Ann Patchett's Reading List

"Anthony Marra’s “A Constellation of Vital Phenomena.” And all the books I mention below. It’s been a great year for reading."

"I thought that book was brilliant. When it came out and got such middling reviews I was mystified. I felt so lucky to have had my own experience with it."

"People have such high expectations for Donna’s novels because they come around so rarely, and she knocked this one out of the park."

"I’m pleased to report that McBride deserved every bit of the praise."

"I thought that Kingsolver, who loved both books, was right on the money."

"I thought that Kingsolver, who loved both books, was right on the money."

"I’m a big fan of all of Wolff’s work, but this is the best book of essays I know. I’ve become a very convincing bookseller, and I plan to sell the hell out of this one."

"It’s still the book I want to show everyone who comes to my house."

"Edwidge Danticat’s “Brother, I’m Dying” is probably my favorite."

"I also love her new novel, “Claire of the Sea Light.” She’s so smart and such a beautiful writer. She knows exactly how to break my heart and put it back together again."

"Patti Smith’s “Just Kids” reminded me of what it felt like to be young and want so much to be an artist and live a meaningful life."

"“Act One” is one of the best things about owning a bookstore. I can sell “Act One” to people all day long."

"After I read “Charlotte’s Web,” I became so obsessed with pigs that my stepfather got me one for my ninth birthday. It was because of that pig that I became a vegetarian. That’s impact."

"I read “Humboldt” again a few months ago, and I was amazed by how clearly I remembered it. Nobody writes like that anymore — maybe Michael Chabon."

"It’s about a brother and sister who catch fire whenever they’re anxious or upset. They don’t burn themselves up but they torch everything around them. It’s a brilliant commentary on what makes kids unlikable and how adults choose to deal with them."

"I only read it a year ago, but it made me completely rethink what literature for children is capable of and what it means to have a full, complex and deeply satisfying novel that can be read in two hours. I’ve since read all of DiCamillo’s work and believe she has no equal."

"It’s an extraordinary novel – the structure, the characters, the sweep of time."

"As wildly unfashionable as they are, I learned more from reading the Rabbit Angstrom novels of John Updike than anything else. They embody four decades of the United States in writing so glittering and precise that it manages to overcome the consistently offensive views of the main character."

"I felt everyone sharpened their knives on that book. I thought it was brilliant."

"It opened my eyes to how we are judgmental without realising it, and the burden that places on the recipient. It’s a great book, and a great reminder about all we don’t know about other people’s lives."

"This story about her childhood in Haiti and her love for both her father and her uncle remains my favourite memoir."

"My father used to say if he were a rich man he would have sent me to laughing school. I recently met Nina Stibbe and went back to listen to the audiobook of Love, Nina again, and again, I honked like a goose through the whole thing."

"As a bookshop owner, I’m a great believer in bringing books to dinner parties. I give books for pretty much all occasions. I’m especially fond of Lucy Dawson’s Dogs As I See Them . She was a famous dog portraitist in England in the 1930s and 40s. If you look her up you’ll recognize her work. Her sketches are somehow profound in their simplicity, as are her brief descriptions of how many biscuits a particular dog required in order to hold still."

"It was the favourite book of my older sister. Wright took black and white photographs of a doll who lives alone until a couple of bears come along and offer her a shot at family life. It is both creepy and haunting."

"It is my necessary text."