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Ann Patchett's Top 10

Books recommended by author Ann Patchett at the American Library Association's Annual Conference in Chicago on Sunday, June 30, 2013. Patchett was the speaker at the Public Library Association President's Program.

User from Boston Public Library

10 items

  1. Patchett discovered the galley while spending the night at Barbara Kingsolver's house, as Kingsolver was preparing to write about it in the New York Times Book Review (http://nyti.ms/15zflKb).
    Unknown, 2013New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2013.
  2. 'The book of the year for me,' in spite of its challenging subject matter (the war in Chechnya).
    Unknown, 2013New York : Hogarth, c2013.
  3. Patchett calls this collection of 'more-than-linked stories' 'tiny and brilliant.'
    Unknown, 2013New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2013.
  4. Patchett resisted at first because it did not appear to be her kind of book ('hard and ponderous with a little edge of boring'). Now considers it a 'universal donor' book, with something for every taste. Apparently, it was also James Patterson's…
    Unknown, 2012New York : Little, Brown and Co., 2012.
  5. To be reissued this November in time for Patchett to promote it on her next book tour. She called this one 'the best collection of essays of all time.' Geoffrey Wolff is Tobias Wolff's brother.
    Book, 1992New York : Knopf, 1992. — PS3573.O53 Z462 1992x
  6. Reissued with an introduction by Patchett so she could promote it on her State of Wonder book tour in 2011. Now a bestseller at Parnassus Books in Nashville, the store Patchett cofounded.
    Book, 1986Boston : D.R. Godine, 1986. — PS3558.A3255 A78 1986
  7. Patchett said, quite simply, 'there's just nothing better.' Recommended the two sequels, too.
    Unknown, 2006New York : Europa, 2006. — PR6057.A623 O43 2006x
  8. Patchett believes this would have been 'the great book of the year if it had had anyone else's name on it.' She knows that a lot of people gave up on it after it got bad reviews, and many more give up after the slow first 50 pages...but she swore…
    Book, 2012New York : Little, Brown & Co., 2012. — FICTION ROWLING J
  9. So vivid that 'it's a little bit like sticking your hand in a toaster, but in a really good way.' Patchett read all five 'practically in one sitting.'
    Book, 2012New York : Picador, c2012. — FICTION STAUBYN E
  10. Tartt is a good friend of Patchett's, and yet Patchett had to beg to read a draft of this long-awaited third novel. She said it was well worth both the wait and the begging.
    Unknown, 2013Little Brown & Co 2013