Why Not Open Your Own Bookstore: Anne Patchett Starts a Trend


Josh Anderson for The New York Times
The novelist Ann Patchett, right, and Karen Hayes are business
partners and co-owners of Parnassus Books in Nashville.

NASHVILLE — After a beloved local bookstore closed here last December
 and another store was lost to the Borders bankruptcy, this city once known 
as the Athens of the South, rich in cultural tradition and home to Vanderbilt 
University, became nearly barren of bookstores.

A collective panic set in among Nashville’s reading faithful. But they
have found a savior in Ann Patchett, the best-selling novelist who
grew up here. On Wednesday, Ms. Patchett, the acclaimed author
of “Bel Canto” and “Truth and Beauty,” will open Parnassus Books,
an independent bookstore that is the product of six months
of breakneck planning and a healthy infusion of cash from its owner.

“I have no interest in retail; I have no interest in opening a
 bookstore,” Ms. Patchett said, serenely sipping tea during a
recent interview at her spacious pink brick house here. “But I
also have no interest in living in a city without a bookstore.”

Continue reading this New York Times article right here.

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