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M Train

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M Train

By: Patti Smith
Narrated by: Patti Smith
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$8.99/month after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offer ends on 29 July 2026 at 11:59 AEST.

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Bloomsbury presents M Train written and read by Patti Smith.

'So honest and pure as to count as a true rapture' JOAN DIDION
'A poetic masterpiece' JOHNNY DEPP
'Our St John of the Cross, a mystic full of compassion' EDMUND WHITE

'A roadmap to my life', from the National Book Award-winning author of Just Kids: an unforgettable odyssey of a legendary artist, told through the prism of cafés and haunts she has worked in around the world
REVISED EDITION WITH FIVE THOUSAND WORDS OF BONUS MATERIAL

M Train begins in the tiny Greenwich Village café where Smith goes every morning for black coffee, ruminates on the world as it is and the world as it was, and writes in her notebook. Through prose that shifts fluidly between dreams and reality, past and present, and across a landscape of creative aspirations and inspirations, we travel to Frida Kahlo’s Casa Azul in Mexico; to a meeting of an Arctic explorer’s society in Berlin; to a ramshackle seaside bungalow in New York’s Far Rockaway that Smith acquires just before Hurricane Sandy hits; and to the graves of Genet, Plath, Rimbaud and Mishima.

Woven throughout are reflections on the writer’s craft and on artistic creation. Here, too, are singular memories of Smith’s life in Michigan and the irremediable loss of her husband, Fred Sonic Smith. Braiding despair with hope and consolation, M Train is a meditation on travel, detective shows, literature and coffee. It is a powerful, deeply moving book by one of the most remarkable artists at work today.©2015 Patti Smith (P)2015 Penguin Random House LLC
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Critic Reviews

This book is so honest and pure as to count as a true rapture
Patti Smith has graced us with a poetic masterpiece, a rare and privileged invitation to unlatch a treasure chest never before breached
A tender, harrowing, often hilarious portrait of young lovers forging their paths in an eccentric milieu of Beat poets, Warhol socialites, and transvestites, rock stars and artists
The most beautiful, incredible autobiography – it will make you ache for a time and a place that you probably never knew, New York in the 1970s
She was once our savage Rimbaud, but suffering has turned her into our St John of the Cross, a mystic full of compassion
All stars
Most relevant
This beautiful collection of stories is so warming. Listening to Patti Smith narrate, there is something almost maternal about it. I just get wrapped in a hug of comfort and imagination, as I follow the wild and tender ride of what is, Patti’s life.

Warm and sincere

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I read this book first out of her collection. I was completely swept away. I love it with all of my heart. Her ability to capture states of being, feeling and dreaming have spoken so clearly to the way I experience the world. Hearing her read is mesmerising and comforting.

Patti Smiths words and voice make me feel at home

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great book of little vignettes . beautifully written and read. sad funny .nsightul and poetic

wonderful

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Sorry Patti but this was pure rubbish and a last resort cash grab. I never saw you as being so money and materialistic orientated. Talking about your Montblanc pen and only having to work a few months to buy your dream house whilst the rest of us struggle with a 25 year mortgage. We never did find out what you paid for it! I don’t have a problem with wealthy people having what they have worked for, but your philosophy on life goes against your actions.

What a dreary voice and story

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