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Summary: If you read one book this year, make it this one!
Review: Lamott's honesy is irresistible! Traveling Mercies is no exception. She talks about her little leaps of faith that brought her where she is now, her relationship with the big J...Jesus, and her struggles that she still trys to overcome (like us all). I read Traveling Mercies last month...then quickly bought the audio to listen on my daily hikes.... Lamott is refreshing and says it as it is.....This is her greatest gift. She writes the words that we all think like a Sienfeld episode. Looove her!
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Summary: Daring to be honest, open, vulnerable
Review: This is a high impact book. I am a speed reader and have a hard time slowing down to digest a book. This one slowed me down. I can only read a bit each night as I want to savor it, think on it, pray about it. I thank the author for sharing her ugly thoughts, her fraility, her human qualities. We are truly made in the image of God and Anne shows us true humanity. We hide so much behind our facade of make believe Christianity that we have difficulty when someone shows us our true selves. It frightens us when someone dares to show what we think inside, how we feel about others. This is what Christ died for, to save us from our selves. But He loves us for ourselves also. I am so uplifted by this writing and sharing. Thanks Anne
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Summary: A BOOK I WILL READ AGAIN!
Review: As i neared the ending of this book, I prolonged finishing it as I didn't want my journey with Traveling Mercies to end. This book allowed me to relect on similiar life experiences and to grieve my own losses. I enjoyed her honest humor when describing difficult people and difficult situations....Even though we are Christians, her words reminded me that it's okay to be honest with how we really feel. The only bad part about this book is that I wasn't able to embrace Anne Lamott when it ended.
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Summary: I'm in withdrawal!
Review: I am a working mother of three children under 5 and am constantly saying that I don't have time anymore to read. But, when a friend mailed me Traveling Mercies, I began reading it immediately--while spooning cereal to my baby. And I didn't put it down until I finished it two days later. Now I wish I hadn't finished it so quickly, because this book, as the others I have read by Lamott, Operating Instructions and Bird by Bird, have left me with a craving for more and more. It's wonderful, it's real, it pulls together hundreds of normally unconnected things into a new perspective in a hilarious, heartbreaking way. (One of my favorite stories was when her son Sam returned from visiting a very "cool" friend and proclaimed him not so cool because he didn't have the Disney channel.) She's a genius. In spite of her very difficult and challenging earlier years, she now seems to lead a magical life filled with wise and wonderful characters. Or, maybe that's simply the way she views her life. Maybe that's a result of her faith. I can't wait for her next book.
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Summary: Hot damn! Another Lamott!
Review: Reading any book by Anne Lamott is like watching the best-ever episode of Northern Exposure: you guffaw even as your eyes tear, and you squirm in delight at the quirkiness of the human imagination. To those who accuse Lamott of being too "self-absorbed," I say, "Go soak your benighted head." Since when are humility and gratitude, keynotes of any of Lamott's reflections, indications of self absorption? Lamott is the best friend we wish life had bestowed upon us, sharing her angst, grief and glories with such startling wit, brutal honesty, and hilarious self-deprecation that we thank God for the privilege of being members of her species. Wit, honesty, and self-deprecation in a spiritual book are a rare and wondrous blessing.
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Summary: poster child for fine writing
Review: I DO care about your dreadlocks, annie. well, ok, not your hair exactly -- but your wonderfully adroit and compassionate way of writing about hair, thighs, love, death, disease, and yes -- even God(not necessarily in that order). I adored this book, especially the pieces entitled TRAVELLING MERCIES and TRIBE -- but then I'm splitting hairs :) or dreads -- because the entire book is finely crafted and superb. the bitter will spew venom in your general direction as a way to alleviate their own suffering, no doubt -- success, especially a woman's success, is hard for some to swallow. I suggest a rest cure and/or Ginko for those who would throw stones at a talented author who has never been grandiose or posing -- just real. I'm sure the (thankfully few) naysayers will have a chance for a complete and cleansing rebuttal when their own books get published by Hyperion.
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Summary: A VERY good read!
Review: I am writing beacuse I fear that the recent negative comments will dissuade others from reaping the joy that is possible from reading this book. Her chapter on forgiveness had me laughing and crying; it alone is worth the price of the book - were it legal, I would copy that chapter for my family and friends. Instead, I am ordering them all copies of this treasure. This is my first book by Lamott and I look forward to reading more. For all who are taking part in their spiritual journey...
Rating: 
Summary: Lots of Detail:
Review: This was more autobiographical than I expected; Anne has had an awful lot of trauma / challenges in her life - whew! But I think that other people's life challenges are interesting and I can pull value from others' faith journeys. Some of the minutiae was tedious . . . but the overall journey was absorbing!
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Summary: Poster Child for the ME ME ME Generation
Review: Easily, the WORST book I have ever read. Annie Lamott is the most self-absorbed person in print. Even Gore Vidal, a great writer but one of the world's most arrogant people, writes in his memoir about events in his life from a worldly point of view, as opposed to Lamott's self-saturated me me me point of view. I have been a regular reader of Lamott's. Given that three of her last four books are all about HER, and given that each one is increasingly more self-absorbed and self-pitying, I am not about to pick up another one of her books ever again. Her fixation on herself is getting tired and boring. (Here's a radical idea: Nobody CARES about your dreadlocks, Anne!)
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Summary: Faith: Our Common Denominator
Review: The one thing I enjoyed about reading Traveling Mercies is that the style of language to communicate to the reader is down to Earth and witty. There seems to be a subtle shift in the writting of Christian novels toward a more common language used by most of us on an everyday basis. This was also found in a great fiction novel that I had read recently, titled: LUMINOUS by Peter Quest. It too had amazed me with an open dialogue on faith and its meaning to the average Christian. But a powerfully visual scene in LUMINOUS staggered me when the main character confronted the Crucifix: the ultimate symbol of our faith, and then let God know exactly how he felt about his tragic life.
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