Rating: 
Summary: writing and life
Review: I truly enjoyed this book, it is a humorous take on writing and life. Bird by Bird is a magnificent motivational tool for the aspiring writer because of the personal stories that provide helpful hints. This is a book that i will definately read again and again. A must read for anyone who wants to write a great american novel or someone who wants to read a great american nonfiction.
Rating: 
Summary: Lamott's masterpiece
Review: Anne Lamott's book is one full of common sense and good American humor. Her chapters make you laugh with their catchy titles and funny stories. Lamott knows how young writers first feel when they try to write papers and short stories, and find that work to be tedious and challenging. She gives the reader insight into her first writing experiences and how she dealt with the pressure of writing good material. I am glad my teacher recommended this book to me and my fellow classmates. This book has given me new ways to approach my writings. This book is definetly worth having on your bookshelf.
Rating:
Summary: Funny, poignant, and powerful
Review: I can honestly say that this is the best book on writing that I've ever read, and yes, it's also the only book on writing that I've ever read. But what a way to start. I've avoided the genre because I've wanted to figure things out on my own, but this book is more like a conversation with a writer than a tome on how to write. She's talks about how she started, what keeps her motivated, what she does when she gets stuck, and how she deals with various writer anxieties (re: publication, rejection, validation). Above all, this is a very funny, laugh-out-loud book. Lamott has a quirky sense of humor and a refreshing, spot on ability to create memorable pictures. Despite writing of her own spirituality, Lamott doesn't get preachy or smug or self-righteous, and so her stories end up being truly inspiring. She talks about giving as a writer, and I found in her stories many gifts. A couple of gems that I've tucked away: * One-inch picture frames: big ideas can engulf you; write about a moment in time, one short scene, something that would fit into a one-inch picture frame.
* Writing is putting down one word after another (the best advice for a writer is to...write).
* You have to give your best stuff to your current project (she references Annie Dillard for this idea) and not try to save it or hoard it; sort of a 'use it or lose it' attitude.
* The myth of publication: if you weren't enough before publication, you're not going to be enough after publication. Lots to digest, and worth rereading.
Rating:
Summary: A friend in the business
Review: Writing is like asking the best looking girl in the school to the dance. You have to stick your neck out all the way and wait for the blade while hoping for a kiss. Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird is like a warm supportive hand on your shoulder, encouraging you to take chances while assuring you that you WILL inevitably be dashed on the jagged rocks of doubt and rejection. She anticipates every hope and doubt a writer could have and gives you the solace of knowing you are not alone in your literary angst. Best of all she provides the helpful reminder that writing is an end in itself, and that all the constituent junk, like the love of the masses, is beyond your control -- so don't sweat it. After reading the last page I closed the book and actually held the cover up to my face -- as if smelling it would somehow permanently embed its contents in my frontal lobe (or whichever lobe books are kept in). If Lamott had been in the room I'm afraid I would have embarrassed us both by planting a big, wet kiss right on her lips. She poured so much love into this piece, you can't help loving her back. A must read for aspiring writers.
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful and humorous, but also annoying
Review: As some of the other reviewers have said, the actual writing advice in this book is slight and conceptual. I also found it inspirational, to a point. The book's failing is in assuming that the author's reason for writing--to uncover the truth in her life experience--is the only important one. Lamott dismisses other writing (presumably commercial fiction) as "making candy." This stance is elitist and annoying (it's the same one you get from most college writing instructors). The argument goes like this: you must aspire to uncover the Truth, because that is what literature is for. Writing that doesn't do this--writing that merely entertains, for example--is less than worthy (it's just "making candy," and candy rots your teeth). Lamott at least tells you that you probably won't be good enough, and probably won't make any money even if you are--but she still insists that you pursue Truth. I don't buy it. Humans have a fundamental need for stories of all kinds. Creating a story and telling it well enough to be published is noble enough, without burdening yourself with the fear that you're not writing "truth," or that your writing is somehow less important than any other.
Rating:
Summary: ahA!
Review: I used to be afraid to carry a pencil and paper with me everywhere because I thought people might think I was crazy and stab them with it and I'd already look funny enough without that; but this book has told me that looking crazy is ok and is, infact better than looking normal.
Rating:
Summary: Intelligent, amusing & inspiring.
Review: Do you ever feel, as a writer, that you're aserious mental case? Anne Lamott entertains us and at the same time assures us that we're all a little wacky. I love the way she walks through the writing process from a personal point of view, rather than a technical one. Lamott assists with the beginnings of getting your thoughts out, on writing exercises and offers great author recommendations. I found this book to be honest, straightforward, amusing and the kind of book that makes you laugh out loud no matter where you're reading it at. She advises methods, thoughts and an interesting prespective into a writers mind. I felt I'd get along perfectly with her and that I was not alone in my literary insanity. I recommend this to any writer, aspiring or established.
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Summary: Live "Bird by Bird"
Review: I adored this book and I'm not a writer, nor planning to be one. It was so funny and brought me to tears. Anne Lamott's work is useful and uplifting. Living your life "Bird by Bird" is excellent advice.
Rating:
Summary: Inspirational and Motivating
Review: I read BIRD BY BIRD because I had started at least two novels and gotten discouraged before I got to page 100. The words languished on a computer disk until they finally disappeared, a slow and quiet death. But I knew I had a novel inside of me. Don't we all? I wanted to write. I wanted to get the words out, to get the story told, to finish what I started. I wanted to be motivated and inspired. Anne Lamott's BIRD BY BIRD managed to do this for me. I read the book and when I finished I started writing again and didn't stop until the book was finished. I didn't read anything else during that time. I just wrote and wrote, word by word, bird by bird. I highly recommend this book for anyone who feels discouraged about what they are writing or for those who think they could write but just haven't tackled it yet. Give it a shot!
Rating:
Summary: An incredibly good book.
Review: If I had to draw one lesson out of Bird by Bird, it would be a lesson about the power of the badness of the first draft. When Lamott said that the first draft could be as bad as I could make it, could be horrible and overblown, I was finally free to write my own novel, secure in the knowledge that whatever mistakes I made, they weren't permanent. This is a fantastic book. I laughed nearly the entire way through it, and absolutely fell in love with it.
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