Patti Smith Books

"In 2018, without any plan or agenda for what might happen next, Patti Smith posted her first Instagram photo: her hand with the simple message "Hello Everybody!" Known for shooting with her beloved Land Camera 250, Smith started posting images from her phone including portraits of her kids, her radiator, her boots, and her Abyssinian cat, Cairo. Followers felt an immediate affinity with these miniature windows into Smith's world, photographs of her daily coffee, the books she's reading, the graves of beloved heroes - William Blake, Dylan Thomas, Sylvia Plath, Simone Weil, Albert Camus. Over time, a coherent story of a life devoted to art took shape, and more than a million followers responded to Smith's unique aesthetic in images that chart her passions, devotions, obsessions, and whims. Original to this book are vintage photographs: anniversary pearls, a mother's keychain, and a husband's Mosrite guitar. Here, too, are never-before-seen photos of life on and off the road, train stations, obscure cafés, a notebook always nearby. In wide-ranging yet intimate daily notations, Smith shares dispatches from her travels around the world"--Publisher's description

Tucked away in a remote stream valley in Vermont, a dynasty of beavers has nearly completed the restoration of the meadows and ponds that adorned this stream in the days before the beavers of a continent were turned into top hats. Willow, Popple, and their progeny begin the night's work of dam repair, scent marking, tree felling until a soft call alerts them to the arrival of the strange honorary member of their clan, this book's author, Patti Smith. They scramble ashore and poke eagerly about her feet as she prepares to picnic and to record the events that transpire on the shores of Popple's Pond

To honor the fortieth anniversary of her seminal album Horses, a revised and updated version of the iconic artist’s collected lyrics. This extraordinary collection from “rock and roll’s poet laureate” is a testimony to the fierce passion and uncompromising originality of Patti Smith’s music and writing. Building on the collection originally published in 1998, this new edition features more than thirty-five new songs, new artwork, and an introduction from Patti Smith herself. As relevant, fresh, and searing as when they were originally written, Smith’s lyrics capture her unique voice, raw in beauty, grace, and authenticity. Sharing a message of dedication, love, and compassion that speaks across the ages, Smith’s words empower fans and reveal the strong yet vulnerable heart of woman defined by her art.

It was the summer Coltrane died, the summer of love and riots, and the summer when a chance encounter in Brooklyn led two young people on a path of art, devotion, and initiation. Patti Smith would evolve as a poet and performer, and Robert Mapplethorpe would direct his highly provocative style toward photography. Bound in innocence and enthusiasm, they traversed the city from Coney Island to Forty-second Street, and eventually to the celebrated round table of Max's Kansas City, where the Andy Warhol contingent held court. In 1969, the pair set up camp at the Hotel Chelsea and soon entered a community of the famous and infamous—the influential artists of the day and the colorful fringe. It was a time of heightened awareness, when the worlds of poetry, rock and roll, art, and sexual politics were colliding and exploding. In this milieu, two kids made a pact to take care of each other. Scrappy, romantic, committed to create, and fueled by their mutual dreams and drives, they would prod and provide for one another during the hungry years. Just Kids begins as a love story and ends as an elegy. It serves as a salute to New York City during the late sixties and seventies and to its rich and poor, its hustlers and hellions. A true fable, it is a portrait of two young artists' ascent, a prelude to fame.

It was the summer that Coltrane died. The summer Jimi Hendrix set his guitar in flames and China exploded the H-bomb. There were riots in Newark and marches against the war in Vietnam. The world was on the brink of change. It was the summer of love. And the summer of a chance encounter that would change the course of my life. It was the summer I met Robert. Just Kids is the story of two innocents who shared sheltered lives and braved the city in search of art and freedom. In each other Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith found kindred spirits and pursued their mutual dreams, from Brooklyn to the Chelsea Hotel and into the world. Each would eventually reach the pinnacle of artistic achievement and their vow to always care for one another survived painful trials and separations. Mapplethorpe's unforgettable portrait of Smith for the cover of Horses forever fuses their indelible mark on our culture. Intimate and broadly evocative of New York in the early '70s, Just Kids - part romance, part elegy - is finally about friendship in the truest sense, and the artist's calling.

Set in 1824, the establishment of a homestead in what is now downtown Ann Arbor marks the beginning of the town's rich history. The community's name is whimsically attributed to the founders' wives, though they were never in town simultaneously. The narrative highlights the contributions of early settlers who developed essential infrastructure, including schools, a courthouse, and streetcar lines. Their legacy is woven into the fabric of the town, evident in its streets and neighborhoods, reflecting the growth and evolution of Ann Arbor over the years.

An essential new collection of the lyrics of Patti Smith, writer, artist and musician, author of the international bestseller Just Kids

He left (or was left by) a number of girlfriends and he fathered five children along the way. He was apt to raise a bit of a ruckus at poetry readings and other public events. No one could be sure what he might do next except that he would write poetry and get published and that it would be widely read.".

Selections from Patti Smith's writings over the decade in which she made a lasting impact on America's underground literary and rock scene.

Let Go of the Past--Embrace Your Second ChanceYou have a destiny . You may have lost sight of it, opened a wrong door, taken a misleading path, but it's there--you haven't missed your chance! Yet it can be hard to see, hard to find, when the only things in front of you are challenging circumstances, lost opportunities, or overwhelming obstacles. But there is hope!With warmth and insight, Pat Smith shares the truths she and other women have learned on their own journeys from heartache to hope. She encourages and empowers you to recommit to the destiny God has for you in life, love, work, and faith. She also shows how to let go of what's holding you back, reinvent yourself, and rediscover your purpose and joy. There is a second chance waiting for you--it's time to celebrate your new life!