Every time Milwaukee bookstore owner Daniel Goldin gets a chance to speak with author Ann Patchett on one of her book tours, they can't seem to stop talking about what they're reading or their favorite authors. Patchett is in Milwaukee to promote her latest book; "Commonwealth," and, true to form, the two have a batch of reading suggestions to share.
"Every tour now, I take a book with me," Patchett said. "It has been 'The All Of It' (by Jeannette Haien), and then for the last tour it was Geoffrey Wolff's 'A Day At The Beach,' and this tour it is 'Dogs As I See Them'" by Lucy Dawson.
Patchett said Dawson was a famous dog portrait artist in London in the 1930s and '40s. The reprinted book is a collection of her charcoal and crayon drawings with personal notes about each dog. She said it's a perfect gift book.
"I always like to say instead of taking a bottle of wine when you go to a dinner party, take a beautiful hard back book," said Patchett, who herself has written 10 books and owns her own independent bookstore in Nashville, Tennessee. '"Dogs As I See Them' is really such a great gift book."
Goldin, owner of Boswell Book Company, just finished Patchett's latest and said it's on the top of his list (as well as the top of the New York Times bestseller list). Goldin described it as an exploration of the stories families tell each other and how those stories get appropriated into fiction.
"The characters are beautifully drawn, and you can't help fall in love with them," said Goldin.
In addition to the books mentioned above, Patchett offered a list of the top five other books on her fall reading list:
- "The Dream Life of Astronauts" by Patrick Ryan (short stories)
- "Evicted" by Matthew Desmond (sociology)
- "In the Darkroom" by Susan Faludi (memoir)
- "Lab Girl" by Hope Jahren (memoir)
- "My Name is Lucy Barton" by Elizabeth Strout (novel)
And on Goldin's top five list:
- "Another Brooklyn" by Jacqueline Woodson (novel)
- "French Rhapsody" by Antoine Laurain (novel)
- "Gertie's Leap to Greatness" by Kate Beasley (middle grade fiction, age 8-12)
- "Ghost" by Jason Reynolds (middle grade fiction, age 8-12)
- "Hillbilly Elegy" by J.D. Vance (memoir)
