This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett

I've been a fan of Ann Patchett's writing for years. You may have read or heard of some of her novels, especially Bel Canto, which won the Orange Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 2002. Frankly I found the bulk of Bel Canto great but the ending horrible. But her newest book is nonfiction.

This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage is a collection of essays she wrote through the years for publication in magazines and newspapers. The general theme is commitment.

As a writer myself, I love reading what good writers have to say about writing. They often discuss their writing habits and what it takes to get an idea to a finished novel. So I especially enjoyed "The Getaway Car," which was published in Byliner in 2011.

I'd read some of the information she wrote in this essay in her book Truth and Beauty about her friendship with the late Lucy Grealy, also a writer. I remember in that book Patchett wrote about meeting Elizabeth McCracken, who has written The Giant's House, Niagara Falls All Over Again, An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination, and Here's Your Hat, What's Your Hurry. And Patchett said she worked at writing her first novel like it was a factory job. Well, in "The Getaway Car," McCracken comes up again as Patchett's first and only reader. When she writes a novel, she writes it for herself and for Elizabeth.

The title story of this book discusses not only Patchett's current marriage to Dr. Karl VanDevender but also of her short, unhappy marriage in her early twenties. She also brings along for the ride boyfriends and relationships that fizzled along the way.

There is quite a bit of overlap in the 22 essays because life does that: It isn't a streamlined, straight and narrow path. Life throws us here and there and people come and go and come again, and some stay. If you enjoy good writing and great storytelling, I bet you'll enjoy This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage.

Ann Patchett's books follow:

• The Patron Saint of Liars, 1992 (also made into a movie starring Dana Delany, Ellen Burstyn, and Maggie Gyllenhaal)
• Taft, 1994
• The Magician's Assistant, 1997
• Bel Canto, 2001
• Truth and Beauty: A Friendship, 2004
• Run, 2007
• What now?, 2008
• State of Wonder, 2011
• This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage, 2013

Source: Ann Patchett

I've read all of Ann Patchett's books except What now?. I loved The Magician's Assistant and Truth and Beauty and State of Wonder. But I loved the others too.