Patti Smith - Just Kids

We didn't have much money but we were happy. Robert worked part-time and took care of the apartment. I did the laundry and made our meals, which were very limited. There was an Italian bakery we frequented, off Waverly. We would choose a nice loaf of day-old bread or a quarter pound of their stale cookies offered at half-price. Robert had a sweet tooth, so the cookies often won out. Sometimes the woman behind the counter would give us extra and fill the small brown paper sack to the brim with yellow and brown pinwheels, shaking her head and murmuring friendly disapproval. Most likely she could tell it was our dinner. We would add take-out coffee and a carton of milk. Robert loved chocolate milk but it was more expensive and we would deliberate whether to spend the extra dime.
We had our work and one other. We didn't have the money to go to concerts or movies or to buy new records, but we played the ones we had over and over. We listened to my as sung by Eleanor Steber. Madame Butterfly. A Love Supreme. Between the Buttons. Joan Baez and Blonde on Blonde. Robert introduced me to his favorites - Vanilla Fudge, Tim Buckley, Tim Hardin - and his History of Motown provided the backdrop for our nights of communal joy.

Vybírat ukázky je ošemetné, nechci prozrazovat moc, zároveň chci naznačit styl knihy a většinou (zatím kromě dvou čestných výjimek) nedávám svoje úplně nejmilejší místo. Tahle se mi líbí, protože je šťastná. A protože když je člověku dvacet, tak víc nepotřebuje. Se mi zdá. Jinak vzpomínková kniha Patti Smith (z velké části o vztahu s malířem-fotografem Robertem Mapplethorpem) je takhle otevřená a přímočará celá, i když někdy píše o zmatku. Dozvíte se spoustu věcí o New Yorku šedesátých a sedmdesátých let, o lidech, o vztazích, o drogách, všechno v takovém jakoby mírném údivu nad tím, co bylo.