Ann Patchett: These Precious Days, Bloomsbury UK, Trade Paperback 9781526640956, pub date Nov. 23, 2021

Thanks to an early proof by Bloomsbury I was able to read Ann Patchett’s upcoming collection of essays titled “These Precious Days”, out in November.   I enjoyed “Commonwealth” so very much but I loved this deeply personal multi-facetted book of essays even more.  Patchett’s literary memoir really got under my skin, whether she is talking about her “Three Fathers” and how the women in her family like to marry more than once, her marriage to her husband Karl who is a medical doctor and a pilot or “Sisters”. 

As someone who worked in publishing most of her life, I loved the essays about her writing career and literary life;  her bookshop Parnassus in Nashville where she lives, her publishers, her  essay “Covers” rang so true  or “Reading Kate DiCamillo”.  

“There are no children here” explains why she has remained childless.

But my favorite essay is the one about her unexpected and deep friendship with Sooki which tore me up the most. “These Precious Days” and “A Day at the Beach” are a manifestation of friendship, love and generosity written with such honesty and raw emotion; I had a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes more than once.   Her spunk and wit are often found in the  much lighter essays, like “The First Thanksgiving” or “My Year of No Shopping” .

Go get a copy once the book comes out, highly recommend “These Precious Days” with my whole heart, she is a terrific and understandably much beloved author with that incomparable Southern warmth and openness.