Woolgathering is the second book I read from Patti Smith. I have read Just Kids long before with great pleasure. I remember having a good time on the beach with Patti Smith during the summer. Remembering how much I like it, I didn’t want to read Woolgathering right away. Although it is a tiny book, I kept it in my library for the right time. I’m so glad I did!
You’ll find a lot about Patti Smith in Woolgathering. I especially liked the parts about her childhood memories. The things they did with her siblings, the games they played, the places they visited were very intimate and pleasant to read. If you have a sibling, I am sure you will enjoy these chapters.
The book, which combines interesting pictures and poetic narrative, is strong enough to take people to the realm of imagination. It was delightful to run with Patti Smith in the meadows, lie on the grass and watch the sky.
While reading the book, I couldn’t help myself but wanted to be like Patti Smith. She is so intertwined to life that I felt like I’m not enjoying mine as I should. It opened my eyes. It made me realise I’m missing a lot. That is why I like this book so much, and I’m sure you’ll like it too. Enjoy!
Woolgathering
Everything contained in this little book is true, and written just like it was. The writing of it drew me from my strange torpor and I hope that in some measure it will fill the reader with a vague and curious joy…
In this small, luminous memoir, the National Book Award-winner Patti Smith revisits the most sacred experiences of her early years, with truths so vivid they border on the surreal. The author entwines her childhood self – and its ‘clear, unspeakable joy’ – with memories both real and envisioned from her twenties on New York’s MacDougal Street, the street of cafés.
Woolgathering was completed in Michigan, on Patti Smith’s 45th birthday and originally published in a slim volume from Raymond Foye’s Hanuman Books. Twenty years later, Bloomsbury is proud to present it in a much augmented edition, featuring writing that was omitted from the book’s first printing, along with new photographs and illustrations.
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee Smith is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and poet who became an influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses. Called the “punk poet laureate,” Smith fused rock and poetry in her work.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
