Woolgathering is a republication of Patti Smith's 1992 memoir about her childhood and becoming an artist. This new version includes a handsome cover and a new piece, "Two Worlds," in addition to the original content. Smith won me over with her music and performance long ago, and her National Book Award–winning memoir Just Kids , about spending her twenties in New York City with Robert Mapplethorpe among the artists, convinced me that her writing was worth reading as well.
The title of this work means "idle daydreaming" according to Merriam-Webster, although I'm not sure there are many other kinds of daydreaming than "idle." It's a pastime best enjoyed with time and leisure to spare, letting one's mind move from one subject to another, one train of thought running down a siding to another, following a meandering course through subjects, memories, and time. It's also a great invitation to creativity, as unexpected associations can prove fertile ground for new projects, concepts, and artworks.
Of course, the word's origin has to do with sheep. As sheep graze the countryside, bits of their wool are pulled off as they brush by brambles, sticks, hedges, bushes, and the like. Poor people would wander through the countryside too, gathering these bits of wool in hopes to accumulate enought to spin or sell. As an occupation, it wasn't very profitable. Plus, there was plenty of time for daydreaming; thus, woolgathering gained its modern, metaphorical sense.
From what I've gleaned, Smith's slim volume celebrates the epiphanies and connections, the quiet, purposeless, spacious qualities of time and nature in a child's--and an artist's mind. I'm eager to read it.
Just as eager as I am to read all the other books I've listed, for which I definitely need my Nook, as I'll be on trains this Thanksgiving weekend, and unwilling to drag a bag of heavy books with me as I travel. Yet Smith's book, coming in at a slim 80 pages, is a perfect book to have and hold in hard copy. There's room for all sorts of books in the world, just as there's room for schedules, goals, and plans on one hand, and woolgathering, as I look out the windows of my train trip, on the other.
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Ellen Scordato has 25 years' book publishing experience as an editor, copy editor, proofreader, and managing editor. She's now a partner in The Stonesong Press, a nonfiction book producer and agency. In addition to her work at Stonesong, Ellen has taught grammar, punctuation, and style at the New School for more than 12 years in the English Language Studies department and taught English as a Second Language at Cabrini Immigrant Services and the College of Mount Saint Vincent Language Institute.
Woolgathering. Hmmm. Daydreaming. Hmmm. I play mindless games on the computer, and use that time as an excuse to daydream...or I much rather call it, thinking. My serious-thinking is in my "think tank" (shower). My really-really-serious-serious daydreaming comes while I stare out of my bedroom's sliding door....where I keep my gazing ball.....
As a kid in the classroom:
Pay attention!
Why?
Do you want to be a daydreamer all your life?
Yes.
Thanks for the heads-up on the Miranda July book...just ordered it...30% off! Yay! 
