M Train

In this memoir, Patti Smith tracks her daily routines, centered on her singular habit of visiting the same Greenwich Village café to drink black coffee and write. The narrative follows her travels to the graves of writers like Jean Genet and Sylvia Plath, as well as her involvement with the Continental Drift Club, an international society dedicated to the memory of Alfred Wegener. Smith details the interior life of a widow, recounting the purchase of a dilapidated bungalow in the Rockaways just before Hurricane Sandy and her enduring grief for her late husband, Fred "Sonic" Smith.

Artists and writers read this book to observe the mechanics of a dedicated creative practice. It serves as a guide for those who value solitude and the quiet rituals that sustain a life of the mind. Readers walk away with a specific understanding of how memory attaches to physical objects and geographical locations. The text offers a blueprint for finding continuity between one’s past losses and the necessity of continuing to create work in a solitary, domestic world.