A Book of Days

by Patti Smith

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 Variety, Pitchfork, PopSugar

In 2018, without any plan or agenda for what might happen next, Patti Smith posted her first Instagram 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 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.

Genres: Nonfiction, Photography, Art, Music, Memoir, Poetry, Biography

393 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 15, 2022

About the author

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 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.

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

Reviews

[Karen]

A photo along with a few words.. for each day during 2020… it’s like a personal journal.
I am not going to rate this one.
I love Patti and her previous books.. but I already follow her on Instagram and its actually just like looking at her daily posts on that site.
and… that’s all there is.. not really much writing at all 🤷‍♀️

[Daina Chakma · Rating 5 out of 5]

এক কথায় রিভিউ: এই বইয়ের হার্ডকপি না কিনলে জীবন বৃথা হয়ে যাচ্ছে!

বিস্তারিত পাঠপ্রতিক্রিয়া: "অ্যা বুক অফ ডেজ" - বাংলায় বলতে গেলে হয় দিনলিপির বই। এই বইয়ে প্যাটি স্মিথ নিজস্ব পোলারয়েড আর সেলফোন ক্যামেরায় তোলা সখের ছবি দিয়ে ৩৬৬ বার হ্যালো বলতে চেয়েছেন। পাঠ প্রতিক্রিয়ার অংশ হিসেবে প্রত্যেকটা দিনের ছবি আর ক্যাপশনের স্ন্যাপশট যুক্ত করে দিতে না পারলে অনুভূতি প্রকাশ অসম্পূর্ণ থেকে যাচ্ছে! কিন্তু ব্লগ পোস্টের মতো গুডরিডসে এলবাম যোগ করার সুযোগ নেই। তাই অতৃপ্তিই সই।

জানুয়ারি ১ তারিখের এন্ট্রি ছিল এমন: A new year is unfolding, the unknown before us, brimming with possibilities! ক্যাপশনের সাথে সাগরের মুখোমুখি দাঁড়ানো এক যুবকের সাদাকালো ছবি। এভাবে প্রতিটি দিনের এন্ট্রিতে প্যাট্রিশিয়ার তোলা একটি করে ছবি আর গল্পের মতো ক্যাপশনসহ এক বছরের ৩৬৬ টি দিনের লিপি দিয়ে মোড়ানো বই "অ্যা বুক অফ ডেজ"। লেখিকার নিত্যকার দিনের মানডেন ছবি; ক্যাফে, চশমা, কোট হ্যাংগার, চায়ের কাপ, ডায়েরির পাতা, ছোটবেলার প্রিয় ছবির বই (এরাউন্ড দ্যা ওয়ার্ল্ড ইন ওয়ান থাউজ্যান্ড পিকচারস), গীটার থেকে শুরু করে বিখ্যাত সব আর্টিস্টদের পোট্রেইট, তাঁদের স্মরণে নির্মিত ভাস্কর্য, সমাধিফলক, বিছানা, বই, লাইব্রেরি, শহর সবকিছুই ঠাঁই পেয়েছে বইয়ের পাতায়। কোনো এক গ্রীষ্মের ছুটিতে প্যারিসের মনপাহরনাজ সিমেট্রিতে গিয়ে একদিন সারাবেলা বসে ছিলাম। জঁ-পল সার্ত্র, সিমোন দ্য বোভোয়ার, আর বোদলেয়ারের বাঁধানো সমাধির কাছে চুপচাপ বসে থেকে মনে হচ্ছিল শত শত বছর আগে চলে যাওয়া এই মানুষগুলোর আত্মার কিছুটা কাছে পাচ্ছি। কাছে পাওয়ার এই অনুভূতির অনেকটুকু পেয়েছি প্যাট্রিশিয়ার জাদুকরী লেখনী আর ছবিতে। ভার্জিনিয়া উলফ, জর্জিয়া ও’কিফ, জোয়ান ডিডিয়ন, মুরাকামি, রোজা পার্ক, গ্রেটা থানবার্গ, আলবের কাম্যু, দান্তে আলিগিয়েরি, এদিত পিয়াফ, জঁ ককতো, লেনন, বব ডিলান, এলভিস প্রিসলি, ফ্রিদা, গিইয়োম আপলিনের, জয়েস, ববি ফিসার এঁদের প্রতিটি ছবি যেন একটি ছোট গল্প! সবার জীবনের স্ন্যাপশট ছবি-ক্যাপশন পড়তে গিয়ে মনে হলো ওঁরা প্রাণের কত কাছের! আরও কাছে পেয়েছি এলিস বলকে, যে লেপ্রসির প্রথম সফল চিকিৎসা করেছিল! অথচ নারী সায়েন্টিস্ট ছিল বলে জীবদ্দশায় কোনো স্বীকৃতিই পায়নি সে! বইয়ের পাতায় আর ঠাঁই পেয়েছে মারি ক্যুরি যে বিজ্ঞানের দুই শাখায় নোবেল পুরষ্কার প্রাপ্ত পৃথিবীর একমাত্র সায়েন্টিস্ট, আরও আছে মারিয়াম মির্জখনি যে কিনা প্রথম নারী হিসেবে গণিতের সর্বোচ্চ সম্মানজনক পুরস্কার ফিল্ডস মেডেল পেয়েছিল! জাপানের শিল্পী ইয়োকো ওনোর পোট্রের্ট কী অদ্ভুত সুন্দর! যেন ছবিতে কেবল মুখখানা নয়, পুরো একটা চরিত্র ধরা পড়েছে! ওনোর জন্ম ১৯৩৩ সালে, দ্বিতীয় বিশ্ব যুদ্ধের কিছু আগে। শৈশব আর কিশোরীকালে খুব কাছে থেকে দেখা যুদ্ধের ভয়াবহতা ওনোর মনে ভীষণ ছাপ ফেলে। পরবর্তীতে সে যুদ্ধ-আহত জাপানকের স্মৃতি বুকে ধরে লেননের পাশে দাঁড়িয়ে শান্তি আর মানবাধিকার নিয়ে কাজ করেছিল।

এই বই পড়ার নিয়ম হলো প্রতিদিন একটু একটু শ্বাস নেয়ার মতো করে, পাতা বাঁচিয়ে দীর্ঘসময় ধরে আস্বাদ করতে হবে। আমি লোভী পড়ুয়া, তাই এক দিনেই পড়ে ফেলেছি। সে যাই হোক, অদ্ভুত সুন্দর আর দুর্মূল্যের এই বইটিকে নিরদ্বিধায় বুকশেলফের close-to-my-heart তাকে তুলে রাখা চলে!

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book to reminisce!

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

For all of you Patti Smith completists, this is a collection of photographs accompanied by brief explanatory writing that Smith published one recent year on Instagram. I have looked through many of her collected photographs, so this was no surprise, but I like all the literary/artistic/musical love notes to famous friends, alive or gone.

This says preview, but it may be the whole thing (which you could also see on Instagram:

https://www.google.com/books/edition/...

[Vesna]

I love Patti Smith. I can’t say her band was my most favorite from their CBGB days (those would be The Ramones, Talking Heads, and Lou Reed), but I am in awe with her versatile talents and endeared by her radiant persona. It’s not then surprising that on impulse I reached out for her A Book of Days immediately as I saw it published last month. And I usually don’t make good choices when acting on impulse.

This book left me with mixed feelings. It’s a calendar book, which I used to like more in the past than now and the only one that found its permanent place on my shelves is Tolstoy’s A Calendar of Wisdom. If their concept or author is to our personal liking, they can be alluring because, as Smith wrote in her preface, it’s “Three hundred and sixty-six ways of saying hello.” (she includes the leap day) Which she does… on Instagram. And this book is practically an Instagram in a print form ... for $29 (or, rather, $28.99 as retailers would like to mark the price) … published by a big commercial publisher (Random House) shrewdly launching it at the time of the year when people massively buy calendars and calendar books.

Still, Patti Smith’s world is fascinating with each day illustrated by a photograph and a brief text. Sharing memories from travels around the world, honoring her favorite writers, artists, musicians, public figures, many of whom are my own favorites which delighted me. But there are also her friends and family, some famous others less so, usually with brief captions that have no meaningful personal significance for a reader who bought this book. Except for those honoring her mother, father, her childhood, Fred, cat Cairo, dog Snowy, which are annotated with a moving sentence or two that can be relatable to all of our mothers, fathers, lovers, pets.

Many of the photos are not her own and they are fully credited at the end of the book. I only wish she had included more of her own photography, especially when taken with her old Polaroid and evocatively accompanied by her beautiful words and thoughts. Here are a couple of them:


19 February. This is the Peace Pagoda in Japantown, San Francisco. The strange weather gave everything the inner glow and aura of another time, the tower emerging from the mist like an old postcard faded in the sun.



7 March. Everything in the adobe dwelling and studio in Abiquiú breathes of Georgia O’Keeffe. The surface of the walls, the ladder, the surrounding landscape, and the dry bones beyond.



1 May. When I was young, May Day was also called children’s day, a time of ribbons and white dresses, turning in circles in the bright fields and fashioning garlands of wildflowers.

It’s regrettable that these are very sparing in the book.

Another attraction are her inspiring brief thoughts about the favorite writers and artists on the dates of their birth or death. Smith’s instagram (thisispattismith), however, can be a better (and cheaper) place for much of the rest. This book is only for her hardcore fans.

[Laura Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Patti Smith's bohemian spirit and artist's soul are reflected in each of 365 photographs, accompanied by her entertaining, educational, and enlightening musings. A Book of Days is a loving tribute to artists, great thinkers and leaders. There are also suggested readings. This is a must read for fans of Patti Smith.

[talia ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

HELLO??

patti smith hive RISE!!

[endlessbookclub · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book of days is like having a glimpse of Patti’s journal, written in succinct entries with a photograph.
Patti expounds on her past recollections of celebrations, milestones, grievances and mundane moments of life. The way she delineates her memories as if they had just transpired is astonishing and truly inspiring.

[Corey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heaven for me would be sitting beneath a blanket next to a fire place in a parlor in San Francisco or New York, drinking a bottomless cup of hot, fresh coffee, listening to Smith’s “Horses” on a Hi-Fi, forever flipping through this book. Reading the captions aloud in a whisper is a blend of poetry and prayer.

[Jolanta (knygupė) · Rating 1 out of 5]

1,5*
-sigh- senstam ir sentimentalėjam...

[đurđa]

30 DECEMBER
Every birthday, my mother would call me at 6:01 in the morning and leave this message: Wake up, Patricia, you are born.

🫶🏼

[Amanda ✸ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐

"Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to lust
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us"

Eu não posso afirmar que sou (a maior) fã da Patti Smith, porque não conheço (nem) metade dos seus projetos, mas uma coisa é certa, "Because The Night" está sempre presente nas minhas playlists do Spotify! 🤭

Um livro dos dias consiste em um compilado de 366 fotos, com breves descrições, do Instagram da Patti (@thisispattismith). Sei que vai soar absurdo, mas, sinceramente, eu não tenho o costume de usar essa rede social e, por isso, esse livro funcionou para mim. Inclusive, me fez querer ler Só garotos, que está parado na minha estante há muito, muito tempo.

Se você acompanha a Patti no Instagram, pode ser que esse livro não funcione para você, mas... Se você tem interesse em Um livro dos dias e estiver de bobeira em uma livraria, eu recomendo que você dê uma folheada no mesmo e decida se ele vale o investimento. Afinal, não é sempre que temos R$104,90 disponíveis para comprar um livro - para a minha sorte, o meu exemplar foi um presente, rs.

[Cheri]

I read this sometime close to the publication date, but neglected to write a review because there seemed to be little point in writing a review for this. It isn't that I disliked it, but it just wasn't what I - or most of the others who have loved her books - expected. It is more of a photo album with brief thoughts periodically, which is fine. It feels a bit like a diary with photographs of the things she sees and posts online, if you follow her online.

The first of her books that I read was her 'Just Kids', which remains one of my favourite books. My brother sent me a signed copy of it the year that she wrote it when she was at the Miami Book Fair. He is a big fan of her music, but more so of her writing. Since then I've read several of her books published in the years that followed, and loved them.

I don't know how to even begin 'rating' this, so I'm not going to assign it a rating. I'm not sure how to even categorize this one. It isn't really a memoir, but it is memoir-ish since it includes brief thoughts, it is a collection of photographs, so it could be considered in the 'art/photography' category. I'm not sorry that I bought it, or read it, but it wasn't my favourite of her books.

[Judy Barazi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, a pretty pointless book. The photos are any boomer’s camera roll. And what’s up with all the random Google images of celebrities that Patti Smith likes on the days of their birthdays?

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wondermooi fotoboek in handzaam formaat waarin Patti Smith voor elke dag van het jaar een foto koos en van een korte poëtische, activistische of persoonlijke gedachte voorzag. De meest foto's nam ze zelf door de jaren heen, lange tijd met haar Polaroid 250 Land Camera, later met een smartphone die ze 'the equalizer' noemt. Daarnaast selecteerde ze foto's van andere fotografen waarover ze iets kwijt wil. Alle 366 kiekjes zijn pareltjes, zowel compositorisch als kwalitatief.

Patti Smith reist veel, zowel tourend met haar band als individueel of met haar kinderen. Daarbij bezoekt ze over de hele wereld plaatsen gelinkt aan haar 'helden', niet zelden hun grafsteen. Die helden zijn vaak literair, maar ook beeldend kunstenaars, componisten, denkers, rockartiesten, activisten en wetenschappers en worden op hun geboorte- of sterfdag door Patti geëerd. Uiteraard veel vrouwelijke helden.

Daarnaast zijn er kunstwerken, standbeelden, architectuur, landschapjes. Er zitten ook familiekiekjes tussen en minstens even mooi zijn de kleine stillevens van parafernalia waarmee de dichter, zangeres, fotografe, auteur en beeldend kunstenaar zich graag omringt, altijd met (een van Robert Mapplethorpe geërfd) oog voor detail en compositie. Kortom: een ideaal cadeau-idee én een echt salontafelgenietboekje om regelmatig in te grasduinen.

[rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

patti definitely knew her audience with this one. unfortunately i would not recommend this to anyone who isn’t absolutely obsessed with ms smith, as it’s really nothing too special. pictures (that i was very saddened to find some weren’t even taken by her) with a 5-40 word blurb below is all this book contains. overall this was enjoyable and i was led down many rabbit holes along the way but was not something i, personally, would be proud to publish. however she knows she has die hard fans (like me) who will pay $30 for a book that has her name on it and honestly good for her for recognizing that. maybe would recommend reading a page a day to make this book a little more worthwhile.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is fine if you really, really like Patti Smith. I loved Just Kids and I really liked M Train, but Book of Days just seems like a throwaway pandemic celebrity Instagram compilation. If Patti Smith wasn’t THE Patti Smith, I don’t see how this would have gotten published.

[AD · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven’t read it, but, Patti Smith is the absolute best. Don’t buy it from Amazon. Support your local bookstores or at least order from The Strand.

[Vartika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspired by Patti Smith's prolific and endearingly indiosyncratic Instagram account(s of her life, world, inspirations, and many coffees), A Book of Days brings together 365 of the punk poet laureate's photographs—from those collected in her archive or taken on her Land 250 to recent offerings shot from her mobile phone—in a thoughtful volume of a year's worth of unique visual meditations.

[L to R]Black coat with handkerchief/ Black coat without its peak

The concept is undoubtedly only something the Patti Smith can get away with, but beautiful nonetheless: each image and accompanying annotation is steeped in succinct but breathtaking observations of her surroundings and observances for idols and inspirations such as Arthur Rimbaud, Sylvia Plath, and Dylan Thomas; offering poetic, principled glimpses into the artist's brilliant, near-encyclopaedic mind. Through these we gain windows into her passions, her playful documentary process, and her past—sometimes even thepast, if through her eyes.

I thoroughly enjoyed flipping through this book and feasting my eyes on each entry like a little prayer. I suspect I will grow to treasure it, and re/turn to it time and time again.

[Ville Verkkapuro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Last autumn I was completely in awe by Patti Smith and her writing and her persona, she is so cool and sweet and comforting, inspiring and a rebel forever, an icon yet always rooting for other artists. I follow her on Instagram as I love her life, especially now, as a 76-year old woman. I really want to be like her, grow up like her. And a few weeks ago she dropped by at my favourite library in Helsinki, did a tattoo design for me ("People Have the Power", on my neck) and signed this book. It's my treasure. It's a year in her life in wonderful snippets, not anything special yet everything special, just like life.

[Tanya · Rating 2 out of 5]

"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."

I started this in January with the intention of making it last all year, reading one page a day like a calendar, with Patti's thoughts and impressions as my daily morning inspiration. It didn't quite work out that way—I would forget about it, then read a week or two or three all at once. I finished it on December 30th, Patti's birthday.

The best thing about this book is the introduction, in which she explains her intention and process; what follows is essentially a glorified print-version of her Instagram account. I love looking at her posts, which chart her bohemian soul, her artist's spirit, and her passions and whims with a trademark, unique aesthetic... but this book comes with a pretty hefty price-tag considering that for the most part it's something you can look at on an app, for free.

Anyway, that's the idea: A photograph a day (leap day included), with a short caption, to accompany you through a full year, and offer a window into Patti's daily life and thoughts: Photos of her coffee cup, a messy corner of her home, a desk piled with books, objects and trinkets imbued with treasured memories, places near and far, her beloved Abyssinian cat Cairo. A very large chunk of the entries are tributes to dead poets, writers, and artists on their birth- or death-days, often of their graves, so as a whole, it has a strangely elegiac quality.

While there are evocative, poetic snatches of sentences here and there, they are few and far between, and I was overall left disappointed. I wish that there'd been more to set this book apart from her Instagram account: Less entries taken straight from it, longer, more intimate captions, and more of the (Polaroid) photography she's known for—quite a few of the photographs aren't even her own, as the credit section at the back testifies.

For a hardcore fan, this is a nice addition to the shelf or coffee-table, but for everyone else, her Instagram account thisispattismith will do.

"Each day is precious, for we are yet breathing, moved by the way the light falls on a high branch, or a morning worktable, or the sculpted headstone of a beloved poet."

[Amanda up North · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Book of Days by Patti Smith has a little bit of it all. Music, books, authors, art, architecture, trailblazing minds and creators, as well as history, nature, travel, culture, motherhood and marriage. Emphasis on the "little bit" part. These are little bits of words and thought accompanying one photo for each day of the year. Yes, each page is like an instagram post, and may have originated or been inspired by one of her instagram posts, but the book is a curated, custom collection. It doesn't duplicate her instagram feed. (I checked.)
I wish I could have savored each page more slowly to really soak in each specific person, place, or thing she commemorates. As it is, I read a library copy so I didn't have the luxury of savoring it with the seasons, day by day.
The one drawback I found of the book was that I wished she'd credited each image on its page. I kept wanting to know if Patti took the photo, or if it was done by the eye of someone else. There are several images with her as the subject, where I really wanted to know who was behind the camera. There is a credits page at the end, but I felt they would have been better attached to each image.
Patti Smith fascinates me. When I peruse the company she's kept and places she's been, it seems to me that she's lived a life of near mythical proportions. And yet she's so real.

[Susa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Patti Smithin kielessä on jotain uskomatonta selkeyttä, kirkkautta, yksinkertaisuutta, joka pienillä eleillä tavoittaa tavattoman isoja asioita. Kauniita kuvia, ihmisiä ja sanoja.

[Day Cuervo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tqm Patti Smith.

[Bloodorange · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to rate, as it is a separate category, but it is inspiring, and I felt recognized reading this. I will keep it near my bed to look into again and again.

[Lena]

Läst på svenska. En får ju inte längre lägga in böcker själv här och jag orkar inte hålla på och be någon bibliotekarie för att sedan vänta på att det sker. Detta ingen kritik mot alla fantastiska bibliotekarier som gör ett jättejobb.

[Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love how she sees her place among artists and the world. Makes me want to read. Also she is such a champion for young people!

This book is definitely for Patti fans and I am one so five stars!

[Antonio · Rating 2 out of 5]

Para fans de Patty Smith, completistas. Una colección de fotos de su Instagram con comentarios, a veces brillantes, otras bastante sencillos. Lo mejor, la edición del libro en español de Lumen.

[dieguito ‧₊˚✩ ₊˚⊹♡‧₊˚ · Rating 2 out of 5]

✋🏻 sempre digo que poderia ler até uma lista de compras dessa mulher, me surpreendo toda vez pelo respeito que ela tem pelas palavras, com cada uma delas

[beyz · Rating 5 out of 5]

✨ | Book of Days — 5/5

“30 Ocak.
Başka bir şeye derinlemesine odaklandığımda her zaman biriken kitapların, el yazmalarının ve düpedüz karmaşanın yarattığı kaosla yüzleşmek.”

⭑.ᐟ