This year I couldn't not pick These Precious Days by Ann Patchett as my first book of the year. The title drew me in... These Precious Days. Call me sentimental, but lately I've been wistfully thinking of days gone by. This past October, I turned 62. 62 is a pivotal age. I retired early and have been enjoying having the days to myself, but now I am actually collecting Social Security! OMG! What's also pretty funny is I'm collecting social security right along side my Mother! Think about that. When you're young, do you ever think that you will become a senior citizen, right along with your parent? But turning that number... 62... makes me think... reflect... wonder about the what if's... think how to enjoy these precious day...
These Precious Days by Ann Patchett is a book of essays. Here's what the publisher has to say...
Any story that starts will also end.” As a writer, Ann Patchett knows what the outcome of her fiction will be. Life, however, often takes turns we do not see coming. Patchett ponders this truth in these wise essays that afford a fresh and intimate look into her mind and heart.
At the center of These Precious Days is the title essay, a surprising and moving meditation on an unexpected friendship that explores “what it means to be seen, to find someone with whom you can be your best and most complete self.” When Patchett chose an early galley of actor and producer Tom Hanks’ short story collection to read one night before bed, she had no idea that this single choice would be life changing. It would introduce her to a remarkable woman—Tom’s brilliant assistant Sooki—with whom she would form a profound bond that held monumental consequences for them both.
A literary alchemist, Patchett plumbs the depths of her experiences to create gold: engaging and moving pieces that are both self-portrait and landscape, each vibrant with emotion and rich in insight. Turning her writer’s eye on her own experiences, she transforms the private into the universal, providing us all a way to look at our own worlds anew, and reminds how fleeting and enigmatic life can be.
So I'm starting my reading year with little snippets of Ann's life, but also hoping that I will relate to them as well. And who better to take the journey with then the phenomenal writer, Ann Patchett.
First Book of the Year: These Precious Days by Ann Patchett
