Most people know Ann Patchett for her fourth book, Bel Canto, an award-winning novel about a hostage situation at a presidential palace in Latin America.
What no one knows about Ann Patchett, aside from me, is that she’s my literary crush.
A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and the Iowa Writer’s Workshop (where she met poet Lucy Grealy, whose friendship she writes about in the heartbreaking Truth & Beauty), Ann has written seven novels, three nonfiction books, and last year, a children’s book. She’s received dozens of literary awards, among them a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Women’s National Book Association’s Award, and is a regular on NPR, Stephen Colbert, Oprah, and anywhere else she can talk books and reading.
Her latest novel, The Dutch House, about the relationship between a brother and sister that spans 50 years, was a finalist for this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Those are her author bona fides. What solidifies Ann Patchett as my literary crush, however, is that she owns a bookstore. And it’s a good one.
I made the pilgrimage to Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tenn., which Ann co-owns with her business partner, Karen Hughes, a few years ago. My husband and I were in town for our son’s high school baseball trip, and Parnassus was on the list of one thing to do before we left. We Google-mapped our way to an unimpressive strip mall downtown, where Parnassus sits sandwiched between a Sherwin Williams and a maternity clothing store.
It’s cute, but I was envisioning something grander for my personal Graceland. Silly me.
The bell on the door actually tinkles when you enter the store. Inside, the wooden floors creak as you walk past the ceiling-high wooden shelves filled with books, the warm brick walls forming the perfect backdrop to an overstuffed couch and comfy chairs that invite you to plop down and read.
It even smells like a bookstore, filled with that sort of musty scent but in a good way.
Ann is a hands-on presence at Parnassus, writing a regular blog for the newsletter and working at the store when time and travel allow. She recommends books, interviews authors and champions the community of readers that independent bookstores like Parnassus builds and nurtures.
Even when Amazon opened one of its first brick-and-mortar bookstores across the street, Ann and the Parnassus team put their trust in their community to support the bookstore — and it did.
Then the pandemic hit.
Like most small businesses, Parnassus closed in March and then pivoted to selling books online, with curbside pick up for local readers and US Postal Service shipping for everyone else. They now rely on social media to reach customers, with Ann appearing regularly on Instagram and Facebook to recommend books and offer encouragement.
“Today I’m wearing a ball gown,” she said on Instagram on April 29. “Why am I wearing a ball gown? Because I’ve been in sweat pants for six weeks and I’m sick of myself, and I own this pretty dress and I’m not going anywhere so I want you to see it.”
She then recommended some books, and the Ball Gown Book Club was born.
I’ve often thought that Ann Patchett would have appeared on my personal mood board when I was 21 — if mood boards were a thing back then. Instead, maybe I’ll settle for wearing my prettiest dress while I work tomorrow. And I’ll keep buying books from independent bookstores.