Ann Patchett Recommends 4 Fantastic Backlist Books to Read This Week—Here’s Why You’ll Love Them
These older titles are new to you—and they're absolutely worth adding to your reading list
Key Takeaways
- Don't overlook older books. Celebrate them. If you haven't read them, they're brand new to you.
- Trust recommendations from people whose taste you admire, like Ann Patchett and close friends.
- Give unlikely books a chance—you might discover your next favorite read in a surprising story.
In a world where we constantly hear messages about what’s “new” and “improved,” it’s nice to be reminded that sometimes older is still perfectly in its prime. That’s how bestselling author and professional book recommender Ann Patchett feels. She’s on a mission to celebrate the backlist books (meaning older titles) that should be on book lovers’ reading lists. She even shares weekly social media reels to shine a spotlight on these overlooked-but-not-forgotten gems. “There is no such thing as an old book. If you haven’t read it yet, it’s always going to be new to you,” says the Whistler author. Here are four not-new books she loves to brag about—so don’t put off reading them any longer. And don’t miss out on the sexy lizard!
4 winning books to add to your reading list this month
Patchett loves these books, not because they’re brand new, but because they’re great…
The book Patchett wishes she read sooner: ‘The Bee Sting’ by Paul Murray
On stage in a picturesque opera house at the National Writers Series event in Traverse City, Michigan, on June 25, 2026, Patchett revealed the last backlist book she’d bought to give as a gift. “The Bee Sting by Paul Murray.” This 2023 novel is one Patchett talked about with both fondness and regret because she hadn’t read it when she had a chance encounter with its author.
Here’s what happened: When Patchett was on tour in Australia she met Murray backstage. “He was such a nice guy, and I said, ‘Oh, I’m such a fan of yours.’ I didn’t say, ‘I have only read [your other book] Skippy Dies.’” Looking back on that memory, Patchett explained, “I have so much regret. I wish I could roll back the hands of time and be back in that green room in Melbourne, so I could just fall on the floor and say, ‘Oh, you wrote The Bee Sting!’”
What makes The Bee Sting so special? Patchett shared online, “This is a giant dysfunctional Irish family novel in which a teenage girl is having problems with her teenage friend, and then everything starts rolling backwards. So we find out how far the problems in this family go.” She added, “It’s 650 pages. This book is so good…It’s really astonishing, and at the end, you will wish it was twice as long!”
A powerful friend recommendation: ‘So Big’ by Edna Ferber
On stage in June, Patchett shared another memory: “And this, just this second, came into my mind: The very first backlist video I did in the Friday ‘New to You’ series was So Big by Edna Ferber,” said the author, referencing her viral book recommendation reels. She explained how a friend called and told her, “I just read this book. I had never heard of it before. I love it. You have to read it so we can talk about it.” Patchett followed that friendly nudge to pick up the book and reported, “I loved it!”
She continued, “This book is so good. I actually find it a little troublesome that it’s not more a part of the canon. It won the Pulitzer in 1925. That’s the year before The Great Gatsby came out, just so you can sort of place it in your mind.” This story follows schoolteacher Selina Peake Dejong in turn-of-the-century Chicago through marriage, widowhood and adventure. Patchett said, “It’s just a fascinating, beautifully written, beautifully structured and super engaging book. It is a classic you can’t put down, and it would be a great book for book club.”
A Pulitzer-winning memoir: ‘Things in Nature Merely Grow’ by Yiyun Li
Patchett has already shared how she’s looking forward to reading Music Against the Night by Yiyun Li when it comes out this fall. And that’s because the first book by that author set a precedent for exceptional work. Patchett shared, “Yiyun won the Pulitzer last year for nonfiction with Things in Nature Merely Grow, which has nothing to do with writing and is the best book about writing I could possibly imagine.”
The book is an emotional reflection, written after Yiyun experienced the unimaginable loss of two children. In the book she writes, “The verb that does not die is ‘to be.’” This memoir is a powerful meditation on the choice to keep going. And it reveals how this mother lives alongside loss by spending time writing, gardening, reading, playing music, and of course, thinking about who her sons were and will always be.
Patchett’s admiration for this writer runs deep. “Yiyun came to this country from China to study chemistry at the graduate level at the University of Iowa and wound up taking a creative writing class…She is so far and away the best of us.”
A quirky love story: ‘Mrs. Caliban’ by Rachel Ingalls
Patchett agrees this next backlist book sounds like something she would never in a million years have thought she’d enjoy, but was fantastic: Mrs. Caliban. In a social media post she shared, “I’m betting you haven’t read this. I certainly hadn’t.”
She explained, “It’s really short. It’s 110 pages. It would be perfect for your book club if your book club was really busy, because man, is there a lot to talk about.” The premise of the novel: “Mrs. Caliban is a sort of 1950s-style housewife who opens her door one day, and there is a giant frogman, lizard man…and they start a torrid affair.”
Sound a little familiar? “You will read this and think, clearly this is the basis of The Shape of Water, the Guillermo del Toro movie that won the Best Picture prize. He claims that he never read this book before he made the movie. I don’t actually believe that,” Patchett contends. Either way, Patchett says, “The book is amazing!”
Bottom line: Ann Patchett’s book recommendations remind us that the perfect read might already be waiting on a library shelf or in a used bookstore, ready to be discovered. Whether you find your next favorite through a friend’s suggestion, by following authors you love or by exploring some oldies you’ve missed, the joy is the same. And when Patchett says, “I’m going over some classics that I really love,” you know you’re going to hear some awesome backlist book recommendations that will spark your curiosity.
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