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These Precious Days
July 2022: Memoir
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These Precious Days by Ann Patchett - 4 stars
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I just finished her collection This is the Story of a Happy Marriage (which is the title of one essay). I honestly think I enjoy her personal essays more than her novels.
I haven't read This is the Story of a Happy Marriage yet but it is on my TBR. This one is wonderful, Nancy. I think you would enjoy it.
Collection of twenty-four essays on such diverse topics as Patchett’s three fathers, literature, travel, disease, friendship, art, marriage, death, hobbies, and more. She weaves in observations about daily activities. I particularly enjoyed the piece on her decision to not have children, and the various responses and unsolicited advice she receives. The primary set piece of this collection is the title essay, where she tells of picking up Tom Hanks’s book (the short story collection Uncommon Type), and how that one decision led to a deep friendship with his assistant, Sooki, who ended up staying at her house during the pandemic while she obtained cancer treatments. She wrote these pieces during the pandemic, saying “death has no interest in essays.” They are not just random writings. They are connected through themes of life, death, and love. She writes of death without being morbid. Patchett comes across as observant, sincere, and interested in others. This collection is worth reading.