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What Now?

by Ann Patchett

What Now? Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Based on her lauded commencement address at Sarah Lawrence College, this stirring essay by bestselling author Ann Patchett offers hope and inspiration for anyone at a crossroads, whether graduating, changing careers, or transitioning from one life stage to another. With wit and candor, Patchett tells her own story of attending college, graduating, and struggling with the inevitable question, "What now?"

From student to line cook to teacher to waitress and eventually to award-winning author, Patchett's own life has taken many twists and turns that make her exploration genuine and resonant. As Patchett writes, "'What now?' represents our excitement and our future, the very vitality of life." She highlights the possibilities the unknown offers and reminds us that there is as much joy in the journey as there is in reaching the destination.

Review:

"Just in time, novelist Patchett's 2006 commencement address at Sarah Lawrence College has been expanded, postscripted and published in a handsome small-format hardcover volume, cleverly designed by Chip Kidd and priced to sell-making it quite possibly the best graduation present on the market (at least until Bird by Bird gets the full gift-book treatment). Personal but direct, with a warm, searching voice, Patchett (Run, Bel Canto) looks at her own struggle with the perennial question 'what now?' and finds some surprising moments of revelation: a conversation with an airport Hare Krishna, a job waiting tables at Fridays and, less surprising, the counsel of friends and teachers Allan Gurganus and Alice Ilchman (the late president of Sarah Lawrence). Wise, illuminating observations abound, putting Patchett's talent for cogent, colorful metaphor to brilliant use: 'Receiving an education is a little bit like a garden snake swallowing a chicken egg: it's in you but it takes a while to digest.' Though Patchett's thesis boils down essentially to 'one must never stop learning,' every example she provides is fresh and worthwhile. A wise, generous and compact primer for life that could well become a touchstone, readers will return to this book, and probably find something new each time they do; deserves to be given often and enthusiastically." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Synopsis:

While grads may have little idea of what's coming next, there's great pleasure to be found in not knowing and not having everything defined. Bestselling author Patchett shares her wit and heartfelt advice in this beautiful gift book that is sure to become a perennial favorite.

About the Author

Ann Patchett is the author of the novels Run (a New York Times Bestseller), The Patron Saint of Liars (a New York Times Notable Book of the Year), Taft (winner of the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize), The Magician's Assistant (Guggenheim Fellowship), and Bel Canto (winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award, England's Orange Prize, and the Book Sense Book of the Year Award, and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award), which has been translated into more than thirty languages. Her nonfiction book, Truth & Beauty, was a New York Times bestseller, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the winner of a Books for a Better Life Award and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize. She has written for many publications, including Atlantic Monthly, Harper's magazine, Gourmet, the New York Times Magazine, Vogue, and the Washington Post. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
marysimon, April 9, 2008 (view all comments by marysimon)
I was very inspired by her words...doing less and being present to NOW. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I have sent it on to others to consider.
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(112 of 196 readers found this comment helpful)
Bobbi, April 9, 2008 (view all comments by Bobbi)
The timing couldn't be more perfect... I've been searching for the perfect birthday book for my daughter, who is herself in searching mode these days... I do believe I've found it! (and probably wouldn't have, at least not in time, had it not been for this newsletter)
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(130 of 191 readers found this comment helpful)
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780061340659
Author:
Patchett, Ann
Publisher:
Harper
Author:
by Ann Patchett
Author:
by Ann Patchett
Subject:
Inspiration & Personal Growth
Subject:
Personal Growth - Success
Subject:
Personal Transformation
Subject:
Success
Subject:
Motivational & Inspirational
Subject:
Life change events
Subject:
Change (psychology)
Publication Date:
May 2008
Binding:
Hardcover
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
112
Dimensions:
7.40x5.36x.63 in. .45 lbs.

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