Ann Patchett's most important books

Ann Patchett is the author of the brilliant novel Bel Canto, a PEN/Faulkner Award winner about a hostage crisis in South America, and the more recent novel Run, the story of a fictional mixed-race Boston family.

She recently told Newsweek about her five most important books.

One title on the list:

Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West.

Sentence by sentence, one of the most beautifully constructed novels I know.

Read about the other books on Ann Patchett's list.

--Marshal Zeringue