Cannonball Read 15

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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New York City in the 70s man. You just had to be there

Just Kids by Patti Smith

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Last year I read Rachel Kushner’s The Flamethrowers, which takes place in the arts scene in New York in the early ‘70s. Just Kids feels like the novel that Kushner was trying to write, or at least the world she was trying to fit her characters into. The contrast between these two works was really highlighted by how vibrant and desire-filled Smith’s book is- the things that bothered me about The Flamethrowers were the limp, motive-less main character and the pretension of the art world […]

“I had no proof that I had the stuff to be an artist, though I hungered to be one.”

Just Kids by Patti Smith

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CBR Bingo: Music (and my second Bingo!) Just Kids (2010) by Patti Smith is another book I found and decided to read because of Cannonball Bingo. I’m sure I could have found a number of books that worked for the Music square, but I wanted to read something that made it worth it. I saw that Just Kids had won the National Book Award and I was intrigued. I don’t think I’m the target reader for this book. My knowledge of musicians and artists is limited at best, […]

a fine final read of 2019

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

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I first came across Little Women as a child, and I came across it out of order; we had an old cloth-bound copy of Jo’s Boys on the bookshelf in my childhood home. It was next to Treasure Island, which I had devoured, and being a child I assumed that since books were next to each other they must be related. Ooops! I quickly learned the error of my ways (thanks Willoughby Wallace Memorial Library!) and settled down with an old illustrated tome. I was Jo. Who wasn’t […]

I looked down at my feet, avoiding the sign’s scrutinizing energy.

Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith

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This is a short memoir or more so collection of memoir essays by Patti Smith that trace the last few years. They seem to deal primarily with aging, reading, artists, work, working, and the deaths or dying of several of her friends and colleagues. There’s a running thread through this book about performance and creation — not so much the creative process — but the actual process of creation. There’s an early reference to Antonin Artaud, and it occurred to me while reading this, that […]

Why do we write?

Devotion by Patti Smith

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  “Why do we write? A chorus erupts. Because we cannot simply live.”   I adore Patti Smith. I’ve never been a huge fan of her music or followed her career. To me she is an artist that lives on the edge of my perception. I know her, but she is just there. A few years ago I picked up “Just Kids”, I don’t remember why. I loved it. Patti Smith lives life straight from the heart. In devotion Smith takes the time to reflect […]



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