The Reader by Ali Smith January 17th 2007

A fascinating selection of the prose, poetry, songs and articles that have informed Ali Smith’s reading and writing life, from childhood through to adulthood.You’ll meet well-loved favourites, make the acquaintance of new writers, and be reminded of long forgotten ones. Just like browsing someone else's book case.
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I so enjoyed dipping into The Reader over the Christmas holidays. It was great to see some of my own favourites there; Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Enormous Changes at the Last Minute by Grace Paley and Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson being particular favourites that I was surprised and pleased to find. I also really enjoyed Ali Smith's introduction to this selection, and to be honest, would have liked to have known more about why she made certain choices, why they were important to her and so on. She argues that she didn't want to get between the reader and the piece of work, which I understand, but I'll be interested to see (if this series continues as promised with other writers) if this standing back, this invisibility, is present throughout.

Reading an eclectic selection like this is, of course, also a fabulous way of being introduced to new writers, and trying out unfamiliar genres and styles. From the reading group's point of view, it was also fascinating to see how we had all picked out something different as a special favourite: the way we tackled this together was for us to suggest pieces we had liked which we then read aloud to the group. Being read to in this way deepened our enjoyment and reception of many of the pieces.