Ann Patchett Recommends 7 Comforting Reads for Fans of Her Novel ‘State of Wonder’

If you’ve fallen in love with State of Wonder—Ann Patchett’s lush novel about a scientist searching for a vanished colleague in the Amazon—you already know the bestselling author has a gift for transporting readers somewhere they didn’t expect to go. What you might not know is how deeply she researched that book. In a conversation with Ina Garten on Be My Guest with Ina Garten, Patchett revealed she shadowed the chief malariologist at Bethesda Naval Hospital to prepare for the novel.

“People want to be asked questions. I know a lot about malaria from writing State of Wonder,” Patchett told Garten. “I went to the Bethesda Naval Hospital. They said, ‘I’m interested in malaria. Can I shadow you for a day?’ And the chief malariologist—he didn’t know who I was, he didn’t care what I did—he just wanted somebody to talk about mosquitoes all day, because people really want to share what they know.”

That same curiosity shapes the recommendations Patchett regularly shares from her Nashville bookstore, Parnassus Books, which she co-founded with Karen Hayes in 2011. When readers tell her they’re feeling overwhelmed, she doesn’t point them to the newest release. She points them to backlist titles she’s loved for years. “Okay, friends, lately I’ve been a little down, right? I mean, I’m guessing that maybe you’ve been a little down too. There’s a lot going on,” she recently admitted on social media before sharing her favorite mood lifters.

On social media reels for the store, Patchett has shared the backlist titles she returns to when the news feels heavy or sleep won’t come. Her rule: forget what’s new on the front table. “If you haven’t read them, they’re new to you!” Here are seven books she swears by—all drawn from her own recommendations to readers.

‘Beowulf,’ translated by Seamus Heaney

The ancient epic — a foreigner arrives in a village terrorized by a monster — is Patchett’s go-to for a restless night. She specifically recommends the 2000 Nobel laureate translation. “Beowulf is what I need. Specifically, I need the Seamus Heaney translation of Beowulf that came out in 2000,” she said in her “New To You” series. The appeal, she explains, is primal: “It’s so satisfying. It’ll make you feel warm, safe. It’ll make you understand what really matters in life, which is kindness, courage, bravery, good deeds.” She adds that the language itself keeps her turning pages: “It is beautiful. You can’t put it down.”

‘The Wind in the Willows’ by Kenneth Grahame

Patchett confesses she lied for years about having read Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 classic. At 62, she finally picked it up — and called the experience “like a therapy project.” The book follows Toad, Badger, Mole and Ratty through a mix of adventure and gentle social satire. “It is a soul-calming, peaceful book about friendship and nature, about making mistakes and being forgiven, about having adventures and being brave, about problem-solving,” she says. The result sneaks up on you: “I just felt this complete rush of peace go through me when I was reading this book. I felt completely renewed.”

‘The Book of Delights’ by Ross Gay

Poet Ross Gay spent a year writing one short essay a day about something that brought him joy. The 2019 collection is Patchett’s recommendation when a reader needs a slow, savored read. “Gay decided to find good things in the world, and every day he wrote a little tiny micro essay about something that he had found that day that brought him happiness,” Patchett told followers in a Parnassus reel. She rationed the chapters herself: “I love this book so much that I only let myself read like two or three a night. It was like a box of chocolates.” Her verdict: “It’s kind, it’s thoughtful and it gives a more expansive view of the world.”

‘On Beauty’ by Zadie Smith

Patchett and her friend Katie DiCamillo recently discovered, mid-phone call, that they had independently picked up Zadie Smith’s 2005 novel for comfort. The book centers on two academic families locked in a long feud, raising children and navigating the culture wars. “This is a glorious novel that is full of love and joy, and obviously intelligence, because Zadie Smith is the smartest person alive,” Patchett says. What sets it apart, in her view, is tone: “Lots of people can be smart and biting and funny and mean, but almost no one can be smart and biting and funny and loving, and that’s what this book is!”

‘Little Heathens’ by Mildred Armstrong Kalish

A memoir of growing up on an Iowa farm during the Great Depression, Mildred Armstrong Kalish’s 2007 book was named one of the 10 best books of that year by The New York Times. Patchett rediscovered it through an unusual sleep ritual — mentally walking through her grandmother’s house room by room. “My grandmother grew up during the Depression in Kansas, so it’s very close to her story,” she explains. Chapters move methodically through animals, chores and gardening on the farm. “It’s interesting and soothing, and really well written,” Patchett says. “I ended up rereading the whole thing again, just because I enjoyed it so much.”

‘This Is Happiness’ by Niall Williams

Set in the tiny Irish village of Faha in 1958 — the year electricity arrives — Niall Williams’ novel came to Patchett through another bookshop owner’s insistence. She is now evangelizing. “I love this book so passionately. It’s about the tiny town of Faha in Ireland in 1958 getting electricity. It’s about falling in love. It’s about making friends,” she says. Williams’ sentences slowed her reading pace to a crawl: “It’s one of those books that every single sentence I wanted to underline and sit with and think about.” Her prescription is direct: “If you are sad, you should read it.”

‘This Time Tomorrow’ by Emma Straub

Patchett’s one contemporary pick on this list is Emma Straub’s 2022 novel about a woman who time-travels back to spend more time with her beloved father. “This time travel strengthens and deepens their relationship,” Patchett says. She calls it the book she thinks a lot of readers are quietly looking for. “This is such a fantastic book, and I feel like it’s the book that so many people are looking for. It’s different. It’s funny. It’s moving. It’s smart. It’s gripping. It’s so touching and innovative.” It’s a reminder that comfort reads don’t have to be old to work.

Patchett, whose own novels include Bel Canto, The Dutch House, Tom Lake and her latest, Whistler, published this June, knows the right book can shift a reader’s whole outlook. If State of Wonder reminded you how transporting a novel can be, these five picks offer the same immersive magic—minus the mosquitoes.