These Precious Days: Essays

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Patchett is a novelist with an eye for detail and character. Her finely crafted essays bring her subjects to life. Her writing is lively, and her portraits are imbued with compassion. Topics include an in-depth- portrait of her three fathers, humorous descriptions of her college summer abroad, her graduate work at the Iowa MFA program, and the influence of Charles Shultz's Snoopy on her development as a writer. On a more serious and personal note, she writes about her marriage, her decision not to have children, and her induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In between, Ann touches on her childhood, her fathers, the death of a parent, her decision to remain childless, her writing career, owning a bookstore, her marriage, and other topics. Listening to her was like sitting down with a good friend over a cup of coffee. I have read only the title story of what is now a collection. There is a wonderful interview with the author here about the book. I was starting to understand that what she needed might have been color rather than conversation, breath rather than words.” I enjoyed Patchett’s book of essays called This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, and this piece could fit right in. Lisa mentioned that she has a collection coming out in November. Very exciting!

Hi. I hope everyone is doing well. We had a nice hike Sunday morning in the nearby mountains along the river with the dogs. It was not too strenuous, which is good because unfortunately my knees are not too good anymore. I’ve been told I will need knee replacements in a couple years. Ugh. It’s hard to believe but something I have to deal with. I’ve been playing sports and running most of my life so now in middle age things fall apart, which is a bummer. I’m still able to play competitive tennis (doubles) three times a week wearing knee sleeves, but we’ll see how long I can continue. On the reading side this past week, I finished one novel for PW and one audiobook & read combo for me. I’ll leave my thoughts below. Glad you were able to get a hike in. I need to do some more of that. It’s been a tough season for me. I’m so sorry about your knees! Amazing, though, that you can still play tennis like that.There’s the beauty of friendship, and the beauty of evolving friendship, that moves and grows as people reinvent themselves, and life takes them to different places. A good friendship isn’t dependent on geographical proximity, but on the closeness of the heart. She covers a variety of themes such as her three fathers, decluttering, writing, her faith, friendship, her dogs, and her decision to remain childless to mention just a few. I do like the sound of Precious Days. I have only ever read one novel by Patchett, which I really liked.

The First Thanksgiving": When Ann was a freshman at Sarah Lawrence College in New York City she couldn't go home to Nashville, Tennessee for Thanksgiving. Because she didn't know any one well enough to be invited home for the long weekend, she stayed in the dorm. What happened next is both hilarious and heartbreaking. You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many user’s needs. Compare Standard and Premium Digital here. Patchett describes These Precious Days as a sequel to her 2013 essay collection This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage. Ann Patchett is a brilliant writer. She is able to capture simple elements of being human and make them interesting, something I suspect all writers strive to do and something she excels at.

Towards the end of her new essay collection, Ann Patchett describes being inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, where a portrait of her now hangs alongside the likes of Henry James, John Dos Passos and Eudora Welty. “The picture I’d chosen to send was joyful,” she writes. “I’m showing all my teeth and am completely out of step with every serious and circumspect photograph surrounding me.”