BOOK OF DAYS

Best known as one of the first females in punk and the companion of photographer Robert Maplethorpe in New York in the 1970s and, of course, the singer of the hit single Because the Night, Patti Smith has chronicled her journeys in haunting Polaroid photographs since 1996 - pictures of life on and off the road, train stations, hotel interiors, obscure cafés, a notebook always nearby. Here are 366 miniature windows and dispatches from the world of this visionary writer, poet and performer. Smith began her journey snapping images on a beloved Land Camera 250, but soon her mobile phone and Instagram became the star. Portraits of her kids, her radiator, her boots, and her sleek Abyssinian cat, Cairo, joined the ranks of daily delights - morning coffee rituals, books she's reading, and pilgrimages to the graves of heroes like William Blake, Dylan Thomas, and Sylvia Plath, because who wouldn't want a side of existential poetry with their latte? There are reminiscences of war heroes, her own band members, a sunflower in a wild garden, travelling in Italy, famous writers and other heroes, an appreciation of nature, taking time to look at her own books right back to childhood, looking at her sister's sewing basket or Lincoln's death mask. Over time, her photos revealed a life devoted to art, obsession, devotion, and the occasional whim. 366 photographs, one for every day of the (leap) year, this book is a love letter to curiosity, creativity, and the joy of looking at the world a little differently. 386 pages.