Welcome to Litsy!

Slow. I found it hard to connect with. I didn‘t know 80% of the people that were name dropped (and there were A TON), but being that this took place almost 60 years ago, it‘s not surprising. Just not my style! (36)
⭐️: 2/5

Beautifully written. I definitely enjoy Patti Smith's writing. Solid pick and Seren-cat approved!

Yesterday was long. Traveling for work. 4 hour flight + 5 hour layover + 2 hour flight = lots of reading time. Finished my audiobook, an ARC, and started a reread of the tagged book, which is excellent. I love Patti Smith's writing.

I had expected to devour this book, instead I read it rather slowly, it took me months to get through the middle part. It was interesting, but perhaps there were too many names I was unfamiliar with, and several times I found myself putting the book down and looking for other things to read. That said, Smith painted a vivid picture of life in NY as an artist, and the final chapters were especially heartbreaking.

#WondrousWednesday @Eggs

(1) Read, walk, enjoy the colours 🍂
(2) hopeful
(3) Just Kids by Patti Smith

Thanks for the tag @The_Penniless_Author ☺️
Would you like to play @Dilara @sherrisilvera @Sparklemn ?

...or just open your eyes and look at the picture? 🙈

Joking aside about People's attempt at click-bait, I do like how many celebrity book clubs there are now. Seems like a great way to attract new readers. All that said, I've never actually participated in a celebrity book club - does anyone have a favorite they would recommend? I'm curious what the discussions are like.

#Movie2BookRecs @Klou
Movie: Walk the Line

This was such a pleasure to read.

Finally starting this highly rated memoir and isn‘t it great when the playlist is also on Spotify ! Wish all books 📚 had a playlist. It‘s on my #bookspinbingo #februaryreads list

A beautiful story of love and purity through the most unloveable and impure times. Thank you Patti and Robert for sharing your journey of such a sterling young companionship in the busy days of NYC.

“It took an extralong time for me to lace my boots, find my gloves, my cap. Robert stood grinning, watching me moving in circles.”

“When we drove back to the city, both of us agreed we had found kin, each as alien as the other.”

Very honest, down to earth. I hold a very high esteem towards Patti Smith, and this is the first book I read from her, hoping to get my hands on a couple more copies of some of the rest she‘s written. The book was very interesting, a highlight of experiences and yet very humble in the manner in which she has affectionately laid them out.

🙏 Lovely revisit.

#AlphabetGame @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Thanks for the tag @Allylu 💕Since so many others have already chosen Just Mercy, Im highlighting another NF book that was excellent. This memoir is an ode to NYC, and the simpler days- before fame ruined everything for two unknown artists; Patti Smith & Roger Mapplethorpe.

I love good memoirs, and this one is unusually beautiful - on her time invisible in New York City. An unknown Patti Smith with an unknown Robert Mapplethorpe.

#Alphabetgame #LetterJ (*fixed) @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

My last read and my current read. So simply, beautifully written. So much I recognize and identity with. So much I admire. I need more Patti Smith books.

27-30 Mar 2021 (audiobook)
Evoking the grittiness and chaos of life in early 70s New York, Patti Smith made me crave a life that embraced art, insecurity and self-expression. Not that I was ever really that way inclined - I am too partial to clean clothes and good skincare! Still, it was inspiring and I loved the youth and naivety of Patti and Robert as they set upon a path to become cultural icons. Luck, talent or sheer persistence? Hard to say.

Check out this book on Goodreads: Just Kids https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/341879.Just_Kids

I bought this last winter, just before I was planning to go see Patti Smith at a festival...and then the pandemic. So I put off starting it. But if 2020 has taught me nothing else, it‘s to let some things go, don‘t be a hoarder, and don‘t save the expensive wine for later. I don‘t generally like memoirs, but this one‘s exceeding my expectations, so far. Happy 2021!

One of the books I go to for inspiration.

I adored this insight into Patti Smith‘s head and life. I‘ve loved her a long time and she was exactly as thoughtful and unpretentious as I hoped she‘d be. The friendship/romance at the centre of this book was so complex and interesting and I just loved getting to live in her brain for a bit.

#scarathlon2020 #teamharkness @StayCurious +6 pts

#tropesinaugust
#friendswithbenefits

I loved this memoir featuring Patti Smith‘s early years in New York City and her deep and lasting friendship with Robert Mapplethorpe. I know this doesn‘t quite fit the trope but I read so little in the romance genre, this was the best I could do. 😀

Where does it all lead? What will become of us? These were our young questions, and young answers were revealed. It leads to each other. We become ourselves.

It‘s #ManicMonday #LetterJ
📚Tagged and it‘s awesome-sauce
🖊Tayari Jones
🍿Juno
🎤Journey
🎼Just Can‘t Get Enough https://open.spotify.com/track/1nPPh0CiKqVvYl4Mx1aZ21?si=6pHpZVkFStmHqTYIXWvvNw

“Where does it all lead? What will become of us? These were our young questions, and young answers were revealed. It leads to each other. We become ourselves.”

I hate when memoirs are just lists of dates/events. Smith insightfully avoids that, writing instead about the vibe of the eras of her life and of her relationship with Mapplethorpe.

Not only did this book inspire me to create, but it inspired me to approach my relationships differently.

#7days7books My day 2 pick. The book that I will never ever ever loan out to anyone ever. We‘ve all got one, right?

She promised Robert Mapplethorpe she'd tell their story and it took her many years, but what a great story it is. Patti is an amazing artist and her young adult life with Robert as they struggled to live as artists is poignant and funny and powerful. She narrates the audiobook - all the more magical.

Of course this is a pick. I've had a difficult time concentrating with all the COVID-19 stress. I'm reading less than normal with all of the work excitement.
I did enjoy the #audiobook which was read by Patti Smith and just made this come to life that much more. #nonfiction #biography

Another Saturday morning breakfast of blueberry pancakes 🥞 and an #audiobook while I *attempt* to clean up the mess my little gremlins are always making. Loving this #nonfiction #memoir that I've heard such amazing things about.

Thank you @CarolynM for this surprise! Today was pretty awful until I found your care package in the letterbox. I‘ve been wanting to read this book forever, Patti Smith has always been one of my idols, she‘s fascinating & talented and Mapplethorpes work is extraordinary. I love the pin, Jubly-Umph make the best pins & the card is gorgeous too. Thank you for cheering my sad sick soul up!🥰❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Simply but beautifully told, I was immediately drawn in with her gentle rhythm and fascinated from page 1 of Patti Smith's memoir.

Evening musings with Patti Smith

Yet you could feel a vibration in the air, a sense of hastening. It had started with the moon, inaccessible poem that it was. Now men had walked upon it, rubber treads on a pearl of the gods. Perhaps it was an awareness of time passing, the last summer of the decade. Sometimes I just wanted to raise my hands and stop. But stop what? Maybe just growing up.

Started a new book this morning, which is really good so far, but I am a bit distracted as this furball of energy adopted me today 😻

I do believe in theme reading, so when I went to NYC in December, I saw the Guggenheim‘s Mapplethorpe exhibit while reading Patti Smith‘s great memoir.

Jane says, “Although I found myself charmed by these bohemian scamps, the time has come for them to go back to the library.” #returns

I was definitely excited when this book came out, and I can't believe it's been ten years! Maybe I should pick it up again... #BookYouReadIn2010 #AuldLangReads
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @OriginalCyn620

Dear Patti, rock and roll girl! I discovered a whole universe I did not know existed, artists I wasn't aware of and prose that read like water running down a stream. Perfection! 🥀

Here‘s another “Best Books of the Decade” post - https://itsallaboutthebook.org/2020/01/01/another-best-books-of-the-decade-post/

And Just Kids is at the top. What a beautiful, beautiful book. Smith‘s writing is gorgeous. My favorite quote, from Robert Mapplethorpe to Smith as he was dying: “Did art get us, Patti?”

Current read

Wow. An opportunity to walk in the shoes of Patti Smith thru the NYC of the 60s and 70s and 80s. She crossed paths with so many artists and musicians. But the heart of the book is her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe that spanned decades. Highly recommend. Patti narrates the excellent audio! #tbrread #WinterGames #Jingleballera @FantasyChick

Sigh... How do you post pictures without cropping ?

life changing