Author: Ann Patchett
Reviewed by Chloe Fuksa, Putnam Six Bookstore
These Precious Days, the latest work from author Ann Patchett, is a collection of 22 short stories, just released in paperback at the start of this month. There are a few pieces that are lengthier, but for the most part, each is well under twenty pages long. Patchett is well known for many of her other works, including the novels Bel Canto and The Dutch House and the children’s book Lambslide. Now, with These Precious Days, she is giving readers a memoir of sorts.
We read of the three fathers she’s had and the tattoo she dreamt of getting as a teenager visiting Europe. We learn how knitting helped her kick a bad habit and how her husband learned to fly a floatplane on a trip to Alaska. The most profound piece is certainly the one that shares its name with the title. In “These Precious Days,” Patchett shares this lovely account of a friendship that arose with an utterly unique woman named Sooki. Plus, if you want to know what it’s like to, say, own a bookstore in Nashville, or what an author actually thinks about judging a book by its cover, Patchett has you covered there as well.
If you’re like this reviewer, short story collections aren’t normally the first thing you reach for. But this book was a really nice change of pace. You can pick it up whenever you have time and not have to worry as much about remembering a detailed plot or a web of characters. Some of the stories seemed to fall a little flat, but the majority are quite beautiful and rich. If you want a reading experience that feels like you’re sitting around a fireplace, late in the evening, listening to an old friend tell warm, funny, moving stories of her life, These Precious Days is certainly that.
Visit us in Sunset Plaza or call 580-297-5089 to get your copy of These Precious Days today!
