Just Kids by Patti Smith

I was never a big Patti Smith fan - not that I didn't like her, just that I was not really into music that much when she was hot. I was a new mom and busy with other mundane stuff. But I did enjoy this memior a lot. I learned a lot about Smith and "the scene" that was going on at the time, in music, art and literature. I especially learned a lot about Robert Maplethorpe.
The book is very well written; Smith could have found her fame in literature or poetry rather than music - and probably would have been happier for it at the time. But as this book proves - she did find her fame in writing. This book won a National Book Award for Non Fiction in 2010.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

As soon as I finished the book, I was tempted to pick it up and start all over again...to get perspective, to revisit many of the events that don't quite come to full circle on the last pages. I really loved these characters, not necessarily as people I would want to be friends with, but as interesting, richly drawn human beings. Franzen really paints these characters as people who jump out of the text and become someone we can hate, admire, love, and argue or agree with. Walter and Patty, the couple in the novel, are so interesting and different.  The chapters that make up Patty's autobiography were especially enjoyable.
The plot involves politics, ethics, relationship issues, consumerism, sexuality, sustainability, trust, friendship and LOTS of familial stuff. The beginning chapters describing Patty and her parents and siblings was captivating, and of course, troubling.
Anyway, I could ramble about this book but won't. What I will say is that it was difficult at times to get through - not always a page turner, but never ever dull! My opinion of Franzen has changed dramatically; I have The Corrections but never got through it, but now I am ready to give it another go.