Ms. Hen reviews A Book of Days

 

A Book of Days 

Patti Smith

Random House 

2022

Ms. Hen bought this book as a Christmas present for herself, but did not get around to reading it until her birthday, which was yesterday. She read the entire book in one day: it's a photography book, with a picture for every day of the year, including leap day, for people whose birthdays are on that day. Every picture is something that Patti Smith loves or is interested in, birthdays of artists/ activists/ intellectuals she admires, some are random pictures from things around her house, or travel photos. Ms. Hen thinks this books is like walking through someone else's dreams, or subconscious, it's lovely, some pictures are in color, and some are in black and white, but all are ones that Smith cares deeply about. She used to travel the world with a Polaroid camera, but the company stopped making the film, so now she uses her phone or another camera. Ms. Hen has read a few of Ms. Smith's books, and they always leave her feeling better about the world. On Ms. Hen's birthday in A BOOK OF DAYS, Patti Smith is with Werner Herzog working on German and English interpretations PEYOTE DANCE by Antonin Artaud. Ms. Hen admires Herzog, and has seen some of his films. Ms. Hen is another year older today.

Ms. Hen became a person with glasses for her birthday