Why are books in all their forms, so very powerful? What do the books we've read over our lives - our own personal libraries - make of us? What does the unravelling of our tradition of public libraries, so hard-won but now in jeopardy, say about us? The stories in Ali Smith's new collection are about what we do with books and what they do with us: how they travel with us, friends for life; how they shock us, change us, challenge us, banish time while making us older, wiser and ageless all at once; how they coax us endlessly to unexpected blossom; how they remind us to pay attention to the world we make. Praise for How to be both: 'Dazzling indeed.' Independent 'Brims with palpable joy.' Daily Telegraph 'Ali Smith is a one-off, one of the most exciting novelists of her generation.' Daily Express