I finished Patti Smith's newest memoir, Year of the Monkey, within earshot of the Crooked River in, fortuitously enough, Smith Rock State Park. Several birds and an airplane added to the river's babbling. In the morning, M and I climbed, then he went for a run and I hunted up this sheltered spot to finish … Continue reading With a Monkey on Your Back: Patti Smith’s ‘Year of the Monkey’
Patti Smith
On Alien Minds, + Atwood’s ‘The Testaments’
In brief: The Testaments by Margaret Atwood I tend not to be swept up in (clued into?) the big happenings in contemporary literature. But something about the release of Margaret Atwood's The Testaments, her sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, felt not only of the literary moment but within the zeitgeist. So I snagged a copy … Continue reading On Alien Minds, + Atwood’s ‘The Testaments’
Paris and Patti Smith’s ‘Devotion’
Listening to, Patti Smith, Horses. Drinking, chai green tea with honey Recently a dear friend gave me Patti Smith's newest memoir, Devotion, as a birthday gift. This friend and I have a shared love affair with Smith's recent spate of memoirs, from Just Kids to M Train. At one point in Devotion, Smith is in … Continue reading Paris and Patti Smith’s ‘Devotion’