paley, and Margaret Atwood, it also has a wonderful selection of lesser-known authors like Joseph Roth, only just gaining proper status now, and Clarice Lispector, a Brazilian genius who's far too underpublished. From surprising figures like Beryl the Peril, Billie Holliday, and Lee Miller to unusual selections from the most prominent writers in history, The Book Lover is an intimate, personal anthology that gives readers a glimpse of how writers develop their craft—by reading other writers.

Genres: Books About Books, Nonfiction, Short Stories, Memoir, Anthologies, Literature, Writing

470 pages, Paperback

First published September 14, 2006

About the author

Ali Smith is a writer, born in Inverness, Scotland, to working-class parents. She was raised in a council house in Inverness and now lives in Cambridge. She studied at Aberdeen, and then at Cambridge, for a Ph.D. that was never finished. In a 2004 interview with writing magazine Mslexia, she talked briefly about the difficulty of becoming ill with chronic fatigue syndrome for a year and how it forced her to give up her job as a lecturer at University of Strathclyde to focus on what she really wanted to do: writing. She has been with her partner Sarah Wood for 17 years and dedicates all her books to her.

Reviews

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ali Smith’s selection of “favourite” writing (within budget, pending permissions, circa 2006, mostly 20thC) is an eclectic, if sometimes disappointingly tame, rodeo of rompers and criers. Let’s use the mixtape analogy, shall we? When we compile mixtapes, we commonly fill them with our favourite tunes of the moment, ongoing all-time musical obsessions, and whatever obscure Throbbing Gristle B-sides are currently filling our ears. Ali has filled this book with canonical all-timers (Angela Carter, Muriel Spark, Joy Williams, George Mackay Brown), some present-day loves (Maggie O’Farrell, Nicola Barker, Lydia Davis), and a bursting bag of B-sides (too numerous to mention). By focusing on the B-sides she keeps the adventurous reader both delighted and infuriated (one minute it’s William Carlos Williams, the next an excerpt from Louise Brookes’s autobio, then onto Alasdair Gray and an obscure WWII historian called Armando).

[GoldGato · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting concept…publish a book full of the prose and poetry loved by the author, Ali Smith, during her years of reading. It presents an image of groaning bookshelves full of much-favored volumes along with trips to libraries to find gems. Just an absolute love of reading. So we get various works of authors, some widely known and some not, which present new avenues for the reader to pursue.

That’s the thing about books. They’re alive on their own terms. Reading is like travelling with an argumentative, unpredictable good friend. It’s an endless open exchange.

Ali Smith states that she was impossibly bookish as a youngster. Her parents admired books, but their reading time was limited due to their working long hours to support the family. Ali relates her joy at visiting bookstores with their basements full of Penguin Classics. Today, young readers have easy access to reading apps and online sites, but decades ago, it was bookstores, libraries, and charity shops for book finds. Like a treasure hunt. She felt the whole world was one big possibility.

This anthology is broken into chapters with different themes, such as GIRLS, DIALOGUES, JOURNEYS, THE WORLD, HISTORIES, and BELIEFS. It’s a decent way to get as much included as possible without confusing the reader. One benefit is allowing me to find an author I haven’t yet read, such as Maggie O’Farrell. A short story written by her, THE HOUSE I LIVE IN, is simply stunning. With that success, I dove carefree into the rest of the book, knowing there would be more “finds” to line my reading hope chest. It was a satisfactory read, especially given that Ali Smith was unable to include some favourites because of hindering permissions fees.

When younger, I used to keep notebooks full of quotes and writing passages I especially loved and this book brought back those memories of the joy of discovery, which is what reading is all about. More importantly, I would now like to read some of Ali Smith’s books, so I would say this reading venture has been successful.

Book Season = Spring (limitless)

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who enjoys Ali Smith, getting to read a collection of the works that have shaped her as a reader and writer is incredibly special. Rating this anthology on personal preference and enjoyment, I found these to be mostly interesting/enjoyable poems & excerpts. The last segment, “Beliefs”, included some of my favorite writers, from Simone de Beauvoir to Italo Calvino to Rainer Maria Rilke and was an excellent way to polish off the collection.

In order of appearance, here are my favorite excerpts:
- Orlando (Virginia Woolf)
- In the Garment District (Lydia Davis)
- The Cinema and the Classics: Beauty (H.D.)
- Mae West (Colette)
- Colette (Lee Miller)
- Passengers with Heavy Loads (Joseph Roth)
- On “rose is a rose is a rose” (Gertrude Stein)
- Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter (Simone de Beauvoir)
- Our Lady of the Accident (Lorna Sage)
- State of Grace (Clarice Lispector)
- The Comforters (Muriel Spark)
- White Lies (Derek Jarman)
- Alchemy (Dubravka Ugresic)
- Six Memos for the Next Millennium (Italo Calvino)
- The Ninth Elegy (Rainer Maria Rilke)

[Harry McDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Any anthology is going to have things you love and things you don't, this one is no different. Half the joy of reading something like this when you're familiar with the compiler is spotting a phrase or thought that has emerged in their own work and feeling a sense of totally unearned and largely unhelpful staisfaction.

The Tom Leonard poem had me howling with laughter, the Nan Shepard and the George Mackay Brown piece were revelations, and now I guess I have to read Sunset Song.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of short stories, poems and excerpts. There are some real gems in here. I've liked everything I've read by Ali Smith so far and I guessed she must have great taste as a big fan of Tove Jansson's novels. She chooses quite a lot of modern writing here and not just the textbook classics, which I greatly appreciated. I made some exciting new discoveries: Leonora Carrington, Cookie Mueller, Kate Atkinson to name just a few. I'll definitely be reviewing the list of authors again in the future.

[Kiki Bolwijn · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Liefde voor Ali en haar favorieten)
(Elk fragment is mooi en nog mooier door haar beschrijving)
(De laatste ster ontbreekt doordat ik nu elk boek moest kopen dat ze heeft genoemd)
(Mijn lievelingsfragment komt uit Billie Holiday's Lady Sings The Blues)
(Lees deze maar als eerst!)

[Ric Dragon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps you might dismiss this book, even as an ardent admirer of Ali Smith; it’s only an anthology of other’s writings. But damn, nice treasures here; and rather warming to slowly read as a share from Smith herself.

[Belinda Carvalho · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a perfect compilation. Beautiful pieces which work together, separately. I read so many writers that I hadn't tried before. I loved this!

[Julie Failla Earhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s always fun to learn what authors influence other authors---what’s on their bookshelves that, perhaps, influenced them to become writers. Ali Smith has put together such a collection in The Book Lover.
I have to admit that I have not read any of Smith’s three novels and three short story collections, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to know what is on her shelf. I expected to find many of the writers from literature’s canon. I was pleasantly surprised to find a few of these writers---Zorna Neal Hurston, John Keats, Virginia Wolff, Shakespeare, and a small number of others. I was more surprised to find writers whom I had yet to be introduced. Writers like Djuan Barnes, Edwin Morgan, Lavinia Greenlaw, Hugh MacDiarmid, Lorna Sage, and Helen Oyeyemi. It was nice to read authors that have yet to cross my radar.
Divided into six sections, the writings cover a wide variety of styles from poetry to essays to short stories to excerpts from longer works. The Book Lover is not meant to be read in one sitting, but enjoyed when the reader has a moment to spare and can read four to six pages, many times less, of a quality work.
The Book Lover does have its drawbacks. One is that I kept having to flip to the rear section “About the Writers” to learn more about my new friends. Many times the authors had more than one work and I was never sure from which work the entry was taken.
Another disadvantage was when a work was excerpted; I had no idea of what the larger piece was. Except for the Zorna Neal Hurston piece. It’s been a long time since I’ve read Their Eyes Were Watching God. I couldn’t remember if that was the beginning of the novel or the beginning of a chapter. Without some kinds of context, the reader is lost. So, mostly I skipped the selections, and picked and chose what parts of The Book Lover I read.
Review originally appeared on www.armchairtinerviews.com

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am so conflicted about this. I love the idea of this book. And there were certainly a handful of entries that I loved enough to make it worth tackling all 450 pages. But there were also some I just didn't find very interesting. The sum total felt to me a lot like reading a high school English textbook. Some really great pieces that are fun to read, some that you just can't get into but that you know you're supposed to appreciate, you know, literarily. I think I just invented that word. Perhaps I should go away and put together my own anthology, see how it would stack up to Smith's...

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the idea of this book, maybe more than the finished product. It's a great anthology, but what makes it great is that you can feel how personal it is, how everything connects in Ali Smith's mind. Not everything was interesting or even good to me, but there were some pieces that I really loved, and I like the fact that absolutely anyone could make something like this book, but they would all be vastly different.

[Tattered Cover Book Store]

Mark P says:

An Anthology, selections made by the author of stuff she likes. Love this kind of stuff. Finding out what people read, what they like and why is endlessly fascinating. If the person in question is an author that you happen to like then doubly so.

[Janga · Rating 5 out of 5]

The idea is fascinating, and I connected with Smith's opening essay in a number of ways. The selections are an interesting compilation of familiar and unknown (to me, that is) writers.

[Neelima Vinod · Rating 5 out of 5]

Want to read it once more...lyrical mish mash of great prose and poetry.