Image of Patti Smith performing in Rio de Janeiro by Daigo Oliva
As a little girl, Patti Smith found liberation in words — first through the bedtime prayers she made up herself, and later in books. “I was completely smitten by the book,” she writes in her memoir, Just Kids. “I longed to read them all, and the things I read of produced new yearnings.”
Smith found a role model in Jo, the tomboy writer in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. “She gave me the courage of a new goal,” writes Smith, “and soon I was crafting little stories and spinning long yarns for my brother and sister.” As a teenager she discovered the French Symbolist poets Charles Baudelaire and especially Arthur Rimbaud, who inspired her and helped shape her own artistic persona as a poet and punk rocker.
Despite her fame as a rock ’n’ roll musician, Smith has always described herself as essentially a bookish person. It was around the time of Smith’s appearance at the 2008 Melbourne International Arts Festival, according to Vertigo, that Smith released this list of her favorite books. Not surprisingly, it’s an eclectic and fascinating group of books:
- The Master and Margarita
by Mikhail Bulgakov
- Journey to the East
by Hermann Hesse
- The Glass Bead Game
by Hermann Hesse
- Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad
- Moby Dick
by Herman Melville
- Billy Budd
by Herman Melville
- Songs of Innocence
by William Blake
- The Wild Boys
by William Burroughs
- Howl
by Allen Ginsberg
- A Season in Hell
by Arthur Rimbaud
- Illuminations
by Arthur Rimbaud
- Wittgenstein’s Poker
by David Edmonds and John Eidinow
- Villette
by Charlotte Bronte
- The Process
by Brion Gysin
- Cain’s Book
by Alexander Trocchi
- Coriolanus
by William Shakespeare
- The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde
- The Sheltering Sky
by Paul Bowles
- Against Interpretation
by Susan Sontag
- The Oblivion Seekers by Isabelle Eberhardt
- The Women of Cairo
by Gérard de Nerval
- Under the Volcano
by Malcolm Lowry
- Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
- The Book of Disquiet
by Fernando Pessoa
- The Death of Virgil
by Hermann Broch
- Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters
by J.D. Salinger
- Franny and Zooey
by J.D. Salinger
- The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
- A Night of Serious Drinking
by René Daumal
- Swann in Love by Marcel Proust
- A Happy Death
by Albert Camus
- The First Man
by Albert Camus
- The Waves
by Virginia Woolf
- Big Sur by Jack Kerouac
- Anything by H.P. Lovecraft
- Anything by W.G. Sebald
- The Thief’s Journal
or anything by Jean Genet
- The Arcades Project
or anything by Walter Benjamin
- Poet in New York by Federico García Lorca
- The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum
by Heinrich Böll
- The Palm-Wine Drinkard
by Amos Tutuola
- Ice
or anything by Anna Kavan
- The Divine Proportion
by H.E. Huntley
- Nadja
by André Breton
Smith’s reading recommendations have no doubt evolved since the list was given. Earlier this year a writer for Elle asked what books she would suggest. “I could recommend a million,” Smith responded. “I would just say read anything by [Roberto] Bolaño. Re-read all the great classics. Read The Scarlet Letter, read Moby Dick, read [Haruki] Murakami. But Roberto Bolaño’s 2666 is the first masterpiece of the 21st century.”
You can find a number of the texts listed above in our collection, 800 Free eBooks for iPad, Kindle & Other Devices.
Note: An earlier version of this post appeared on our site in April 2015.
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Hi there,
Is there really a book called “anything” by W.G. Sebald?
Best
George
Thank you for this list. Would be great if the links to these books took you to an independent bookstore that sells online. Amazon doesn’t really need a boost, while indies everywhere do. I think Patti would appreciate it.
Vernon, don’t you go to the library. They are around for your pleasure and need. They are free, too!
One of my favorite bookshops In located in Asheville, NC and will be closing in Feb (heart break) the will most likely have most of these books (used) the name is Captains Bookshelf…good luck
Patti Smith is a writer a poet a singer a rock star and has influenced a few generations of artists writers and rock stars. She is a determined woman who advocates for human rights and is a mother