Ann Patchett

I decided that, given the circumstances, the only thing I could do was listen.

The ability to really listen to another person is an essential skill for a novelist.

It's an essential skill for all human beings.

And what the Hare Krishna told me was one of the most remarkable things I had ever heard in my life.

He said, imagine

loving God so much that you would be willing to stand in an airport all day so that you could tell people about God's love.

All day long.

People rushed past him, even after he had forsaken his traditional saffron robes to mitigate first impressions.

They buried their faces in their newspapers as soon as he started to speak, and still he kept showing up because God's love was the greatest thing he had ever known, and he wanted to share it.

When I finally made it home to Nashville, I told this story to everyone.

In fact, I told it for years.

Two hours in an airport with a Hare Krishna.

But as I got older, I could see myself becoming that Hare Krishna.

wanting to testify about the greatest love in my life, which is reading.

So great is my need to share this love that it outweighs my significant need for privacy.

I gave up printmaking when I left Iowa, but books have been my steadfast companions.

my solace, my teachers, my joy.

I can't imagine what life would be without reading.

And so pretty much every day, in every situation I find myself in, I'm out there sharing the good news.

For a long time, my love for books was more cloistered, less zealot, but in 2011, all of that changed.