Staff pick

Just Kids by Patti Smith took me back to the artsy life of New York in the 70's.  Focusing on her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe, Smith evokes a feel for a bygone era rich in iconoclasts while also describing her complex, unique relationship with the photographer.

 

In Just Kids, Patti Smith’s first book of prose, the legendary American artist offers a never-before-seen glimpse of her remarkable relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in the epochal days of New York City and the Chelsea Hotel in the late sixties and seventies.  An honest and moving story of youth and friendship, Smith brings the same unique, lyrical quality to Just Kids as she has to the rest of her formidable body of work—from her influential 1975 album Horses to her visual art and poetry. 

 

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