Spring Events at Parnassus

fabulous Ann

There is a plethora of reasons I love living in Nashville, but very near the top of my list is Amazing Ann Patchett and her killer indie bookstore Parnassus Books. They’ve been open a little over a year now, and the place has literally changed my life. It’s a wonderful thing to have a little bookstore to call home. I take everyone who visits and brag about how We Have Ann Patchett(!) whenever the opportunity arises and sometimes when it doesn’t. I enjoy as much time and money there as I can afford. But it’s more than that. The part of it that’s really contributed to making living in Nashville awesome is the event calendar.

When I lived in Manhattan and worked at the Barnes and Noble on Union Square, author events were part of the job. Alan Greenspan was speaking at an event on my first day. I could rattle off all the others that came through too, but my point is that I got accustomed to them. No, I got addicted to them. Author readings are an absolute high. They put me in this euphoric state of passion and enthusiasm, like plugging in to a giant literary recharging station. I walk away from an author event, signed book in hand, giddy and refreshed. And like most addictions, I had no idea how far gone I had become until I moved to the easily-flown-over Nashville.

Then Ann Patchett came and changed all of that. She brought prestige, a beacon of literature, and with it, ahhh, the author events. Some of the coolest ones I’ve been to so far have been Michael Chabon, Amor Towles, Kevin Wilson, Erin Morgenstern, Lyndsay Faye, Holly Tucker, Jennie Fields, among many others.

And O Glorious Spring at Parnassus! There are so many more events to attend! Here are just a few that I’m excited about:

3/2: Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi
4/3: Anne Lamott
4/8: Elizabeth Strout
4/18: Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild
4/30: Maria Semple, author of Where’d You Go, Bernadette?
5/3: Isabel Allende
5/8: Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins
5/14: Kevin Powers, author of The Yellow Birds

I think we all have some serious reading and marking of calendars to do now, am I right?