Author Biography | Interview | Books by this Author | Read-Alikes
Ann Hood is the author of over a dozen novels, including the bestsellers The Knitting Circle, The Obituary Writer, The Book That Matters Most, and Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine; and several memoirs, including the bestsellers Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love and Food and Comfort: A Journey Through Grief, which was named one of the top ten books of 2008 by Entertainment Weekly. Also, Fly Girl, a memoir about her years as a TWA flight attendant (May 2022).
Ann Hood's website
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So much of The Book That Matters Most is about the power of books to shape us and change us. What brought you to that idea?
In 2002, I lost my five-year-old daughter suddenly to a virulent form of strep throat, and in the aftermath of that loss, I also lost my ability to read and write. I couldn't read a short story or a novel because I didn't have the brainpower to read the way that I always had, which was for entertainment and escape, but also, at many times in my life, for comfort.
A year later, when I could finally read again, it was like finding myself. I still remember the first book that I read after that year, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. It was the perfect novel to re-enter the world of books, because it has this great main character and a little mystery and a foreign setting, and it's very quirky and witty and not too taxing. And I remember thinking I would love to celebrate how that book made me feel. I wanted to celebrate literature and what it brings us.
Each of the members of Ava's book club picks one selection for the club to read based on the theme "The Book That Matters Most." How did you pick the books to be included in the club's discussions throughout the novel?
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