21st Century Literature discussion

Feel free to share reviews, interviews, Smith/Autumn resources, etc. in this thread. I'll edit this post and add some links in the next day or two.

- Guardian Interview: Ali Smith on Writing Autumn (no spoilers)
- Penguin's Autumn Reading Guide
- NPR Book Review
- The Guardian Book Review
- Johannesburg Review of Books Autumn & Winter Review
- The Independent's Book Review

ART/HISTORY LINKS
- Christine Keeler (referenced at the beginning of Part 2)
- Eduouard Boubat's "Leaf Girl" (link courtesy of Mark)
- Artist Pauline Boty (link courtesy of Mark)
- Ali Smith Article on Pauline Boty (link courtesy of Vesna)
- Pauline Boty's Website (link courtesy of Vesna)

I really enjoyed reading this, and hope to re-read before posting here.

This was about the first Ali Smith I read, and has led me to read about everything I can get my hands on.

Not sure I'll find time for a reread but I loved it at the time and will contribute to the discussion.

I read this about a year ago. I really enjoyed it and went on to read her Winter and Spring, which I also loved.
I was planning to re-read this and join the discussion, but the library announced yesterday it will close for the next couple of weeks so I won't be able to get my hands on a copy.

I read awhile ago and will participate as appropriate.

I loved this and have been wanting to reread it in the lead up to the final installment being published. Not sure I’ll get to it when the group does but I’ll try to participate even if I can’t.

Any and all welcome!
Don't forget most libraries loan out ebooks.

Been hooked on Smith since this group read How to be both but this is my initial foray into her seasonal quartet.

I am currently reading (Have ebook).

This is my first Ali Smith book.

I've never borrowed e-books from libraries, so it didn't occur to me to do that. Thanks for the reminder :)

I reread this last month and I found my rereading experience to be more pleasureable than my first go round.
1. I didn't have to google things the second time around so I could actually appreciaite the rhythm and flow of this novel.
2. Ali Smith is one of the better authors for catching "the pulse of the times." One can really appreciate that talent rereading the book and comparing how history has played out since she wrote the book.
3. When I first read the book, I was engaged in comparing it to other Booker prize nominees and trying to see the Brexit connections that were part of its hype. I was able to relax and enjoy the novel more on its own merits this time and found the novel was far more than a Brexit novel, or prize nominee. This is a rich novel, full of depth. Character rendition, for example, is exquisite.

I hope I haven't written anything that is too inappropriate for the backgound topic. I will save other comments for book discussion. I do recommend a reread if you like Ali Smith. I both cried and laughed out loud on the second read, which did not happen on my first.

All appropriate for this thread, Sam--thanks for posting and glad the reread has afforded you new insights and joys.

From the first link added to post #1 above, an answer from Smith herself about how the seasonal series of books came about:

"Autumn came about because in summer 2014 I handed in a novel called How to Be Both way past my deadline. I apologised for the lateness. Simon Prosser, my publisher, reassured me: though I’d missed my file date by a year, Hamish Hamilton could still meet their publishing deadline. Within six weeks of me giving them the manuscript, I was holding finished copies of How to Be Both in my hands; I say copies and hands plural because it is a novel that comes in two possible forms and wasn’t exactly straightforward to publish.

Six weeks! It set me thinking about the time it habitually takes between delivery and publication – usually at least nine months, often more like a year and a half. It set me thinking, too, about why the novel is called the novel, and about the form’s relationship both to time and to its own time.

I had been imagining since I began writing – a quarter of a century ago – that one day I’d write a set of books named after the seasons. Now I asked Simon if it’d be possible for us to do these books as a sort of time-sensitive experiment. Four books, written close to their own publication (in the old Victorian mode, published practically as soon as written) that they would be about not just their own times, but the place where time and the novel meet. He checked with the teams at Hamish Hamilton and Penguin if they’d be on for it. They said yes."

I've read the first 70 pages or so. This has been in the pile for ages, and there's nothing like not being able to go to bookshops to make me dip into the pile.

I have read this three times: every time a new part of the quartet comes out, I re-read all the preceding ones. For me, the thing that becomes more and more apparent is the way the quartet as a whole is building into something, not just four individual books. This is “part one” more than it is “the first of four novels”, I think.

I will be re-reading this in preparation for Summer, so I won’t read it again now, but hopefully I can remember enough to contribute.

One of Smith's elements in her work is the non-fictional background of her stories. Here are links to two:

Eduard Boubat's "Leaf girl" (Smith's word picture of the image is startlingly accurate):
https://www.artsy.net/artwork/edouard...
Pauline Boty: https://flashbak.com/the-artist-pauli...

I have started reading the book after hearing its discussion in one of my favorite book podcasts and I delighted to see that it is discussed in this group. So far, my reading experience is very positive and I am curious to hear about your impressions.

Kristina, would you mind sharing the book podcast you referred to?

To add a couple of links about Pauline Boty to Mark's post.

Ali Smith's article about Pauline Boty's paintings & collages in The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...

Boty's unofficial website. It doesn't have many images, but it's informative about her life and has the complete catalogue of her works in such a tragically short life:
https://paulineboty.org/

After reading Autumn, I got an Ali Smith bug and have already moved to her Winter. Early in the novel it also has a reference to that Boubat's photo of a young girl covered with leaves, though in a different context. The photo is indeed striking.

Vesna, I'll add a thread for both Winter and Spring toward the end of this group discussion for those who move on or have already read those books and want to discuss.

Great, Marc. Thank you. Had it not been for this monthly book reading, I would have continued to keep Ali Smith's seasonal series on my TBR list, which I now see would have been a huge mistake!

Right there with ya, Vesna. So many books, only so much time...

Yes, this has been a welcome excuse to bump her up the pile.