This Is The Portrait Of A Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett

This is my third work of non-fiction that I have read by the author, and I like her more as a fiction writer, but not by a mile. This is a collection of essays that don't quite amount to a memoir but do reveal a lot about her personally through the stories that hone quite closely to the intimate details of her life--her family, her marriage, her dog, to name a few. She doesn't come off exceptionally well, nor does she back away from things that are too personal or where she doesn't come off looking the greatest. She basically lied to a child to get her dog and she had a rocky courtship with her husband that lasted 11 years and she only agreed to marry him when she thought he was going to die, for example. She doesn't spare family member's feelings and she admits to some bad behavior on her part --like not leaving the relationship with her first husband before they married even though she knew she should and then having a marriage-ending affair rather than leaving him without first cheating on him both emotionally and physically. On reflection, none of this sounds great, but trust me on this, she is a great story teller and she makes these things all sound regrettable, but oh-so-human. Mistakes were made, and repeated, then made again, and yet, we all survive these missteps and she does too, and is able to poke fun at them as well. I highly recommend this collection, and would read it after Truth and Beauty and before These Precious Days, if you are asking for my opinion.