Just Kids, by Patti Smith

I absolutely fell in love with Patti Smith's memoir and elegy to her friend Robert Mapplethorpe. She not only captures perfectly New York in the '60s and '70s, but also really let's us inside the mind and heart of a young artist in the making. Also, I cried like a million times reading it. — Julie

I've never cried so hard on the train while reading a book. It really lets you into the artist's process and experience. — Ami