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Patti Smith

A Book of Days Hardcover – November 15, 2022

by Patti Smith (Author)

4.7 581 ratings

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A deeply moving and brilliantly idiosyncratic visual book of days by the National Book Award–winning author of Just Kids and M Train, featuring more than 365 images and reflections that chart Smith’s singular aesthetic—inspired by her wildly popular Instagram.

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Variety, Pitchfork, PopSugar

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 photos from Smith’s archives 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.

With over 365 photographs taking you through a single year, A Book of Days is a new way to experience the expansive mind of the visionary poet, writer, and performer. Hopeful, elegiac, playful—and complete with an introduction by Smith that explores her documentary process—A Book of Days is a timeless offering for deeply uncertain times, an inspirational map of an artist’s life.

Print length

400 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Random House
Publication date

November 15, 2022
Dimensions

5.48 x 1.49 x 7.34 inches
ISBN-10

0593448545
ISBN-13

978-0593448540
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Patti Smith is the author of the National Book Award winner Just Kids, as well as M Train, Year of the Monkey, and numerous collections of poetry and essays. Her seminal album Horses has been hailed as one of the top 100 albums of all time. In 2005, the French Ministry of Culture awarded Smith the title of Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres; she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, and was awarded the key to New York City in 2021.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Hello Everybody

On March 20, 2018, the Spring Equinox, I posted my first Instagram entry. My daughter, Jesse, had suggested that I open an Instagram account to distinguish mine from fraudulent ones soliciting in my name. Jesse also felt the platform would suit me, as I write and take pictures every day. She and I created the site together. I wondered how I might signal to the people that it was truly me reaching out to them. I decided upon a straightforward approach: thisispattismith.

I used my own hand as the image for my first venture into the virtual world. The hand is one of the oldest of icons, a direct correspondence between imagination and execution. Healing energy is channeled through our hands. We extend a hand in greeting and service; we raise a hand as a pledge. Ocher handprints, thousands of years old, found stenciled in the Chauvet–Pont d’Arc Cave in southeastern France, were formed by spitting red pigment over a hand pressed against the stone wall to merge with an element of strength or perhaps to signal a prehistoric declaration of self.

Instagram has served as a way to share old and new discoveries, celebrate birthdays, remember the departed, and salute our youth. I write my captions in a notebook or directly on the phone. I would have liked to have had a Polaroid-based site, but as the film has been discontinued, my camera is now a retired witness of former travels. The images in this book are drawn from existing Polaroids, my archive, and the cellphone. A process unique to the twentyfirst century.

Although I miss my camera and the specific atmosphere of the Polaroid image, I appreciate the flexibility of the cellphone. My first inkling of a cellphone’s possible artistic usefulness was through Annie Leibovitz. In 2004 she took an interior shot with her cell, and then printed it out as a small, low-resolution image. She said offhandedly that she thought it would one day be possible to take worthy pictures with a phone. I didn’t consider having a cellphone back then, but we evolve with the times. Mine, acquired in 2010, has enabled me to unite with the exploding collage of our culture.

A Book of Days is a glimpse of how I navigate this culture in my own way. It was inspired by my Instagram but is uniquely its own. Much of it I created during the pandemic, in my room alone, projecting into the future and reflecting the past, family, and a consistent personal aesthetic.

Entries and images are keys to unlocking one’s own thoughts. Each is surrounded with the reverberation of other possibilities. Birthdays acknowledged are prompts for others, including your own. A Paris café is all cafés, just as a gravesite may echo others mourned and remembered. Having experienced much loss, I’ve found solace in frequenting the cemeteries of people I love, and I have visited many, offering my prayers, respect, and gratitude. I am at home with history and tracing the steps of those whose work has inspired me; many entries are that of remembrance.

I have been encouraged in watching my site grow, from the first follower, my daughter, to over one million. This book, a year and a day (for those born on leap day), is offered in gratitude, as a place to be heartened, even in the basest of times. Each day is precious, for we are yet breathing, moved by the way light falls on a high branch, or a morning worktable, or the sculpted headstone of a beloved poet.

Social media, in its twisting of democracy, sometimes courts cruelty, reactionary commentary, misinformation, and nationalism, but it can also serve us. It’s in our hands. The hand that composes a message, smooths a child’s hair, pulls back the arrow and lets it fly. Here are my arrows aiming for the common heart of things. Each attached with a few words, scrappy oracles.

Three hundred and sixty-six ways of saying hello.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House (November 15, 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593448545
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593448540
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.5 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.48 x 1.49 x 7.34 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #21,163 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3 in Punk Musician Biographies
- #37 in Rock Band Biographies
- #518 in Memoirs (Books)

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4.7 581 ratings

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Patti Smith

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Patti Smith is a writer, performer, and visual artist. She gained recognition in the 1970s for her revolutionary merging of poetry and rock. She has released twelve albums, including Horses, which has been hailed as one of the top one hundred debut albums of all time by Rolling Stone.

Smith had her first exhibit of drawings at the Gotham Book Mart in 1973 and has been represented by the Robert Miller Gallery since 1978. Her books include Just Kids, winner of the National Book Award in 2010, Wītt, Babel, Woolgathering, The Coral Sea, and Auguries of Innocence.

In 2005, the French Ministry of Culture awarded Smith the title of Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres, the highest honor given to an artist by the French Republic. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.

In 1980, she married the musician Fred Sonic Smith in Detroit. They had a son, Jackson, and a daughter, Jesse. Smith resides in New York City.

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4.7 out of 5

581 global ratings

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Anthony

Great photography book. A bit thin on the writing, but achieves its goal.

Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2023

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Just like my title says, a GREAT photography book but a little thin on the writing. But my complaint is really invalid as photography is the books main purpose. I was just craving more prose from the witty and wise Patti Smith. Woolgathering, Just Kids, M. Train, Year of the Monkey and Devotion were all so fantastic I am just lusting for more of the written word from Patti Smith. This hardback book is beautiful and well made. The hazy photographs are moody, funny, sad and sometimes mysterious and vague. Perfect to flip through at random or follow it day by day.

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Teresa Rivas

Jimmy Fallon recommend

Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2023

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I saw this on Jimmy Fallon. The author was talking about how she put it together snd it was very interesting

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NOT great on Kindle!

Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2023

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This review is specific to the Kindle edition. I am absolutely positive that I would have enjoyed the book very very much more. It is illuminating in many ways. Patti shares so much of herself, her perspective, and insights on why various things are meaningful to her. It is a great adjunct to "Just Kids". BUT, it is a photo book (her photos). Photos make up at least 50% of the content, and they are almost impossible to make out on the Kindle. I wish that I had purchased the book instead, and from now on will be ignoring the "Great on Kindle" tag, because it is not. Yes, the book is great, no the experience of reading it on a Kindle is not. Do yourself a favor and buy the actual book. I wish that I had.

4 people found this helpful

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Larry Delinger

Patti Smith is a unique creator of words and music

Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2023

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Patti Smith has made a book that can be read and viewed day by day or not. The captions for the photos are beautifully written and many times fascinating because she is that and so much more. A music Icon, poet and and a brilliant memoirist.

Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2023

Verified Purchase

Nice book of photos by Patti Smith. It covers her childhood, celebrities, and various memory items. I think it is a wonderful book. a time capsule of my generation ( I am in my 70's ).

3 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Inspiration

Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2023

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“27 January
Reading nerval has always inspired me to write. This is the greatest gift that an artist bequeaths to future artists igniting the desire to produce their own work”
These short deep philosophical bytes in this beautiful book with photographs, feels like a very precious piece of work, part journal, part historical, precious insights. From an artist I admire. Evermore now.
When I got my hands on this book, bought it before I opened it, I later thought I might be disappointed with the short daily entries. Turns out it’s just what I am needing right now.. nothing too long, short pondering thoughtful..and inspiring me to write my own down.
The ArtFul Combining with photographs, again beautiful piece of work.

8 people found this helpful

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jamie

Beautiful book

Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2023

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Just love it. Pictures are beautiful.

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Virginia McConnell

I didn’t like it. I thought it was for who was born that day

Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2023

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This was a book

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Sol Enzástiga

Gran libro

Reviewed in Mexico on August 11, 2023

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Excelente edición de pasta dura, con manga protectora y gran calidad en las fotos impresas. Excelente libro

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Dylan UK

An iconic book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 3, 2023

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Beautiful book, a gift that was hugely appreciated and valued

MaryTokio

Intimo

Reviewed in Spain on June 24, 2023

Verified Purchase

Digo que esta señora es la monda. Haga lo que haga es interesante. Obviamente, si no fuera Patti Smith lo más normal es que a nadie le importaría lo mas mínimo.. Pero desde que apareció en un programa de TV llamado popgrama, emitido en blanco y negro, me sigue resulta interesante. Lo dicho.

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Zora.07

war als Geschenk sehr willkommen

Reviewed in Germany on July 27, 2023

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wunderbares Buch

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Michela

Patti non delude mai

Reviewed in Italy on January 21, 2023

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Bel formato, compatto, le foto sono molto poetiche ed evocative, consigliato per fan di Patti Smith.

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A Book of Days Hardcover – November 15, 2022

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