Episode · The Ezra Klein Show · 2025-11-18
Ezra Klein & Patti Smith: books mentioned on The Ezra Klein Show
Patti Smith on the One Desire That Lasts Forever
Ezra Klein discussed Just Kids by Patti Smith and Bread of Angels by Patti Smith. Patti Smith recommended Frankenstein by Mary W. Shelley and 2666 by Roberto Bolaño, discussed Fox's book of martyrs by John Foxe and others, Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Lewis Carroll, Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, and Grimm's fairy tales by Gebrüder Grimm [Brothers Grimm], and criticized Understanding the Old Testament by Bernhard W. Anderson and others.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
-
Just Kids
Just Kids by Patti Smith is a celebrated memoir chronicling the author's profound artistic relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe during their youth in New York City and the Chelsea Hotel.
Discussed“So, back in 2010, I picked up this book that everyone seemed to be reading that year, Just Kids by Patty Smith.”
Where to get it
-
Bread of Angels
Discussed“Smith's latest book is Bread of Angels, which like Just Kids is a memoir, but spans a much wider range of her life, and it's much more personal in a way, much more experiential.”
Where to get it
-
Fox's book of martyrs
John Foxe documents the harrowing histories and suffering of Christian martyrs through the centuries in Fox's Book of Martyrs.
Discussed“It was had red silk binding and gold stamping and I was about three and I hid it under my pillow cuz I thought if I slept on it, it would come into my head what was in it. And my mother was distraught cuz she couldn't find it. It was my grandfather's book called Fox's Book of Martyrs.”
Where to get it
-
Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is a classic literary masterpiece following a young girl who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantastical, nonsensical underground realm populated by peculiar creatures.
Discussed“but I swiftly started reading books and Uncle Wiggly and the Bobsy Twins and Pinocchio and Alice and Wonderland and all the Elves and Fairy books. I mean, I've read them all.”
Where to get it
-
Pinocchio
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi is the classic Italian tale of a wooden marionette who must navigate numerous moral tests and trials to become a real boy.
Discussed“but I swiftly started reading books and Uncle Wiggly and the Bobsy Twins and Pinocchio and Alice and Wonderland and all the Elves and Fairy books. I mean, I've read them all.”
Where to get it
-
Peter Pan
Peter Pan by J.
Discussed“And I love Peter Pan of course because I didn't want to grow up.”
Where to get it
-
Little Women
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is a beloved classic novel that chronicles the lives, struggles, and personal growth of the four March sisters in nineteenth-century New England.
Discussed“reading Little Women. Of course, Joe March was an early hero, a girl who wrote, a girl like me who was sort of a tomboy who didn't like the fuss and feathers of being a girl and wanted to be a writer.”
Where to get it
-
Grimm's fairy tales
Grimm's fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm is a classic collection of German folklore and dark traditional stories gathered by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.
Discussed“Um, like you, there was the German versions of Grimm's fairy tales that were very grim.”
Where to get it
-
Understanding the Old Testament
Understanding the Old Testament by Bernhard W.
Critiqued“The book that really was disturbing for me was the Old Testament because I started reading it very young and the things in it were supposed to accept as real”
Where to get it
-
Frankenstein
Frankenstein by Mary W.
Recommended“Um well, my head is swirling so much with a million books, but just for like little continuity, I would say read Pinocchio and Frankenstein.”
Where to get it
-
2666
2666 is a massive, complex novel by Roberto Bolaño that explores a wide range of themes, most famously centering on the unsolved femicides in a fictional Mexican border city.
Recommended“read um 2666 because I think it was our first 21st century masterpiece by Roberto Bologano.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (1) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“It's like Journey to the East. It was just one of those moments where a lot of people converged”