In “These Precious Days,” Patchett traces her influences and inspirations from her birth in Los Angeles to a childhood in Nashville and an education at Sarah Lawrence College and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
“As a writer, I am first and foremost my father’s daughter,” Patchett writes.
Patchett met Raphael when she and Hanks appeared together at an event in Washington, D.C., the novelist interviewing the actor, who had recently published “Uncommon Type,” his own book of short stories.
While she never lost sight of people suffering from the pandemic, Patchett and her husband, Karl, felt fortunate to be marooned at home with a fascinating stranger whom they came to love dearly.
Patchett says she knew early on that she wanted to write about her friend.
And then she gave it to all of her friends, and they all said, ‘No, that’s exactly how you are.
Patchett paints other memorable pictures in the book, starting with the opening essay, “Three Fathers,” a group portrait of her father and two stepfathers.
“I believe I’ve done more good on behalf of culture by opening Parnassus than I have writing novels,” she writes in an essay based on a speech to graduate school deans — one of the book’s funniest.
While the pandemic has been brutal on many small businesses, Parnassus was able to pivot to online sales, curbside pickup and virtual events.
“I had such a sense of purpose,” Patchett says, “that, OK, I can’t save a lot of people, but I can take care of my people, and do everything that I can do — which is a lot — to make sure this business doesn’t go under.
Going forward, Patchett is hoping to see the emergence of a hybrid book-tour model, where some authors who wouldn’t necessarily have come to the bookstore in person continue to appear by Zoom.
“Eudora Welty didn’t go anywhere.