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Best Books of the Year So Far
Looking for something great to read? Browse our editors' picks for 2015's Best Books of the Year So Far in fiction, nonfiction, mysteries, children's books, and much more.
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Best Books of the Month
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Before Ann Patchett achieved fame as a novelist, she honed her writing skills as a contributor to Seventeen, where she worked for eight years. She also wrote articles for such publications as Elle, Vogue, Gourmet, and the New York Times Magazine. These free-lance jobs paid Ann's bills and taught her self-discipline, flexibility, and humility. "This is the Story of a Happy Marriage" is a compilation of Ann Patchett's most memorable essays.
All of Patchett's pieces are nicely done, but some are particularly meaningful. I was deeply moved by the author's account of the time she spent with her aging grandmother, who was gradually losing her sight, memory, and ability to think clearly. "The Mercies" is a wonderful tribute to the nuns, especially Sister Nena, who taught Ann to read and write when she was slow to catch on and thought no one would notice. Years later, Sister Nena and Ann reconnected; the two became close friends. Ann supported her former teacher with money for needy children and also offered her time, effort, and comradeship. She no longer regarded Sister Nena as a forbidding and judgmental presence. Instead she recognized her as an exemplary human being to be reckoned with--an independent, compassionate, hard-working, and indomitable force of nature.
With self-deprecating humor, refreshing candor, and lovely, expressive writing, the author generously shares details about her past and reveals what her experiences have taught her about relationships, intellectual freedom, and personal growth. The best entries in this collection are wise, witty, poignant, and refreshingly down-to-earth.Read more ›
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49 of 52 people found the following review helpful
Over the past several years I have spent many enjoyable hours in the company of Ann Patchett's fictional characters and their joys and travails. I rank her "Bel Canto" among my top five fiction faves and probably always will.
Now I find myself here, greatly enjoying getting to know her real-life world--how she knew from childhood that she would become a writer, and used the profits from writing for magazines and newspapers to buy herself time to write fiction...the long history and impact of divorce in her family...why it took a crisis and an 11-year courtship to persuade her to have a second go at wedlock...why she hates Christmas, loves dogs and probably couldn't live without one, and loves kids but has never wanted any of her own...the many influences of Catholicism and Tennessee in her life...tales of adventures she's set out on as part of her research for books and magazine articles--like vacationing in a Winnebago and training for and passing the rigorous physical tests for becoming an LAPD cop....and the uproar that ensued at Clemson after it assigned its incoming freshman class to read "Truth and Beauty," her book about her friendship with Lucy Grealy, and how she handled that.
At this writing, I've read about three quarters of this collection of pieces written for or adapted from magazines, newspapers and speeches--most of them running about five or six pages, and a couple, including the title story, about 25 or 30. It's my plan to parcel out the remainder in smallish bits for those times when I'm looking for a quick read that's sure to be interesting and seasoned with food for thought. I can just about always count on Patchett for that.
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38 of 41 people found the following review helpful
Once begun on these essays, I finished them in a couple sittings, sorry to have my time with Ann Patchett come to an end.
Written between 1996 and 2012 for a variety of publications (Gourmet to Wall Street Journal) the author describes diverse experiences: touring in a Winnebago; watching Met operas in her home town at a big screen theatre; going on book tour; taking the exam for the Los Angeles Police Academy; staying at the Bel-Air hotel; opening her bookstore, Parnassus, in Nashville.
The title of the collection is from the essay that describes how the author came to marry Karl after over 10 years of on/off commitment but refusing to wed. She'd been married before years ago ("My divorce began less than a week before we were married.") and vowed never to divorce again.
Because Patchett's life is the background for many essays, Karl is a part of several: the RV trip, the rescue of the dog who became her beloved Rose, a memorable meal in Paris.
The author knew she wanted to be a fiction writer from an early age. Other decisions grew out of her early life. She and her sister "weren't the products of our parents' happy marriages; we were the flotsam of their divorces....I was still in high school when I decided I didn't want children....I would never inflict childhood on anybody..."
This is not to imply Patchett is an uncaring person. The two essays about her grandmother show patient loving support as the women declines. The final essay in the volume is about her relationship with 78 year old Sister Nena who as a young nun had a life-altering role in young Ann's life.
Rose, the rescue dog, was a big part of the author's life.Read more ›
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