If you’re anything like me, you walk into a bookstore and your mind goes blank. What do I like to read? Where do I start? Have I heard about any of these books? Parnassus Books has found a way to help people like me, and that’s through a video series called “The Laydown Diaries,” hosted by award-winning author and Parnassus owner Ann Patchett — along with her dog Nemo VanDevender.
When Nashville went into lockdown for COVID-19, bookstore traffic came to a halt. The Parnassus team decided to film Patchett talking about new releases every Tuesday and post the videos on social media. Customers could order the books Patchett recommended, and the store would ship them out. The first video aired in June 2020, and since then Parnassus has posted 229 videos, each garnering north of 100,000 views across all of the bookstore’s platforms. The videos were an instant hit, and not just for selling books. When the Covenant School shooting happened last year, Patchett — a well-known non-crying stoic person — cried on camera. Recently, Patchett’s dog — original Parnassus shop dog Sparky — passed away. Patchett filmed that week’s video in advance, knowing she wouldn’t be able to tell people after Sparky was gone.
The video series, filmed and edited by Parnassus marketing and communications director Sarah Arnold, has expanded to a Friday video series called “New to You,” in which Patchett recommends an older paperback book.
Parnassus Books just celebrated its 13th anniversary. If you’ve been around long enough, you may remember the shop’s early author events, when Patchett would recommend books she had just read, or books that you might like based on the author you were there to see. I learned early on that Patchett’s book recs are elite, and I’m grateful to receive them from the comfort of my phone every Tuesday and Friday.
—Kim Baldwin
Digital Editor, Nashville Scene
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