How to Be BothHow to Be Both
Score Modern
What it's about
Ali Smith's genre-bending novel is a fast-moving conversation between forms, times, truths and fictions, borrowing from the fresco technique of painting: a Renaissance artist and a modern teenage girl whose stories mirror each other.
Why it's worth reading
It won the Women's Prize for Fiction, was a Booker Prize finalist and is on the New York Times list of the best books of the 21st century.
You'll love it if you liked
White Teeth
The Blind Assassin
4 3 2 1Good to know
It's playful and experimental, built in two halves.
By the numbers
- Readers0 out of 100 · counts 42%
- Critics88 out of 100 · counts 34% (its stronger lane)
- Bestseller15 out of 100 · counts 14%
- Buzz3 out of 100 · counts 10%
Critics and Bestseller are two ways to earn a place: a book's stronger one counts more. Buzz rewards recent bestseller weeks and prizes, so older books start at zero. The parts combine into the Must-Read Score, shown on a scale where the best book we found scores 99 and the last book to make the ranking scores 50.
Where it ranks
- #156 of the 233 romances we rank
- #1065 of the 1,573 modern books we rank
- #1970 of the 2,816 books we rank
Why it made the list
Reads as
Moving
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Quick answers
Is How to Be Both worth reading?
Yes. It won the Women's Prize for Fiction, was a Booker Prize finalist and is on the New York Times list of the best books of the 21st century. It ranks #1,970 of the 2,816 books in our ranking, with a Must-Read Score of 64.2 (the best book we found scores 99).
What is How to Be Both about?
Ali Smith's genre-bending novel is a fast-moving conversation between forms, times, truths and fictions, borrowing from the fresco technique of painting: a Renaissance artist and a modern teenage girl whose stories mirror each other.
How long does it take to read How to Be Both?
About 10 hours (384 pages), or about 3 weeks at 30 minutes a day.
What awards has How to Be Both won?
Women's Prize for Fiction winner (2015).
What should I read after How to Be Both?
If you liked it, try White Teeth by Zadie Smith, The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood or 4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster.