Ann Patchett and Lindsay Lynch spend their days reading. Patchett, an acclaimed novelist, is also the owner of the Nashville bookstore Parnassus Books, where Lynch also works.
Both Lynch and Patchett have books out this summer, too. Lynch's Golden Age Hollywod-set debut novel, "Do Tell," was published July 11. Patchett's next novel, "Tom Lake," is out in Auugst.
The duo stopped by TODAY.com to share some recommendations. "My favorite place to read is on my couch with my dog sitting at my feet," Lynch says. Patchett says, "I would say the exact same thing."
Ann's picks
"Tom Lake" by Ann Patchett
"Tom Lake" is Patchett's next novel centers on a mother and her three daughters as they unspool a story from the mother's past. It's "about the kind of love we find in our 20s and the kind of love we find later on when we're grown ups, she tells TODAY.com.
"The Sun Walks Down" by Fiona McFarlane
This is the story of a young boy who wanders away from his family in the Australian Outback and is lost. "The novel unfolds through the town trying to find him. 'The Sun Walks Down' is the book I'm always longing to find: brilliant, fresh and compulsively readable," Patchett says.
"You Could Make This Place Beautiful" by Maggie Smith
"You Could Make This Place Beautiful" is a memoir about divorce, "but it’s also about the power of poetry," Patchett says. She continues, "It’s about owning your own life. Take a good look at the beautiful cover because that’s how beautiful the whole book is. That’s how many secret doors it opens."
Lindsay Lynch's picks
"The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store" by James McBride
James McBride wrote about the Jewish and Black heritage in his memoir, "The Color of Water." He does it again, through a fictional lens, through this book set in a grocery store. "Funny, tough, expansive and tender, this is McBride (who is always fabulous) at his very best," Patchett says.
Lindsay Lynch's picks
"Do Tell" by Lindsay Lynch
The title of this debut gives away the tone: It's a glimpse into Tinseltown and a look into the machinations that fueled Golden Age Hollywood. In a word, it's dishy.
"All the Sinners Bleed" by SA Cosby
Lynch calls SA Cosby one of the "best writers of the American South" working today. "His latest mystery is told through the lens of the first Black sheriff in a small Southern town after a police shooting sets off a dangerous battle with a serial killer hiding in plain sight. This novel is not only a powerful exploration of race and religious extremism in the South, it's also a propulsive read, filled with twists and turns that will hold anyone captive until the last page," she says.
"The Rachel Incident" by Caroline O'Donoghue
"A platonic meet-cute between two booksellers kicks off Caroline O'Donoghue's wonderful coming-of-age novel," Lynch says. "Rachel and James spend their days behind the register at a bookstore in Cork, and their free time conspiring to match Rachel up with her very married professor. Things get complicated when it turns out the professor actually has his eye on James. This provocative and heartfelt novel is one the best representations of modern friendship and millennial life."
"Once More With Feeling" by Elissa Sussman
The author of "Funny You Should Ask," also featuring a celebrity, returns with another romance about someone in the limelight. "Kathleen Rosenberg, once known as Katee Rose to her fans, returns to the spotlight in a Broadway musical, which happens to be directed by an old fame from her past life," Lynch says.