From Woman's World · Melissa D'Agnese · · 3m
Ann Patchett's 5 Elizabeth Strout Books to Read Now
One bestselling novelist names the writer she still wants to be when she grows up, and the five books that prove it.
In brief
One bestselling novelist names the writer she still wants to be when she grows up, and the five books that prove it. Begin with My Name Is Lucy Barton, then follow Strout's characters across the linked novels; Patchett says Oh, William! may be the best of them. Originally reported by Woman's World.
Ask an author what they read
Writers with shelves of their own bestsellers still light up when recommending someone else's work. Few do it as well as Ann Patchett.
She reads as much as she writes
The author of The Dutch House, Bel Canto and Tom Lake has published more than 15 books, and she treats recommending other people's as its own craft.
A podcast confession
Sitting down with Jenna Bush Hager on Open Book With Jenna, Patchett named one of her very favorite modern authors: Elizabeth Strout.
When I grow up
Reading Strout makes Patchett think about the writer she is still trying to become. It is a rare thing for one novelist to say out loud about another.
“that's who I want to be when I grow up. I want to write like Liz Strout.”
Rereading is the fuel
Patchett told Bush Hager that going back to old loves and unread classics puts her in front of writing good enough to raise her own game.
“When I go back to things I used to love, or classics that I haven't read, it's a level of writing that I find inspiring to my own writing”
They met through an editor
In a 2019 Entertainment Weekly conversation, Patchett explained why the bond was instant: Strout's editor was already a close friend of hers.
“she is one of my top three favorite living authors”
One universe, many books
Most of Strout's novels, from Olive, Again to The Things We Never Say, share a single fictional world, so characters wander from book to book.
Start with Lucy Barton
In the 2016 bestseller My Name Is Lucy Barton, a routine operation drags on and Lucy's mother, unspoken to for years, turns up at her hospital bed.
Gossip first, then the truth
Talk about people back home in Amgash, Illinois breaks the ice between mother and daughter, until older tensions surface. Family damage and stubborn love sit side by side.
A masterpiece in miniature
On the Parnassus blog in 2016, Patchett wrote that Lucy's voice grabs you, as if she were across the table telling you a hard life story with gratitude.
“It is a splendid novel, a masterpiece in miniature.”
Anything Is Possible comes next
The 2017 sequel is a set of linked stories about people in rural Amgash: two sisters, a janitor, a war veteran. Ordinary lives told at full depth.
Equal to the book before it
Patchett could hardly believe Strout matched Lucy Barton just one year later, and then she did exactly that.
“This book, this writer, are magnificent.”
Olive Kitteridge won the Pulitzer
The 2008 book moves through Crosby, Maine across decades, circling a blunt, fiercely independent retired math teacher and the quiet struggles of her neighbors.
“But there are two characters she has been writing more about…one of them is Olive Kitteridge”
Olive, Again gives her love twice
The continuation follows Olive's late second marriage to Jack Kennison, and returns to Crosby townspeople meeting loss with unexpected kindness.
“She is this really flawed person and she is deeply cherished twice, that's amazing.”
Oh, William! may top them all
In the 2021 novel, a newly widowed Lucy joins her first husband on a road trip to Maine to chase down a family secret. Patchett called reading it pure joy.
“The depth, complexity, and love contained in these pages is a miraculous achievement.”
The key point
Begin with My Name Is Lucy Barton, then follow Strout's characters across the linked novels; Patchett says Oh, William! may be the best of them.
