June Newsletter
Author Spotlight:
Ann Patchett
ANN PATCHETT is the author of ten novels, The Patron Saint of Liars, Taft, The Magician’s Assistant, Bel Canto, Run, State of Wonder, Commonwealth, The Dutch House, Tom Lake, and her new novel Whistler. She was a guest editor of Best American Short Stories and has written four books of nonfiction–Truth & Beauty, What now?, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, and These Precious Days. She has collaborated with illustrator Robin Preiss Glasser on three children’s books, Lambslide, Escape Goat, and The Verts. She also released an annotated version of one of her most beloved novels, Bel Canto.
Patchett has been the recipient of numerous awards, including a National Humanities Medal and the PEN/Faulkner Award. Her novel, The Dutch House, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She was named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She is a frequent contributor for The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, and The New York Times. Her books have been both New York Times Notable Books and New York Times bestsellers, and her work has been translated into more than thirty languages.
In November, 2011, she opened Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee. She has since become a spokesperson for independent booksellers, championing books and bookstores on NPR, PBS Newshour, and the TODAY Show. She was the inaugural ambassador for the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (BINC), and she founded the Parnassus Books Foundation, which gives books to children in Title I schools in Nashville.
Ann Patchett lives in Nashville with her husband, Karl VanDevender, and their dog, Nemo. She makes weekly appearances on Parnassus’s social media, where her videos have amassed millions of views.
In store or online now
Whistler by Ann Patchett
When Daphne notices an older gentleman following her around the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, she doesn’t expect it to be Eddie – her former stepfather.
Married to her mother for a short time when Daphne was nine, she hasn’t seen Eddie for many years; not since the fateful event that changed the direction of both their lives.
Meeting again now, Daphne and Eddie feel that time has fallen away. Their earlier relationship was brief but had a profound impact on both of them. Together, they consider not only their past, but the joys of the present and their commitment to face the future together.
A moving, luminous story about how family, memory and love endures, Whistler paints an intimate portrait of how the feeling of being known by one other person, even for a short period of time, can change everything.
Reviewed by Jacq
Daphne Zabriskie didn’t have a happy childhood. “There was one part I liked very much. The rest of it not so much”. Daphne Fuller is now 53, she’s happy & happily married to an older man. “Old guys love me. They’ve always loved me”.
A chance meeting brings the funny & loving elder Eddie Triplett back into her life & that of her family. A good man & all round nice guy who was hugely significant to 9 y/old Daphne & her younger sister: he was loved & loving & created calm where there was often chaos. The story unfolds past & present, as details are revealed surrounding Eddies entry into & departure from the Zabiskie family. This is a beautiful & funny story on love & belonging, caring & family where you find it. It is also a tale on the power of storytelling to lift up, to rally & to find your way home.
Books of the Month
FICTION
Review written in poem form by Jacq, inspired by her experiences & feelings from reading this story.
Over Millennia – Ancient land & wooded grove – Four waterway confluence – Underground spring & deep, deep pool – Pagan ways being wrested by Church sanctified practice – Colonisers & Crusaders – Blight, famine & workhouse – Land memory & muscle memory – Chainboy, Cartographer & Redcoat – Charting, mapping, organising, re/naming, ordering – Old language to new – deleting history – Changing its course – Father possessed, eldest ordained, youngest touched – Family scatter – Return – Ancient land & wooded grove – Incredibly expansive yet intimate and moving – I loved it.
Land by Maggie O’Farrell
A spellbinding story of separation, longing, recovery and survival as a family makes a new home in the aftermath of tragedy.
On a windswept peninsula stretching out into the Atlantic, Tomas and his reluctant son, Liam, are working for the great Ordnance Survey project to map the whole of Ireland. The year is 1865, and in a country not long since ravaged and emptied by the Great Hunger, the task is not an easy one. Tomas, however, is determined that his maps will be a record of the disaster.
The British soldiers in charge are due to arrive any day, expecting the work to be completed, but Tomas is sent off course by an unsettling encounter in a copse. His life, and those of his family, will never be the same again. Liam is terrified by the sudden change in his taciturn father. What was it that caused such cracks to open in Tomas and how is Liam, aged only ten, going to finish the mapping, and get them both home?
Land is a story of buried treasure, overlapping lives, ancient woodland, persistent ghosts, a particularly loyal dog, and how, when it comes to both land and history, nothing ever goes away.
An epic portrait of a family navigating the legacy of Ireland’s Great Hunger, Land is Maggie O’Farrell at her spellbinding, inimitable best.
NON FICTION
Reviewed by Tenniell
The Land and Its People is a witty and thoughtful collection of essays in which David Sedaris reflects on travel, family, friendship, and aging with his trademark humour and sharp observations. Beneath the laugh-out-loud moments lies a surprisingly moving exploration of loss, connection, and finding wonder in everyday life. A funny, insightful, and deeply human read.
The Land and Its People by David Sedaris
Time takes its toll: Scrolling through his address book, he counts those he couldn’t bear to outline and realizes how many are already gone. He is bitten by a dog and insulted by a wee train passenger. A woman on the street late at night either sexually harasses him or doesn’t. It’s easy to agree with the lady waving a sign that reads, ‘Enough is Enough.’ And yet, life holds much to delight in: the massive testicles of a ram, a trip abroad with his sisters, a really excellent reptile video, a pair of well-made cotton underpants.
Throughout these essays – at once acerbic and tender, playful and profound – Sedaris shows how much there is to marvel at when you keep your head up and your eyes open, observing with warmth and curiosity our fascinating human species and the lands we inhabit.
KIDS & YA
Reviewed by Myra, aged 12
The Wild Unknown is a thrilling and suspenseful book that kept me reading late into the night. Although it starts off a little confusing, the story unfolds brilliantly and becomes more exciting with every chapter. I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves sci-fi, mystery and technology.
The Wild Unknown by Emily Gale
It’s 2045 and the world is full of tech. Eddie has a bot in his ear giving him advice all day, a bathroom scale that identifies illnesses, and classroom bots keeping track of him at school. The streets are full of delivery bots and game tech is amazing.
But tech can’t help the police find a missing boy called Theo, who was last seen at the river. When they abandon the search, Eddie and his friends sneak down to the river to look for clues. What they find doesn’t make any sense.
Then strange things start happening to Eddie. He’s never been sporty but suddenly he’s a brilliant runner. When a friend is caught in the bottom of the pool, Eddie rescues her from drowning by holding his breath for a suspiciously long amount of time. He has excellent night vision-and there are hair-like feathers growing out of his skin.
It’s exciting. It’s terrifying. How can it be both?
And what do the changes in Eddie have to do with Theo’s disappearance?
The Wild Unknown is a gripping adventure set in a near-future world where the truth can be difficult to find and where real friends will always be better than the smartest tech.
June New Release Highlights
Fiction
Non-Fiction
Kids & YA
Author Events:
VENUE CHANGE: Crime Panel – Thursday 23 July 6:00pm
The Studio @ PCT Mornington Community House 91 Wilsons Road Mornington.
Book Club:
Kids’ Story Writing Competition:
What our staff are reading this month:
Other Services:
