#howtobeboth

[arambling]

Shallow as it may sound, the reason this book caught my eye was its cover. The reviews and the fact that it would mean adding another Scottish female writer to my shelves finally convinced me to buy it. I wrote "Topping Edinburgh, Autumn 2019" on one of its first pages, so I guess that makes it my first purchase at @toppingsedin 💛 I only discovered the importance of this picture when I was almost halfway through the first part of the book (as it is divided into two interconnected stories) when I was already so submerged in the narration, that I couldn't believe how lucky I was for following my frivolous gut when picking it up in the shop 🤓 . . . . . #trustyourgut #francoisehardy #sylvievartan #howtobeboth #alismith #readingnook #oootd #secondhandfashion #fermliving #vintagering #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #edinburgh #scottishauthors #wednesdaywisdom (at Edinburgh, United Kingdom) https://www.instagram.com/p/CIlSO80DaRH/?igshid=1jfl2b5dsz5ps

[quandary-deeper-higher]

arrumações #alismith #howtobeboth #painting https://www.instagram.com/p/B9wRz5gJE85/?igshid=1kki3wcfj5h11

[nutfreenerd]

p a s t e l ✨ • • • • #books #book #bookish #booklover #bibliophile #reading #amreading #reader #read #bookstagram #bookblogger #bookblog #blogger #blog #nutfreenerd #bookpics #instabooks #oxforduniversity #oxford #oxforduni #alismith #howtobeboth #studyabroad #pastel (at The Grand Cafe)

[blankpagesofmine]

"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." #amreading #publiclibrary #alismith #howtobeboth #bookstagram #bibliophile #reading #readersofinstagram #photooftheday #picoftheday #instagram #instadaily #quote #wordporn #quoteoftheday #friday #weekend #weekendvibes #library

[cisonostorie]

《 Sono una bambina, seduta sulla pietra in mezzo alla puzza di piscio di cavallo, e ho in mano la testa rinsecchita con l'ala che spunta da dietro: la cosa che ho in mano è l'inizio di un albero, con un po' di fortuna e un po' di giustizia. La fortuna, lo so, ha a che fare con le cose che capitano per caso. Ma cos'è la giustizia?, grido alla schiena di mia madre. [...] L'equità, dice girandosi. La correttezza. Il fatto che tu abbia la stessa quantità di cibo e di istruzione e le stesse possibilità che hanno i tuoi fratelli, e loro in egual misura rispetto a chiunque altro in questa città o in questo mondo. La giustizia ha a che fare con il mangiare, allora, e con l'istruzione. Ma cosa c'entra con tutto questo il seme che cade da un albero?, le grido dietro. [...] Ci serve sia la fortuna che la giustizia per riuscire a vivere la vita alla quale siamo stati destinati, dice. Molti semi non ce la fanno. Pensa. Cadono sulla pietra, vengono schiacciati e frantumati, marciscono nella spazzatura sul ciglio della strada, mettono radici che non attecchiscono, muoiono di sete, muoiono di caldo, muoiono di freddo prima ancora di aprirsi sotto terra, figuriamoci di produrre foglie. Ma gli alberi sono creature intellogenti e ogni anno mandano nel mondo tantissimi semi, e per tutti quelli che non riescono a crescere ce ne sono centinaia, migliaia che invece ce la fanno. 》 #AliSmith, #Howtobeboth

[vinegar--tom]

Not-so-neat but dearly loved #alismith #autumn #thestoryofantigone #girlmeetsboy #publiclibrary #theaccidental #therebutforthe #howtobeboth #contemporarycriticalperspectives #bloomsbury #hamishhamilton #penguin #penguinbooks #canongate #pushkinchildrensbooks #literature #shortstories #novel #fiction #bookstagram

[thussspakeshannonshuster]

the fucking narration though ... brilliant . well done ali smith , well fucking done ! constantly challenging and answering the question of how to be both - awesome . the way the narration vibes in and out of several stories , and especially past + present tenses - genius . this book is incredible . beautifully written . someone read it so we can talk the fuck outta it , please and thank you ✨💜

[bourbakiaxiom]

The Annunciation (1470/72) by Francesco del Cossa (c1435-c1477)

“H also found three other pictures by this painter, which aren’t in the Ferrara palace. There is one in which an angel is kneeling to tell a Virgin Mary she’s going to give birth. Above them both, far away in the sky, there’s a floating shape. It’s God. He’s shaped oddly, like a shoe, or a - what?

“Then George notices a painted snail at the bottom of the picture, crossing it as if it’s a real snail crossing a picture. The snail shape is nearly the same as the God shape.

“Does that mean God is like a snail? Or that a snail traversing a picture is like God?

“It has a perfect spiral in the shell.”

- Ali Smith (from the novel, How To Be Both)

Del Cossa is a major protagonist of this novel; but a relatively obscure artist. However, this painting is held at the Dresden Old Masters Picture Gallery (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden), and appears in the guidebook I have from there. It also means that I probably saw the picture when I visited (see my tumblr post from that visit)  There were lots of paintings there though, and I didn’t know anything about del Cossa, so I do not remember it specifically.

Regarding the snail, the guide book informs me: “The snail symbolically refers to Mary’s Immaculate Conception. In medieval texts it was believed that the snail could be asexually fertilized by dew.”