Ann Patchett Can’t Stop Recommending These Unputdownable Literary Fiction Books
These are the new releases she’s telling people about at her bookstore.
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Ann Patchett is one of our favorite writers here at Good Housekeeping. She’s best known for her emotional literary fiction, such as the 2020 Pulitzer Prize finalist The Dutch House and the Orange Prize winner Bel Canto.
But she’s not just an incredible writer; she’s also the owner of Parnassus Books, an independent bookstore in Nashville. She opened it to fight the “literary desert” in her hometown, an effort that earned her recognition as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in 2012.
“Recommending books is my favorite thing in the whole world,” she told me in an interview. We chatted about our favorite recent reads, her new book Whistler, and the struggles and triumphs of choosing books for a book club (as the books editor behind the GH Book Club, I totally understand).
These are the books Ann Patchett has been loving and recommending to her readers, both at her bookstore and through her First Editions book club.
“My very favorite book from last year was Buckeye by Patrick Ryan. And I loved, loved that book.”
This novel is set in a small Ohio town after WWII, following two families whose fates are intertwined by an illicit affair as their choices reverberate throughout the years.
“Tayari Jones has a book called Kin, and it's just glorious. It's about two young women who are deeply connected and best friends in a small town. One’s mother has died, and the other’s mother has left. The book is about how that affects both of their lives and how their lives keep intertwining. It's a moving and funny and just brilliantly written book.”
“This is a super short, quiet book about a guy who drives his daughter to college to drop her off and just keeps going. Doesn't go home, just drives across the country. I love this book.”
“Douglas Stewart, who wrote Shuggie Bain, has a book called John of John. It’s about a guy who finishes art school in Scotland and can't make a living and has to move back to the tiny island he came from with his super religious father. It's so miserable, but it's so funny and loving and strange, and he just did a fantastic job.”
“I just read Margaret Atwood's memoir, which I listened to, and she read it. It was so good, it was so fantastic. So for anybody who likes audiobooks, listen to Margaret Atwood's memoir.”
“This book is very fast. It's short. And I love Willie Vlautin. He writes about people in this country who nobody writes novels about, people who just have really tough lives. But this book is a lot less tough.”
Eddie is a workaholic whose wife left him and has been plagued with guilt for 20 years. Next door, his eight-year-old neighbor, Russel, struggles with his home life until the two start a relationship that will change both of them.
“I think that people will hugely love this book. It's a big, sweeping, Irish, multi-generational story. The writing's wonderful. There's magic elements to it. It's a real crowd-pleaser of a book.”
From the author of Hamnet, this book is set in the aftermath of the Great Hunger in Ireland. It follows map-maker Tomás as he encounters a mystical spring that changes his and his family’s lives.
“It's about Harlem in the ’80s. Colson Whitehead wrote three books about Harlem, one in the ’60s, one in the ’70s, and this is the last one. You do not need to have read the other two. Colson Whitehead is the best there is, period.”
When furniture salesman/master fence Ray finds his wife can’t get a business loan, he gambles on one last heist with his partner in crime, a master thief.
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