---
product_id: 66518458
title: "Public Library and Other Stories"
brand: "ali smith"
price: "£19.05"
currency: GBP
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 9
url: https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/66518458-public-library-and-other-stories
store_origin: GB
region: United Kingdom
---

# Public Library and Other Stories

**Brand:** ali smith
**Price:** £19.05
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Public Library and Other Stories by ali smith
- **How much does it cost?** £19.05 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.co.uk](https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/66518458-public-library-and-other-stories)

## Best For

- ali smith enthusiasts

## Why This Product

- Trusted ali smith brand quality
- Free international shipping included
- Worldwide delivery with tracking
- 15-day hassle-free returns

## Description

Public Library and Other Stories

## Images

![Public Library and Other Stories - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51ailQtu36L.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    We'll Miss Public Libraries when they're Gone.
  

*by J***D on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 27, 2020*

Surprisingly, there is no story actually entitled “Public Library” in the collection, but interspersed between the stories are different people, often librarians, describing their relationship with public libraries. Libraries represent a serendipity of learning, I like that observation, I learnt a lot from what I read in public libraries, strangely I am not actively using any public library now, maybe when the pandemic is over I will check out one of the libraries in Tbilisi. I had been a member of the Mediatek in Varketili, until we moved from Varketili in 2017 to the centre of Tbilisi, I had also used the library of the French Institute, but have read little in French lately. Now, I find YouTube is my destination for serendipitous learning.The collection of stories and musings isn’t confined to public libraries in the UK, there is an anecdote about an experience in a library in Toronto, also in 2002, post 9/11 security concerns obliged Pakistani authorities to close  down the Karachi central library."Talk to Karachi’s citizens long enough about what that vast, troubled city of 20 million plus most needs and eventually you stumble on the phrase ‘places to escape to’. In other words, libraries."Once you tune into Ali Smith’s whimsical style, it is a joy to read, she clearly loves books, libraries and words. In a novel this style is too affected, but here it works if you allow it to. It could also be a swansong for the public library, four hundred libraries in the UK are in danger of closing, they are not valued by those who hold the public purse-strings. Ali Smith is defending the library – taking a stand for the difference they make in our lives.Democracy or reading, democracy of space: our public library tradition, wherever we live in the wide world, was incredibly hard-won for us by the generations before us and ought to be protected, not just for ourselves but in the name of every generation after us.The stories in Public Libraries and Other Stories are a heterogeneous mix of things/subjects, like in a real public library: a disabled woman trapped on a train,  credit card identity theft, searching for “elsewhere”, D.H. Lawrence’s ashes, Dusty Springfield, an obscure Scottish poet…

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Good read
  

*by R***S on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 19, 2020*

If you love libraries

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Five Stars
  

*by A***R on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 30, 2015*

Both quirky and profound.

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---

*Product available on Desertcart United Kingdom*
*Store origin: GB*
*Last updated: 2026-05-18*