Ann Patchett

Think of it this way.

Every piece of information coming out of your computer or phone is a single thread.

At any given moment, you are holding countless threads which range in quality from vital to worthless.

What a novelist does is takes all of those threads and weaves them into a tapestry.

Maidens, unicorns, pear trees.

This is no small job, but when it's done right, the outcome is both beautiful and enduring.

Novels teach us empathy by putting us into another person's life, and they define our history by showing us how we've changed and will continue to change.

Think of Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Now, think of John Updike.

And if this wasn't reason enough to love books, they also help us develop and preserve what I like to call a long-format brain.

The problems of the world cannot be seen one thread at a time, nor can they be solved.

The ability to think with depth and complexity is greatly enhanced by reading more than 280 characters at a time.

If you haven't read a novel in a while,

It may feel strange at first, but stick with it.

What you put in is what you'll get back.

What surprised me most about owning a bookstore, and practically everything about it surprises me, is that it's not just books people come in for.

Reading, that solitary endeavor, has proven to be a means of connection.

Our monthly book club at Parnassus is now so large, we've broken it into three sections.

We also have a classics book club and a romance book club, and once a year, those two groups come together to read a classic romance, most recently, Pride and Prejudice.

Our author events have ranged from Jeff Kenney to Percival Everett to Barbara Kingsolver to R.F.