Ann Patchett takes us to intimate places in her head and heart with this lovely collection of essays . One of my very favorite short story or essay collections is To Lay to Rest Our Ghosts by Caitlin Hamilton Summie, and These Precious Days is right up there at the top. From the enchantments of Kate DiCamillo's children's books (author of the upcoming The Beatryce Prophecy) to youthful memories of Paris; the cherished life gifts given by her three fathers to the unexpected influence of Charles Schultz's Snoopy; the expansive vision of Eudora Welty to the importance of knitting, Patchett connects life and art as she illuminates what matters most.

Even the one about flying - Flight Plan - of which I have no interest in an at all (flying in a light plane for fun? Lessons in Chemistry: In the 1960s, Elizabeth Zott, an extraordinary chemist, defies gender norms in her male-dominated workplace.

Ann Patchett had chosen one of the many unsolicited books she receives from publishers, who are hoping for a quote for the book jacket. Sookie needed the same things—to find somebody who could see each other’s best and most complete selves.

Patchett wanted the novel to show how “married love is more valuable than the insane hot love of your 20s,” she says. I've had some very good covers in my life, but this was a great one, and while I've worked with many other people to get things right, I've never had a true collaborator.Patchett of course hymned another friendship, with the late Lucy Grealy, in her 2004 memoir Truth and Beauty, and elsewhere in this very book the author is to be found plotting a piece about her dying father even as she holds his hand.

What I’ll take away from this is a feeling of warmth that emanates from the author and how she is prepared to stand up for what she thinks is right. I’ve read all of her novels and reading this book has made me want to read her other non fiction books. It’s hard for me to pick a favourite from this collection, as each essay has something to offer, on a diverse range of topics. Although lockdown “made perfect sense” as the setup for Tom Lake, it is not a lockdown novel in the way that her friend Elizabeth Strout’s Oh William! She’s kind, hospitable and a loyal and true friend - in fact, at the end of reading this I want her to befriend me!

I love Ann Patchett’s writing but ultimately, in this case, the book languished on my nightstand until I downloaded the audiobook. And while Patchett can’t start work on a novel without having figured out exactly how it will end, living well requires the opposite: “Death always thinks of us eventually. It’s not, of course, that she doesn’t find herself in tight spots; it’s just that when she does, she’ll unfailingly salvage something positive.

Through this life experiment, Patchett gained a greater appreciation for the value of experiences over material possessions and provided a sharp contrast for the current social attitude towards consumerism – something that prioritizes the accumulation of material goods over other forms of personal fulfillment. Her retort to those who complain that her fiction is “naive” or even Pollyanna-ish is: “How many serial killers do you know? The Last Thing He Told Me: In this captivating mystery, Hannah Hall receives a chilling note from her vanished husband, urging her to protect his estranged daughter, Bailey. 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. Patchett includes the text of a wonderful lecture on her 'feral' experience in graduate school in Iowa and an introduction written for the collected stories of Eudora Welty that seems as perfect as the stories themselves.the care and compassion and love she imbues in every story about family, friendships, relationships is so wonderful. The 336-page collection contains 24 essays, some previously published but revised for the collection. It was an extraordinary book, not merely a let’s-see-what’s-in-my-filing-cabinet affair to publish between novels. I think one of the things I’ll take away from this is what a wonderful, warm hearted and generous person she is.