I’m not sure if you can call what I do with an Ali Smith book reading. Obviously I can’t speak for her, but I always leave our trysts feeling enormously inspired and overwhelmingly intimidated. Perhaps there is a word for that. Perhaps there ought to be a word for that.
I just read Hotel World which had special resonance for me as I was working the night a girl, a chef, a colleague, a friend died in a hotel dumb waiter. She was 19 and it took the fire brigade over six hours to cut her and the other chef who was with her out of the shaft. Like Sara, Karen had crouched down and crammed herself in for high jinks and laughs. I am not going to recite any obvious morals, but do read Ali Smith if you haven’t already.
I’m so pleased to have you as an Ali Smith associate. We must meet up to drink those unpronounceable wines you like so much and discuss her merits. The final section of Hotel World is absolutely wrenching, and she does it all through judicious use of narrative position and style. We can be like Ali!
PS Those Google ads are ruining the integrity of your blog. I almost wept when I saw them.
What Google ads? I’m on it. When shall we three (you, me and a copy of Ali) meet again? I love the section of the sister.