National Book Awards: Rocker Patti Smith takes nonfiction prize - latimes.com: "I've loved books all my life," a teary-eyed Smith said as she took the stage at the gala ceremony in New York City. As a clerk at Scribner's Bookstore, she said, she shelved the National Book Award winners. "I used to wonder what it would feel like" — and here the musician, whose many awards include a place in the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame, had to stop to regain her composure. "Thank you for letting me find out."