Person
Every book Patti Smith recommended on podcasts
Patti Smith appears on The Ezra Klein Show as a legendary artist, poet, and cultural figure with a lifelong, voracious passion for literature. During her appearance, Smith discussed and recommended several foundational works that shaped her worldview and creative output. She frequently highlighted Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio as her ultimate go-to book, noting that she has read it a hundred times since her youth. Alongside Pinocchio, she recommended Mary Shelley's Frankenstein for narrative continuity, and praised Roberto Bolaño's 2666 as a towering masterpiece of the twenty-first century. Reflecting on her early reading habits and artistic sensibilities, Smith recalled diving into classic children's literature such as Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, noting a personal affinity for the latter due to her resistance to growing up. She also reflected on early formative encounters with texts from her family's past, including a treasured grandfather's copy of John Foxe's Fox's Book of Martyrs. Through these recommendations and reflections, Smith emerges as a reader deeply attuned to themes of youthful longing, dark fantasy, and literary mastery.
Books recommended by Patti Smith
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Pinocchio
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi is the classic Italian children's novel about a wooden puppet whose nose grows whenever he tells a lie, ultimately striving to become a real boy through moral trials.
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
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2666
2666 by Roberto Bolaño is a massive, sprawling, and complex novel that explores themes of violence, literature, and globalization, centered largely around a series of unsolved murders in a fictional Mexican border town.
Recommended“read um 2666 because I think it was our first 21st century masterpiece by Roberto Bologano.”
Where to get it
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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
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Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is a classic Victorian literary masterpiece that follows a young girl named Alice down a rabbit hole into a surreal, whimsical underground world populated by peculiar creatures and nonsensical logic.
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
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Bread of Angels
Discussed“But other things like in this book in Bread of Angels when I was sitting on that at that in that hotel on the little balcony at the Bay of Angels I had nothing in mind.”
Where to get it
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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
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Grimm's fairy tales
Discussed“Um, like you, there was the German versions of Grimm's fairy tales that were very grim.”
Where to get it
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Little Women
Louisa May Alcott's beloved classic novel Little Women follows the lives of the four March sisters as they transition from childhood to womanhood in 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
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Peter Pan
Discussed“And I love Peter Pan of course because I didn't want to grow up.”
Where to get it
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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
Books Patti Smith wrote
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patti Smith on the One Desire That Lasts Forever | The Ezra Klein Show | 2025-11-18 | 12 |
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
“It's like Journey to the East. It was just one of those moments where a lot of people converged”