The Real Ann Patchett

OK, I have to admit it: Ann Patchett intimidates me. She is a prolific writer (six novels, two nonfiction books), successful (PEN/Faulkner award, Orange award, glowing reviews), and she owns an independent bookstore (surely the fantasy of most readers and maybe a few writers).

Now, she’s gone and published a terrific collection of nonfiction pieces—essays that reveal her to be brave, vulnerable, funny, generous, compassionate, and hardworking.

The intriguingly declarative title, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, might lead you to expect a treacly memoir. Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, she does tell you about her winding path to meeting Mr. Right (actually, Dr. Right) and resisting him for years before she finally agrees to marriage—an institution she’s always regarded as dangerous. (She explains her reluctance: “I figured that if I never got married, I’d never get divorced.”).

Most of the essays were previously published in magazines like Granta, Harper’s, Bark, Vogue, and the New York Times Magazine, which give you an idea of her professional stature. Patchett is perhaps best known for her novels, but this collection of nonfiction shows the range of her work and style.

She writes about topics that could veer toward the sentimental—her deep love for her dog, Rose, her compassionate caretaking of her grandmother who’s sinking into dementia—but her economy of style and open-heartedness pack an emotional wallop.

Patchett travels for magazine assignments and book tours, but her heart is in Nashville—the very place she longed to escape in her youth. Now, it’s home. So, it’s only natural that, when the remaining two bookstores in the city close their doors, she decides that Nashville needs an independent bookstore—and she’s the one to make it happen. “The Bookstore Strikes Back,” Patchett’ tale of opening Parnassus Books (with co-owner Karen Hayes), will gratify readers and indy bookstore fans everywhere.

Moreover, in promoting Parnassus, Patchett discovers that she has, inadvertently, assumed the role as spokesperson for independent book stores everywhere. Through interviews, appearances on television shows like The Colbert Report, talking to readers, she is adamant on the subject: bookstores are not dead. She writes: “Now that we could order any book at any hour without having to leave the screen in front of us, we realized what we had lost: the community center, the human interaction, the recommendations of a smart reader rather than a computer algorithm… I promised whomever was listening that from those very ashes, the small, independent bookstore would rise again.” And so it does. See http://www.parnassusbooks.net

So, actually, now that I think about it, Ann Patchett isn’t intimidating—she’s impressive, yes, and famous. But through this collection of articles, she reveals herself to be a warm, witty, and thoughtful person—and very real.

(And can she write! But that’s a topic for the next post.)

In Praise of Libraries

     I live about equidistance between two county libraries. One is my home county library, housed in a new, airy building on the campus of a community college. As I enter through glass doors, one of several librarians greets me and asks if I need help. After a leisurely browse through the fiction shelves, with a quick stop in the children’s section, I check out. The librarian asks my opinion about a book I’ve chosen, and we chat for a minute, before I bundle up my books and leave.

     The other library, located in a more affluent county, offers a far richer range of holdings. This, too, is a new building, or at least, newly renovated, and it, too is an airy and welcoming structure. But the librarians there—ah, not so friendly. In fact, the library offers an automated scanner so patrons don’t even have to engage with a librarian in person at all.

    I pay an annual, out-of-county fee here because it’s convenient to my grandchildren’s homes and because the selection of books on CD is wonderful. But still, I never experience the same little flutter of pleasure when I go to this library as I do when I visit Chatham County’s Library. Like a top-notch department store or an independent bookstore, the Chatham County Library staff emphasize customer service in a way that seems genuine and welcoming. It reminds me of the libraries of my childhood, where, over time, I formed a relationship with the librarian: she (almost always a she) knew my name, remembered what series books I liked, always had a suggestion for a new title.

     Many elements combine to make a good library: comfortable spaces, a strong collection, access to computers—but most libraries these days have such basics. It’s the people who make the difference in our—or, at least, in my—experience. The Chatham County Library wins that contest, hands down. I thank them.

Sharing the pleasures

"Neither a lender nor a borrower be"—fergetit!

This early-morning email made my day:

I am leaving in the basket on my front porch for you: a piece of mail that was delivered to us by mistake, and Sonya Sotomayor's, book, My Beloved World.   I have finished the book and thought you or someone else from the Monday group would like to read it while I am gone.  It is a quick read and interesting.

One of the pleasures of the reading life is sharing books you love with someone you know will appreciate them just as you do—or, that’s the hope. It’s not just the exchanging of the books themselves: it’s what embedded in the exchange. My friend Ruth remembered that we’d talked about Sotomayor’s memoir, My Beloved World, and that I’d expressed a keen interest in it. A friend who listens—priceless! And she knew I’d be glad to pass it on to the other members of our Monday morning coffee group. Thus, one book read and appreciated becomes a shared pleasure, an emblem also of shared interest.

Last year, my daughter Katherine passed on to me her copy of Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo, saying she loved it and thought I would, too. I pay attention to her passions, so this endorsement overcame my reluctance (laziness) to read what I knew, from reviews, to be a heart-wrenching book.  Now, when I read the book, I will be thinking of “my” Katherine and how she responded to the story. So, another layer in experiencing this book.

So, without beating a dead horse, this is one reason why I don’t like eBooks. You can’t share them.