Having been a fan of Ann Patchett’s fiction over the years, it was a delight to come across this collection of non-fiction essays from over her lifetime. Some are more autobiographical than others, but all have wisdom to impart — the importance of family, of friendship, of forgiveness, of fortitude. Some are hilarious, others poignant and heartbreaking. I love how careful Patchett is with her prose — as a writer, I learn so much from others’ work and this collection had me feeling like a fresh-faced student all over again, which was a good thing — and I also love how observant and astute she is as she shares these facets of her life. Brilliantly engaging and heartwarming, and highly recommended.

I received an e-ARC from the publisher, Bloomsbury, through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

These Precious Days Ann Patchett
As a reader I tend to steer away from short stories as I prefer to invest in something more meaty so I approached this work with caution. I needn’t have worried; from the beginning I was caught up in Ann’s world as she tried to make sense of the essays she has written over the years and their impact on her life. The title is in respect of the wonder and beauty of our lives on earth, and the fact that we will all face death. How we face death is often influenced by how we face life and our encounters with the deaths of those we love, who give our lives meaning.
I was caught up immediately by the three fathers; a bit greedy if you ask me, since I only ever had one. My first consideration of death came as a young child when I thought of a distant future, hopefully, when my parents would no longer be around, a thought most of us will have had at some stage. Not everyone had a good role model as a father but Ann was fortunate to have been loved by three, shaping some of who she is.
I found that the book flowed and was a gentle, encouraging collection of reminiscences of her life, both professional and personal. No-one could fail to be moved by the friendship which developed between Ann and Sooki and how that friendship developed in such a short space of time.
I was quite sad when I got the end and would recommend it to anyone looking for something true and relevant. I look forward to reading more of Ann’s work.

An enthralling collection of stories very personal to the author. Heartfelt, compassionate and often with amusing touches, this is a great collection to dip into between longer books. Thoughtful, warm and moving, though some seemed to wander off a bit. Will read more by Anne Pratchett.

I have always been a fan of Ann Patchett's books, ever since I read - many years ago - 'The Magician's Assistant'. Her non-fiction is equally as enthralling and I loved 'This is the Story of a Happy Marriage', a collection of essays and editorials, a few years back. This new collection is superb, too.

In 'These Precious Days', Patchett deals with all number of topics, ranging from her husband, Karl's, love of flying, and the different planes he has over the years, through to her relationship with Sooki - Tom Hanks' assistant. In fact, the latter essays are focused on Sooki - and it's been a long while since the ending of a book left me with goosebumps and shivers as the final piece in the book did. Without spoilers, you should really read this - it's life-affirming, heartfelt, truthful... we can all learn a lot from such things.

This collection goes from strength to strength and, for me, the final pieces are the most arresting. I am sure you may well end up feeling the same.

I have to confess that I have never read any of Anne Patchett's work. I really don't know why. So this was my first introduction to her writing.it was a glorious revelation. I loved this collection of essays on a huge and heartbreaking range of topics. I felt as though I knew her as a friend by the end of the book. Gorgeous writing and a hugely compassionate outlook.

Described as a collection of essays, These Precious Days feels more like a compilation of short stories - albeit deeply personal, autobiographical ones. A good essay should communicate some kind of shared truth, while Patchett's focus is more on describing and defining herself and her immediate circle. Don't get me wrong, that's still a valuable and interesting ambition - even if over the entire collection it does get a little repetitive.

Many of these pieces take on a very similar tone and a familiar structure. It's a shame, because in some ways the fact that these essays have been collected together undermines their value. For instance, as a standalone piece, the title essay is heartfelt and astute, a beautiful story of friendship. But read as part of the whole, it loses some of its weight.

Thoughtful, sincere and often a little sanctimonious - I enjoyed These Precious Days but it didn't have quite the impact I hoped it would.

Having read several of her books, I already knew that Ann Patchett was a wonderful writer, but having read this collection of her essays, I now know that she is also a wonderful human being, Musing on a variety of subjects, from her family relationships and friendships, to what it takes to be a living saint, from giving up shopping for a year to Snoopy as a writing inspiration, her observations are thoughtful, warm and often inspirational. Whether explaining why she has never wanted children (but is never believed!) to her account of offering a place of refuge to a friend she barely knows undergoing cancer treatment, and forging a deep friendship in the process, she has an openness to experience and what can be learned from it, and a great capacity for love and humility. I was moved to tears twice, but the overall effect of reading this book is joy.

These essays are a real joy, so well-written, so inciteful and often funny. Patchett gives us quite a random selection that darts from subject to subject but all are thoroughly enjoyable.

I read to 36% and decided to abandon the book. I’m giving it a rating of 3 ⭐️ here but only for the purposes of fairness as I didn’t complete the book.

I found it to be quite boring and more than a little pious. Once it began to get on my nerves, it was time to put it down. Others will enjoy this greatly I’m sure but unfortunately, it was not for me.

There is a reference in one of the stories to her travelling around the UK, when she mentions hitchhiking in Donegal. Donegal is in Ireland. The publishers might ensure this is corrected in the final edition.

I loved this book and I couldn't wait to keep coming back to it. The writing is beautiful and I' loved the insights into her life and she developed relationships with people. Occasionally the book meandered a bit but I really enjoyed the writing and a peek into her author life.

My first encounter with Ann Patchett came last year when I read ‘The Dutch House’. Despite having written a number of books, she wasn’t an author who had previously been on my radar. Having enjoyed ‘The Dutch House’, I was excited to read this collection of essays - and I’m pleased to say that it didn’t disappoint.

I’m not usually a fan of non-fiction, and I think this might be the first collection of essays I’ve ever read, but I absolutely adored this book.
Patchett comes across at the kind of person you would want to be best friends with. She writes in such an honest and open way that you feel like she’s writing just for you. The essays cover a variety of topics, from aeroplanes and knitting, to book covers and beloved authors. Each one moves you in a different way, and not always how you would expect. Many a time I found myself smiling in recognition, or welling up at the depth of feeling she conveys with just a few sentences.

To describe these as essays makes the book sound rather dry - they’re more like individual glimpses into little worlds where normal people love and live whilst savouring the little things in life. The final chapter is heartbreaking and moving, but also life affirming. This book captured me in a way a book hasn’t for a long time, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury publishing for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I don't usually read short stories but because this collection was written by Ann Patchett, I thought it would be interesting. It was a bit like reading a memoir in a different format. Many of the essays have been published before in magazines or newspapers but they have been brought together into one volume now. Most of the essays are reflective, looking back at different experiences or times in the author's life.

The title essay 'These Precious Days' is a piece about friendship. It is extraordinary and makes you think about lots of things, not least tenuous links to other people and how our relationships develop over time. Another emotional read is 'Or Not' which tells the story of the death of Ann's father and her feelings following his passing. Very personal, very well told and a story which resonates deeply.

Thank you to NetGalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

I'm afraid I didn't enjoy this book as much as I had hoped. Although the author writes extremely well, I felt the collection of essays was a bit off-putting with its stories of upper middle class American life. I will stick to Ann Patchett's novels.

Having loved Patchett's last novel 'The Dutch House', I was excited to read her non-fiction, and she did not disappoint.

We run the full range of Patchett's life, covering literary topics like her running a bookshop, writers she has met, and her struggles with getting good covers- all of which is to be expected from a writer, but then she goes much deeper, and this is where she is at her most powerful, I think.

She writes about her three father figures, and what each has taught her, as well as a moving essay about her decision not to have children, and the numerous people who try to tell her she is wrong for feeling that way. There is a subtle anger to that essay that is shimmering- the power of silence over shouting.

Towards the end, we get to the titular essay, 'These Precious Days', which is slightly longer, and charts the friendship between Patchett and an assistant she meets through work, Sooki.

There is a beauty and tenderness to her language throughout this- a quiet foreboding that we understand that Sooki's battle with pancreatic cancer during a pandemic might be fraught with worry and terror, but Patchett is determined to find the moments of joy, of relief, and of beauty.

It is to Patchett's great credit that this essay never falls into pity, despondency or toxic positivity. Instead it just finds a point of focus that is so resolute and beautiful, and I found it profoundly moving. The collection is worth 5 stars for this essay alone, but the other essays, even though about disparate topics, build us to a point where the closing moments of the collection feel complete. We also come to realise where the cover for this essay collection comes from- a nice callback to the essay on book covers, that almost feels random at first, but comes to have new meaning as the book finishes.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks so much to Bloomsbury for letting me read These Precious Days, Ann Patchett's new essay collection, in advance. I'd read the titular essay when it was published in a magazine sometime over the past year (what is time? I certainly don't know), but everything else was new to me. This is a book of personal essays: about family, friendship, childhood, growing up, and how all that intersects with her writing. The writing about writing was, perhaps predictably, my favourite part - everything from how she has always put all her eggs in one basket to her mad way of drafting really struck me.

This has made me slightly less cynical about working in a bookshop (a big ask, for me) and it has made me keen to explore all of Ann Patchett's books, having only read Commonwealth. This is such a warm collection full of life, and I'm actually a bit sad not to have an essay to look forward to every night before bed.

This is not my usual genre of reading, but I thought it would be worth trying from such a renowned author. However, I’m sorry to say this collection did not appeal to me. The writing is very good, as I would expect, but the essays did not fire my imagination. I’m not keen on the first-person style of writing, which most of these seemed to be, (although I didn’t read them all.)
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy of this book.

This is my second book by Ann Patchett and her first one of essays. Both I have enjoyed immensely. I must say these essays read like short stories in the very best sense - they all have that constructed lived pattern which makes them round and complete and satisfying vignettes of life with a punch to mull over.
I have loved everyone and each of them - be it the memorable opening one about her three fathers, the one about tattoos seen in her youthful trips with a friend in France; how knitting saved her life (twice!); or the extraordinary titular one about a new friendship in times of adversity. The writing is supple, engaging, never over written; the ideas discussed, interesting, surprising at times; the tone, intimate, and always with a sense of real honesty. I admire Patchett's quiet sense of humour and quirky way of approaching the issue at hand. Probably all of the essays deal with mortality and the passing of time in a way or another, many have an elegiac tone, but there is always humour. Perhaps the one which made me laugh more heartily was the one about the American Academy of Arts... There is always a positive twist, this is a life-affirming collection of ruminations springing from the author's life which I found tremendously interesting.

With many thanks to Bloomsbury via NetGalley for the opportunity to read this excellent book.

This is a wonderful book of essays by novelist Ann Patchett. Some of the essays have previously been published in magazines and journals. Others are new to the book. Patchett is a fascinating and generous writer. It seems that nothing is off limits here. She writes about her relationship with her fathers (she had three), her friends, her husband, her dogs. She writes about her growth as a writer, her complex relationship with spirituality and faith. Some of the later essays touch on the COVID pandemic and the strangeness of the changes it brought to her life. I loved everything. I don't think there is a dud essay here. Certain lines spoke to me in some work, whole essays reverberated with me in others. I loved her essay about how her early love of Snoopy made her both a better writer and a better person. She has an incredible power of taking the ordinary and writing it into the extraordinary. I loved this so much.

A thought provoking book on life and relationships and family told in a series of essays by the author. The essay on her three fathers and how each had influenced her life was for me, the most interesting and relatable in terms of step-parent relationships. Highly recommended.

Thank you for sharing this book. Ann Patchett is one of my favourite authors, and this is another wonderful book. It's a collection of essays, Ann's humanity, sense of community and family, and her relationships are all described so beautifully, in a calm and composed way. It is so relatable, I cried at the chapter about the Magician's Elephant, and the tributes to Ann's friend Sookie were very moving.