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Summary: This is a great book
Review: I wasn't sure what to expect when I purchased this book, as I am not a fan of "religious" books. This however, cannot be described as a religious book, if anything it is a book about one woman's struggles for SPIRITUALITY. Anne happened to find her spirituality in Christianity and yet, acknowledges that not every one does. There's a great quote in the book that reads something like this "religion is for people who are afraid of hell and spirituality is for people who have been through hell". Anne covers so many aspects of human nature in this book with grace, humor, honesty and forgiveness. I absolutely loved her chapter on her mother. She is also very forthright on her struggle with alcoholism and addiction. I would buy this book for many people on my shopping list this Christmas (well, maybe not my republicans friends)
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Summary: THE WORST BOOK EVER
Review: You definitely have to be a baby boomer to appreciate the colloquialisms used throughout the book. A generation x'er just won't get half the book.
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Summary: Realistic Faith
Review: Wow, talk about realistic faith. I really think that people find it easier to have faith in Jesus when they see how Jesus is working in the life of someone like Lamott--as opposed to when some holier-than-thou is talking about some made-up version of Christianity. Everything that I have read by Lamott has truly been inspiring; her work has helped me to realise that Jesus loves me the way I am and accepts me as I am--He just loves me so much that He won't leave me alone in my own world. The central message of Christ was love, not legalism.
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Summary: In Your Living Room with Ann Lamott
Review: If you have read anything by Lammott, you feel like you are reading many different essays on the same subject. Even her fiction reads like each chapter is a different episode of a television series. Traveling Mercies stands in this same line. After reading this book, all her wittiness, honesty and storytelling mesh together. When I think about this book a few days after having read it, I see themes appear over and over, attitudes surface here and there, and inside jokes pop up again and again. If you have read Bird by Bird or any of her fiction you will recognize Lamott's conversational style in Traveling Mercies. After reading this book, you feel like you know her, like you just had a long conversation with her in your living room.
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Summary: Painfully honest
Review: Anne Lamott is a single mother, former addict and alcoholic, and a believer. We couldn't be more different. But I loved this book: her tales and struggles, how she has become part of a community of believers without a lot of dogma and fanfare. I loved the descriptions of people in her church and how they help each other, her concerns and deep love for her child, and the losses she's been through. I am astonished that, given her background, she has written books that can be so helpful to others. Like her earlier book, BIRD BY BIRD, this one inspires and teaches through her human fears and doubts.I would recommend this to writing students because Lamott demonstrates how writing about the details of your life in your own voice can make even the simplest events compelling and interesting. ~~Joan Mazza, author of DREAM BACK YOUR LIFE; DREAMING YOUR REAL SELF; WHO'S CRAZY ANYWAY? and 3 books in The Guided Journal Series with Writer's Digest Books.
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Summary: Ah, Annie...you've done it again.
Review: That is, you've made me laugh again until my sides hurt on a topic that one might consider solemn. This is another one of Annie's classic soul-bearing essays (pun intended)where she exposes "everywoman" in her writing. If the reader doesn't mind LaMott meandering through her life through her essays, eventually the reader will see the ties throughout. LaMott uses her everyday experiences and the people she loves to reveal her faith in God as something very attainable and very present in the small things. Her life, as she describes it, shows the very presence of God both through her faith in herself (and she HAS overcome some real addictions) and in other people (forgiving her mother and father, continuing to try relationships, and of course, wonderful Sam- her son). There is so much in this book for everyone- I'm certain that most women in the "fortish" age group (that LaMott is in) will see themselves a hundred times over. It's that fact that makes me love Annie LaMott. She is me. Only she has had the courage to bear her innermost thoughts and neuroticisms, laugh both at and with herself, and she makes me feel like it's terrific to be wierd and imperfect. This book inspires you to think that God can and will help you to pick up the pieces if you just give him a try. Wonderful book. Again.
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Summary: Surprise! It's God!
Review: As a fan of Anne Lamott's fiction I picked up this book on, of all things, faith (gasp!) with some hesitancy; afraid one of my favorite authors was going to reveal some sort of new agey/road less travelled/care for the soul atrocity. Thankfully, she did not. She made me laugh and nod my head and believe there is hope for even the heathens and those that get jealous of their neighbors and yell at their children. She made faith into something accessible, human, and appealing. With her wit and honesty she does what so many other books these days claim and/or try to do: inspire and comfort.
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Summary: And the cat came back...
Review: This book is one of those that gives me fits when I ask for it in a bookstore. The cashier says, "what section would it be in?" and I answer "well, nonfiction maybe... um, literature. Personal essay, is that a section? It could be under religion or spirituality... or autobiography?" The cashier just looks at me and tries not to laugh. Lamott writes about herself and all around her. The first third of the book, my favorite part, is a journey of faith from California hippie agnosticism/mysticism to strict atheism to christianity. She writes about her son, about her friends, alive and dying, about her journies and discoveries. She is very real, very tough, very high-strung emotionally and quite honest, I think. She reminded me of Ani Difranco -- if Ani Difranco was a bit older, had a son, was christian, and lived in California. This book could be a cool drink of water to many sick and tired of "mainstream" christianity. Anne Lamott isn't mainstream, but she is definitely christian. She writes, "My friends like to tell each other that I am not really a born-again Christian. They think of me more along the lines of that old Jonathan Miller routine, where he said, "I'm not really a Jew -- I'm Jew-ish." They think I am Christian-ish. But I'm not. I'm just a bad Christian. A bad born-again Christian. And certainly, like the apostle Peter, I am capable of denying it, of presenting myself as a sort of leftist liberation-theology enthusiast and maybe sort of a vaguely Jesusy bon vivant. But it's not true...I could go to a gathering of foot-wash Baptists and, except for my dreadlocks, fit right in. I would wash their feet; I would let them wash mine." Anne Lamott describes herself as "slightly more anxious than the average hypochondriac", and maybe it's well-earned. There is a lot of disease and dying in this book -- often used to paint a wonderfully painfully important lesson about faith, God, and people. I can't quite decide if reading this while being close to a serious illness would be incredibly good or disastrously bad. All, in all, her writing is pretty good. At the end of some chunks, I was a little lost about how we got to this conclusion, or even what conclusion we came to. But the book is quite enjoyable, and potentially powerful. It's a quick, easy read, with pieces to savour. A sample: "Nothing happened. No burning bush, no cereal flakes dropping from heaven, forming letters of instruction in the snow. It's just that God began to act like Sam-I-Am from Green Eggs and Ham. Everywhere I turned were helpful household hints on loving one's enemies, on turning the other cheek, and on how doing that makes you look in a whole new direction. There were admonitions about the self-destructiveness of not forgiving people, and reminders that his usually doesn't hurt other people, so much as it hurts you. In fact, not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die. Fortune cookies, postcards, bumper stickers, everything but skywriting -- yet I kept feeling that I could not, would not forgive her in a box, could not would not forgive her with a fox, not on a train, not in the rain."...
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Summary: Profanity spoils this book for me.
Review: If Anne Lamott could have written this book without profanity, I would have liked it a lot more. As it was, I had a hard time relating to a woman who used the "f" word around her seven-year-old son, Sam. She has so many wonderful stories in this book, especially of the people of her church, and many friends. Lamott's a gifted writer, a survivor, and other great things, I just wish she'd lose the profanity.
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Summary: Sisters in Christ
Review: Being a Christian, I was prepared to dislike this book. I thought Anne Lamott was "christian" as opposed to Catholic or Jewish or Muslim. I was wrong. She is a true sister in Christ who struggles with her faith and her obedience to God just as I do. We travel in completely different spheres, I'm a politically conservative, married, 2 kids, theologically conservative, soccer mom (OK, not soccer, piano lessons) kind of Christian. And I loved this book. Anne writes honestly about Christ's pursuit of her; and in turn, her own pursuit of a godly life. Her thoughts on grace are profound and I find myself meditating on various passages. God has used her words to work in my life and I'm thankful for her obedience in sharing them.
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