Lamott, Anne

Average customer rating:

Where's the Grace and the Faith?
I always love her books but............
The best ever
"I'm Anne Lamott!"
Fortunately, she also reminds us that Someone bigger than ourselves is there to pull us out when we get stuck.

Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith
Anne Lamott
Manufacturer: Riverhead Hardcover
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith
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ASIN: 1594489424
Release Date: 2007-03-20

Amazon.com

Through Anne Lamott's many books (including six novels, her bestselling parenting memoir, Operating Instructions, and her popular guide to writing, Bird by Bird) the subject she keeps returning to is her faith, her deeply personal--"erratic," she says--journey in Christianity. Her latest book, Grace (Eventually), is her third collection of her "thoughts on faith," and she took the time to answer a few of our questions. Questions for Anne Lamott

Amazon.com: This is your third book on faith. How has your perspective changed since you wrote your first one?

<img src="http://g-ec2.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/blog/Lamott_Anne_120._V12312312_.jpg" border="0" align="right">Lamott: I wrote my first book on faith when Bill Clinton was president, and I was in a much better mood. I wrote Plan B during the run-up to war in Iraq, and the ensuing catastrophe, so I was very angry, but trying to reconcile that pain and hostility to Jesus's insistence that we are made of love, to love, and be loved, to forgive and be forgiven. Some days went better than others. Also, my son Sam was in his early teens, and that was a LOT easier than when he turned 16 and 17, his ages when I was writing the pieces in Grace (Eventually).

In general, I think Grace (Eventually) is a less angry book. I like how I'm aging, except that my back hurts more often, my knees crack like twigs when I squat, and my memory fails more frequently, in more public and therefore humiliating ways. But I think I complain less. As my best friend said when she was dying, and I was obsessing about my butt, "You just don't have that kind of time."

Amazon.com: What does grace mean for you? How can we better communicate it to each other?

Lamott: Grace is that extra bit of help when you think you are really doomed; also, not coincidentally, when you have finally run out of good ideas on how to proceed, and on how better to control the people or circumstances that are frustrating or defeating you. I experience Grace as a cool ribbon of fresh air when I feel spiritually claustrophobic. Sometimes I experience it as water-wings, something holding me up when I am afraid that I'm going down, or the tide is carrying me away. I know that Grace meets us whereever we are, but does not leave us where it found us. Sometimes it is so small--a couple of seconds relief here, several extra inches there. I wish it were big and obvious, like sky-writing. Oh, well. Grace is not something I DO, or can chase down; but it is something I can receive, when I stop trying to be in charge.

We communicate grace to one another by holding space for people when they are hurt or terrified, instead of trying to fix them, or manage their emotions for them. We offer ourselves as silent companionship, or gentle listening when someone feels very alone. We get people glasses of water when they are thirsty.

Amazon.com: Many of the essays in Grace (Eventually) first appeared in Salon, the online magazine, and that's the way that many readers first found you. How do you see the Internet changing the way people read and write?

Lamott: The Internet makes everything so immediate and spontaneous, which I totally love--UNLESS it has to do with the immediacy of people's negative response to me. Several of the Salon pieces in Grace--for instance, the story about the horrible fight with my son, and the piece about turning the other cheek while being ripped off by The Carpet Guy--generated a couple hundred letters, many of them extremely hostile. Perhaps "spewy" would be a better description. I also sometimes get knee-jerk responses to my mentions of Jesus in my Salon pieces that seem to lump me in the same tradition as Jerry Falwell. But for the most part, I love the populism and egalitarian nature of the Internet: everyone counts the same.

Amazon.com: What stories do people tell you, when they've read your books or know you are a writer?

Lamott: People tell me how relieved they are that I try to tell the truth about how hard it can be to be a mother, or a daughter, or an American in these times. They tell me stories about how awful their own teenagers can be, or how awful they themselves behaved towards their kids or parents; how hard it was to finally be able to adore their mothers, or to forgive their fathers. They tell me their sobriety dates. They whisper to me that they are Christians, too.

Also, they ask if I am able to read their manuscripts, and the name of my agent, and my e-mail address. They ask if we are going to survive the current political difficulties--and I promise them we are. They ask how old my son is now--17 and a half--and how he is doing, which is fantastically, after some of the hard months I wrote about in Grace.

Amazon.com:What lessons do you think you can pass on to others: to your readers, to your son? What lessons does it seem like people have to learn for themselves?

Lamott: All I have to offer is my own truth, my own experience, strength and hope. I can pass on the tool of a God Box, and how for 20 years I have been putting tiny notes in mine and promising God I will keep my sticky fingers off the controls until I hear God's wisdom: sometimes I get an answer because the phone rings, or the mail comes, but at any rate, during every single terrible problem and tragedy, I have been given enough guidance and stamina and even humor to bear up, and be transformed, for the good. I always tell Sam that if you want to make God laugh, tell Her your plans. I tell Sam that if he listens to his best thinking, he will suffer: and to listen to his heart instead, to listen in the silence, and to seek wise counsel.

Amazon.com: You've written nearly a dozen books (including an incredibly popular guide to writing): does writing get any easier? Does it get harder?

Lamott: In a very important way, writing gets easier, because I've been doing it full time now for thirty-plus years, and just as you would get better and better if you practiced your scales on a piano, I've gotten better, and can try harder and harder pieces. But writing is always hard. It does not come naturally to me at all. I sit down at the same time every day, which lets my subconscious realize it's time to get to work. I give myself very short assignments, and let myself write really terrible first drafts. But I grapple with the exact same problems every writer does, which is having equal proportions of self-loathing and grandiosity. I sort of live by the Nike ads: Just Do It. So I sit down. I show up. I do it by pre-arrangement with myself, because I know I'll feel sad and terrible if I shirk on that days writing. I do it as a debt of honor, to myself, and to whatever it is that has given me this gift of being able to tell stories, and to make people laugh. Laughter is carbonated holiness. Other people's good writing is medicine for me, and I hope mine is too, for my readers.

Book Description

The sharp, funny, and heartfelt follow-up to her bestselling Plan B, Anne Lamott's newest collection is a personal exploration of the faith and grace all around us.

In Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith, Lamott examines the ways we're caught in life's most daunting predicaments: love, mothering, work, politics, and maybe toughest of all, evolving from who we are to who we were meant to be. This is a complicated process for most of us, and Lamott turns her wit and honesty inward to describe her own intimate, bumpy, and unconventional road to grace and faith.

"I wish grace and healing were more abracadabra kinds of things," she writes in one of her essays, "that delicate silver bells would ring to announce grace's arrival. But no, it's clog and slog and scootch, on the floor, in silence, in the dark."

Whether she's writing about her unsuccessful efforts to get her money back from an obstinate carpet salesman, grappling with the tectonic shifts in her relationship with her son as he matures, trying to maintain her faith and humor during politically challenging times, or helping a close friend die with dignity, Lamott seeks out both the divinity and the humanity in herself and everything around her. Throughout these essays, she writes of her struggle to find the essence of her faith, which she uncovers in the unlikeliest places. By turns insightful and hilarious, pointed and poignant, Grace (Eventually) is Anne Lamott at her perceptive and irreverent best.

Customer Reviews:

Where's the Grace and the Faith?.......2007-06-26

I really don't understand Anne Lamott's appeal. I'll grant that she is a talented writer but clearly this, in an of itself, cannot explain it. I suppose a good bit of her appeal probably stems from her gut-honest authenticity, her willingness to say exactly what she's thinking all the time. She's profound, she's profane, she's shocking and people seem to love her for it.

Her latest nonfiction book (she has also authored several novels) is entitled Grace (Eventually) and it is a series of essays. As such it is somewhat disjointed with incomprehensible section names and odd chapter titles. There is little cohesion. If there are common themes they revolve around some kind of faith in Jesus, the trials of being a single parent, the difficulties that come with life, and an overwhelming hatred of George W. Bush (along with various members of his administration) and everything he has done as President. I haven't done a word count, but I suspect the name Bush appears significantly more times than the name God (unless, perhaps, we also count the times she uses God's name in a profane way; that would even things up some.). The essays recount episode after episode where Lamott was depressed or angry or belligerent or foul-mouthed or, in many cases, all of the above. It's exactly as depressing as it sounds.

This excerpt, drawn from the beginning of a chapter, is quite typical of the book's content:

I woke up in a bleak place on Sunday. It was not the place of ashes, like the morning after the 2004 Presidential election, but there was no comfort anywhere. It was miserably hot, and the news couldn't be worse--a new crop of mutilations in Iraq, with 2,500 U.S. soldiers now dead, and a North Korean ICBM apparently pointed at the West Coast. Two of my dearest friends had terrible diseases. There was a nasty separation going on in our family, and a small distraught child. Also, my son had not obeyed his curfew and we had had words at two a.m.

...

In the face of all this, I did the most astonishing thing a person can do: I got out of bed. At least I could still walk. A better person would think, Thank you, Jesus. But I thought, God do my feet hurt. God, am I getting old. Then I had some coffee, to level the playing field of me and my mind, as it had had several cups while I slept, and now if felt like talking.

Then I headed to church.

And it was not good.

Lamott has proven to have wide appeal, writing for Salon, the Los Angeles Times and a variety of other periodicals. It should be exciting to see a professed Christian writing for what is clearly a largely secular audience. Sadly, though, the spiritual insights shared by Lamott are more shocking or embarrassing than exciting and inspiring. Here is a smattering of what the reader will discover:

* On Jesus: "You've got to wonder what Jesus was live at seventeen. They don't even talk about it in the Bible, he was apparently so awful."
* On abortion: "I wanted to express calmly and eloquently, that people who are pro-choice understand that there are two lives involved in an abortion--one born (the pregnant woman) and one not (the fetus)--and that the born person must be allowed to decide what is right: whether or not to bring a pregnancy to term and launch another life into circulation." "Then I said that a woman's right to choose was nobody else's goddamn business. That got their attention." "We must not inflict life on children who will be resented; we must not inflict unwanted children on society."
* On euthanasia: "Mel was somewhat surprised that as a Christian I so staunchly agreed with him about assisted suicide: I believe that life is a kind of Earth School, so even though assisted suicide means you're getting out early, before the term ends, you're going to be leaving anyway, so who says it isn't okay to take an incomplete in the course?" In the chapter "At Death's Window" she eloquently describes assisting her friend in taking his own life by overdosing on barbiturates.

As we've come to expect from Lamott, there is a handful (or two) of uses of profanity spread throughout the book (using the name of God casually, several uses of language of the four-letter variety, and so on). Of course the book is not without its interesting insights. Readers will be able to identify with many of the difficulties Lamott has faced. They will laugh at some of her reactions to the situations she has encountered; they will roll their eyes at the same things that frustrate her. There are some notable quotes like this one: "A good marriage is supposed to be one where each spouse secretly thinks he or she got the better deal." But when it comes to spiritual content that is distinctly biblical and profoundly Christian, well, there is not much at all. Lamott seems to embrace a very wide faith that extends far beyond the bounds of Scripture. She celebrates things the Bible forbids and hates things the Bible commands us to love. Her self-loathing is so prominent it is easy to wonder if it isn't simply narcissism weakly disguised. In fact, with a fair bit of faith talk, but very little that is distinctly Christian, I suppose it is not difficult to understand why this book has wide appeal outside the church. I hope Christian readers are discerning enough to ensure it has little appeal within.

I always love her books but...................2007-06-21

I always enjoy reading Anne Lamott and this book was going along swell. She has an easy, casual manner that makes it feel like you're having a best-friend discussion sitting at the kitchen counter. But in this book I got SO tired of her blaming EVERYTHING that's wrong in the world on George Bush. It's like we were all basking around here on Heaven-On-Earth until Mr. Meanie screwed it all up. Her writing seems so smart and sensitive yet her political comments were so stupid. Not the most enjoyable read for me.

The best ever.......2007-06-11

This book is the best Anne has published since Traveling Mercies. She is so upfront and real I feel like I know her. Since I am also in a 12-step recovery program, I could identify with much of what she says but what really touched me was her wonderful way of approaching her son's adolescence. The chapters on becoming a mother and how the feelings change over the course of that child growing up - always loving even in the face of increasing emotional distance - reflected much of what I have experienced with my own children and grandchildren. If one hangs on, eventually grace arrives. I loved the book.

"I'm Anne Lamott!".......2007-06-08

She'd been reading Traveling Mercies and Plan B, while I read Grace (Eventually), and I laughed when she said it--and replied, "Honey, we're ALL Anne Lamott!" So I was going to say, any mother of any age or marital status is Anne Lamott, but then I was reading some to a college student the other night, and it turns out he's Anne Lamott too.

So there you go. You're Anne Lamott. Read it.

Fortunately, she also reminds us that Someone bigger than ourselves is there to pull us out when we get stuck........2007-06-06

"There is not much truth being told in the world. There never was. This has proven to be a major disappointment to some of us." So begins Anne Lamott's GRACE (EVENTUALLY), her newest collection of truth-telling --- essays on faith, relationships, forgiveness, politics, aging and a smattering of other delightfully diverse topics. Readers will be happy to find here the same blunt brand of no-holds-barred writing that has made Lamott's voice distinctive in the literary world.

As in PLAN B and TRAVELING MERCIES, some of the essays take a confessional turn. It's been two decades since Lamott quit hitting the bottle, and junk food binging has become her drug of choice. "I don't smoke or drink anymore, am too worried to gamble, too guilty to shoplift, and I have always hated clothes-shopping. So what choices did that leave?" Her narration of a furtive trip to the grocery store to buy three apple fritters, a pint of Ben & Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk ice cream, jalapeno "poppers," Mint Milano cookies and Sara Lee chocolate dipped cheesecake bits is as guilty as any drug addict's recounting of a last fix.

"I prayed impatiently for patience, and to stop feeling disgusted by myself, and to believe for a few moments that God, just a bit busy with other suffering in the world, actually cared about one menopausal white woman on a binge." Out of it comes an important truth about her need for community, as well as the root of her binging: "I did discover an important clue --- that whenever I want to either binge or diet, it means that there is some part of me that is deeply afraid...all I could think to do was what every addict thinks of doing: kill the pain."

Despite her trademark candidness, Lamott has mellowed in some ways. "I don't hate anyone right now, not even George W. Bush. This may seem an impossibility, but it is true, and indicates the presence of grace, or dementia, or both." Although her politics are not as angry as in PLAN B, this mellowing doesn't keep her from tackling some hot-button issues. Lamott is forthright about her pro-choice views, which she details in "The Born": "...as a Christian and a feminist, the most important message I can carry and fight for is the sacredness of each human life, and reproductive rights for all women are a crucial part of that." In another essay, "At Death's Window," she narrates her role in helping a terminally-ill friend die. This is particularly difficult though poignant territory --- like rubbernecking at a traffic accident --- and likely to generate the most discomfort among readers.

Agree? Disagree? No matter how you feel about Lamott's choices, it's easy to identify with her messy spirituality, struggles with parenting a teenager, or frustration over the aging process. Anyone who has ever corralled a group of kids for Sunday School will find "Wailing Wall" required reading. Lamott frankly admits that she'd rather be with the adults. ("I needed the grown-up service so badly, the singing, the prayers, the silence, and especially the very low incidence of injury.") Yet what comes through in this particularly powerful essay is encouragement and a reminder that some things aren't all about us. "How much of the lesson did the children take in that day? I can't answer that, and besides, I wasn't in charge. But it all comes to dropping a few seeds on the ground. If the soil is ready, the seeds will grow, and if not, you could have the Archangel Michael buzzing around the room in a thong and the kids still won't get it."

Besides her pithy, don't-pussyfoot-around-the-ugly-stuff approach to Christianity, what sets Lamott apart as a writer is her fresh use of language. Lamott knows how to jury-rig together odd phrases and descriptions that click with the reader in "aha!" moments. In one passage, she writes about a spiritual awakening: "Molecules shifted, as if in the shimmer before a migraine...I felt as though I was snorkeling one concentric circle outside where I had been before." In another, on writing: "I've found that when you give up on using your mind to solve a problem --- which your mind is holding on to like a dog with a chew toy --- writing it down helps turn off the terrible alertness."

Obviously, here, as in all of her collections of essays, Lamott uses writing to make sense of herself and her world. Because of her honesty and plain talk, we are challenged to engage with our faith --- or lack of it --- and decide how we can be true to it and to ourselves. And as all of Lamott's books so beautifully evince, the journey of faith is going to be full of potholes. Fortunately, she also reminds us that Someone bigger than ourselves is there to pull us out when we get stuck.

--- Reviewed by Cindy Crosby

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Average customer rating:

I highly recommend this book for new and accomplished writers
I love Anne Lamott
Truly Inspirational
HELPED ME TO GET REAL
Entertaining But Slight

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Anne Lamott
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within (Shambhala Pocket Classics)
Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith
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Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith

ASIN: 0385480016
Release Date: 1995-09-01

Product Description

Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Amazon.com

Think you've got a book inside of you? Anne Lamott isn't afraid to help you let it out. She'll help you find your passion and your voice, beginning from the first really crummy draft to the peculiar letdown of publication. Readers will be reminded of the energizing books of writer Natalie Goldberg and will be seduced by Lamott's witty take on the reality of a writer's life, which has little to do with literary parties and a lot to do with jealousy, writer's block and going for broke with each paragraph. Marvelously wise and best of all, great reading.

Customer Reviews:

I highly recommend this book for new and accomplished writers.......2007-06-11

Anna Lamott did a terriic job writing this book. She gives lots of helpful and encouraging advice for new writers as well as accomplished writers. Among her pearls of wisdom she tells the reader to take it one step at a time when writing -- little by little -- or as she says her father once advised her 10 year old brother who was agonizing over a book report on birds: just take it bird by bird. I also took her advice on focusing on the characters and not the plot. She also shares some very helpul insight for struggling writers that I have not only found true but inspirational. And that's the fact that writing is more rewarding than publication.

I love Anne Lamott.......2007-05-07

This book is not a technical manual. It is more like advice from a friend about allowing yourself to write. Lamott describes the troubles that she has had in her writing career and explains what helps her when she encounters those troubles. She encourages everyone to write, even if just for themselves. She warns that very few aspiring writers will be published, and that even if they are published, it may just be a maddeningly anti-climactic moment as it has been for her.

She offers many reasons to write, and more than a few ways to get past writer's block. She explains how important it is to use your own voice when you write, and to be honest about your subject. She suggests writing honestly about your childhood, good or bad, and also tells you briefly how to avoid libel in case your story isn't too flattering to others. There's a lot of advice in here that will help aspiring writers to allow themselves to write.

Anne Lamott's distinct voice, sharp sense of humor and honesty are refreshing. What I particularly love about Lamott is that when she tells a particularly funny joke, or makes a particularly poignant remark, she doesn't stall her writing in order for the reader to have time to notice, nor does she try to point out how funny or poignant she is: She is on to the next thought or story while you're still laughing out loud or letting out a deep sigh. Her humor is a bit dark at times, but no less funny for it. Though Lamott is a Christian, she uses curse words liberally. Personally, I appreciate that she does, because it shows that she is unafraid to be honest about who she is, and that can help her readers to have the courage to do the same.

Mostly this book is about the courage to write, and getting out of your own way. If you're like me and criticize your writing or story ideas before you even have them on the page, then buy this book. This book would make a great companion to "Becoming a Writer" by Dorothea Brande. Brande will teach you how to develop a writer's habits, and Lamott will give you the courage to do so.

Truly Inspirational.......2007-04-16

This book is was so fun to read. It inspired me to start writing immediately. Lamott writes honestly and humorously about the meaningfulness of writing. She offers tips on how to have the right attitude for writing; for example, expecting bad first drafts. It was such a relief to find this book. Made me feel like I'm on the right track and encouraged me never to give up on writing.

HELPED ME TO GET REAL.......2007-03-21

Anne Lamott's book helped me get real about my writing --- it helps to know other writers like her come up against what I've been struggling with --- this book (among others) is what helped me get clear and real with my own voice. Thank you, Anne Lamott. Pamela D. Blair, Author, The Next Fifty Years: A Guide for Women at Midlife and BeyondThe Next Fifty Years: A Guide for Women at Mid-Life And Beyond

Entertaining But Slight.......2007-02-07

Bird by Bird is an instructional guide on writing with a good helping of life on the side. The title "Bird by Bird" is taken from her father's advice to her brother who was agonizing over a book report on birds: "Just take it bird by bird." Lamott's suggestion on the craft of fiction is personal and pragmatic: worry about the characters, not the plot, getting rid of jealousy, the anticlimax of publicaiton, etc. She wisely advises writers to form support groups pieced together with family, friends, and other writers. She observes that sometimes you won't get good support from writing groups, but you'll need them to keep your sanity.

If you are looking for hard core advice on writing, you may find this book a bit slight. Some of the chapters are only a few pages in a small format book. But if you are looking for entertainment, diversion while you are stuck in your own writing, inspiration, the word on the path taken, this is the book for you.

Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith

Average customer rating:

Raw and Dangerous Reading
Grabbing Words for Spiritual People
LOVE Anne Lamott!
Honest and Insightful Little Book
Beautiful

Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
Anne Lamott
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
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ASIN: 0385496095
Release Date: 2000-02-15

Amazon.com

For most writers, the greatest challenge of spiritual writing is to keep it grounded in concrete language. The temptation is to wander off into the clouds of ethereal epiphanies, only to lose readers with woo-woo thinking and sacred-laced clichés. Thankfully, Anne Lamott (Operating Instructions, Crooked Little Heart) knows better. In this collection of essays, Lamott offers her trademark wit and irreverence in describing her reluctant journey into faith. Every epiphany is framed in plainspoken (and, yes, occasionally crassly spoken) real-life, honest-to-God experiences. For example, after having an abortion, Lamott felt the presence of Christ sitting in her bedroom: <blockquote>This experience spooked me badly, but I thought it was just an apparition born of fear and self-loathing and booze and loss of blood. But then everywhere I went I had the feeling that a little cat was following me, wanting me to reach down and pick it up, wanting me to open the door and let it in. But I knew what would happen: you let a cat in one time, give it a little milk and then it stays forever.</blockquote> Whether she's writing about airplane turbulence, bulimia, her "feta cheese thighs," or consulting God over how to parent her son, Lamott keeps her spirituality firmly planted in solid scenes and believable metaphors. As a result, this is a richly satisfying armchair-travel experience, highlighting the tender mercies of Lamott's life that nudged her into Christian faith. --Gail Hudson

Amazon.com Audiobook Review

Anne Lamott admits that she's "ever so slightly more anxious than the average hypochondriac." When faced with a small, irregular mole and a family history of skin cancer, however, she remembers her faith in God and enjoys some peace--despite behaving "a little more like Nathan Lane in The Birdcage than I would have hoped." Author Lamott reads these wonderfully detailed postcards from her meandering journey to faith. With sharp and bittersweet humor, she recounts a past full of bad relationships with men, with food, with drugs, with alcohol, and worst of all, with herself. She battles her demons thanks to the love of her friends and family and her "lurch of faith" to embrace religion, that "puzzling thing inside me that had begun to tug on my sleeve from time to time, trying to get my attention." Inspiring but not dogmatic, Traveling Mercies is a treasure. (Running time: 4 hours, 3 cassettes) --C.B. Delaney

Book Description

Anne Lamott claims the two best prayers she knows are: "Help me, help me, help me" and "Thank you, thank you, thank you." She has a friend whose morning prayer each day is "Whatever," and whose evening prayer is "Oh, well." Anne thinks of Jesus as "Casper the friendly savior" and describes God as "one crafty mother."

Despite--or because of--her irreverence, faith is a natural subject for Anne Lamott. Since Operating Instructions and Bird by Bird, her fans have been waiting for her to write the book that explained how she came to the big-hearted, grateful, generous faith that she so often alluded to in her two earlier nonfiction books. The people in Anne Lamott's real life are like beloved characters in a favorite series for her readers--her friend Pammy, her son, Sam, and the many funny and wise folks who attend her church are all familiar. And Traveling Mercies is a welcome return to those lives, as well as an introduction to new companions Lamott treats with the same candor, insight, and tenderness.

Lamott's faith isn't about easy answers, which is part of what endears her to believers as well as nonbelievers. Against all odds, she came to believe in God and then, even more miraculously, in herself. As she puts it, "My coming to faith did not start with a leap but rather a series of staggers." At once tough, personal, affectionate, wise, and very funny, Traveling Mercies tells in exuberant detail how Anne Lamott learned to shine the light of faith on the darkest part of ordinary life, exposing surprising pockets of meaning and hope.

Download Description

Traveling Mercies takes us on a journey through Anne Lamott's troubled past to illuminate her devout but quirky walk of faith: how, against all odds, she came to believe in God, and the myriad ways in which that faith sustains and guides her in everyday life. With an exuberant mix of passion and self-deprecating humor, Lamott explores whether certain behaviors will get her "a better seat in heaven, " perhaps "near the dessert table, " or whether her mistakes "make Jesus want to drink gin straight out of the cat disk" She writes about her family, about helping a friend through the devastating illness of her baby, about wanting but not having all the answers for her eight-year-old son.

Through the hard-won wisdom that forms the core of her beliefs, and with wit, insight, and lots of heart, she shows us how she creates a life balance of connectedness and liberation.

Customer Reviews:

Raw and Dangerous Reading.......2007-06-09

Hmmm. I dunno. Lamott is as brilliantly down-to-earth in her prose as we're likely to find. When her heart races, the reader gasps for breath. And funny? OMG! Only Miami Herald hoot Dave Barry is more deadpan. But I came away feeling like I'd rather party with Anne than pray with her -- and that shakes my sobriety, serenity, and spirituality all at once! I'll be watching to see how God shapes her soul, over time.

Grabbing Words for Spiritual People.......2007-06-01

The powerful prose pushes the thoughts into the head. The stories are gripping, but every now and then, you must look around and make sure know one is seeing you read all those swear words. Check out the blog at [..]

LOVE Anne Lamott!.......2007-05-14

Love this book! Anne is such a beautiful writer--she speaks honestly without leaving out any details.... She speaks honestly about her journey with God, no holds barred.

Honest and Insightful Little Book.......2007-05-03

I have to hand it to Anne Lamott for being honest with herself and her past. She is a Christian and her growth is shown in this book as she discusses family, friends and raising her son Sam. The first quarter of the book may be disturbing for some with its graphic description of the author's drug and alcohol problems, but by the end of the book, the reader has developed a certain respect for Lamott and her insights into life born from her past. She is a woman comfortable with herself, her faults and her relationship with God, although she is well aware that she is far from the person that God believes she can become. The best reason to read this book, however, is not necessarily for the stories, but for her writing style. Lamott is a gifted writer. She believes in her faith and in her writing, both of which shine through in this short book.

Beautiful.......2007-04-23

A beautifully written book about how very un-beautiful it can be to be a single parent, a Christian, and recovering alcoholic. I've been two out of the three (not a parent), and could relate to her becoming an authentic person of integrity. Her brutally honest admissions about having a "social 6-pack" or two was hysterical.

Apparently, there are perfect people in the world. Perfect Christians who do not have any use for the imperfect or understanding of the trials that face the Rest of Us. Luckily, this book won't be wasted on them, and the Rest of Us can have a good laugh at ourselves, along with Lamott.

Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year

Average customer rating:

I thought this was a great book! Great for first-time mothers!
Excellent read for new moms
even if you are a Republican...read it!
Operating Instructions: How it Saved My Life
Operating Instructions

Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year
Anne Lamott
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
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Accessories:

Braun IRT 4020 ThermoScan Ear Thermometer
Health o Meter HDC100-01 "Grow with Me" Teddy Bear Scale for Babies and Toddlers

ASIN: 1400079098
Release Date: 2005-03-08

Amazon.com

The most honest, wildly enjoyable book written about motherhood is surely Anne Lamott's account of her son Sam's first year. A gifted writer and teacher, Lamott (Crooked Little Heart) is a single mother and ex-alcoholic with a pleasingly warped social circle and a remarkably tolerant religion to lean on. She responds to the changes, exhaustion, and love Sam brings with aplomb or outright insanity. The book rocks from hilarious to unbearably poignant when Sam's burgeoning life is played out against a very close friend's illness. No saccharine paean to becoming a parent, this touches on the rage and befuddlement that dog sweeter emotions during this sea change in one's life.

Book Description

It’s not like she’s the only woman to ever have a baby. At thirty-five. On her own. But Anne Lamott makes it all fresh in her now-classic account of how she and her son and numerous friends and neighbors and some strangers survived and thrived in that all important first year. From finding out that her baby is a boy (and getting used to the idea) to finding out that her best friend and greatest supporter Pam will die of cancer (and not getting used to that idea), with a generous amount of wit and faith (but very little piousness), Lamott narrates the great and small events that make up a woman’s life.

Customer Reviews:

I thought this was a great book! Great for first-time mothers!.......2007-05-13

This book was given to me as a shower gift and I have since given it as a gift to new mothers numerous times. The humor really helped to alleviate anxiety with regard to motherhood, plus it was very poignant! Would definitely recommend it!

Excellent read for new moms.......2007-03-29

This is my favorite gift to new moms. Annie Lamott chronicles the love and challenges in the first year of parenthood. She openly talks about the dark side of how hard the first year can be as a parent, and she does it with wicked humor and tenderness. For me, it was a better companion than any "self help" book for my first year as a mom.

even if you are a Republican...read it!.......2007-03-19

My first year of motherhood was such a struggle it was hard to laugh. Now, I am enjoying it a second time around with our second son, and just finished this book. I am amazed Anne Lamott was able to find the humor and the beauty as a single, first time mom. I enjoyed every page of this book. I think every mom will find something here, even if you are a Republican, are not a religious person, or have a daughter!

Operating Instructions: How it Saved My Life.......2007-03-09

This is a must read for new parents...especially moms. Anne Lamott's honesty and humor helped me through some very dark days following the birth of my son. It is written in diary form so when you are between feedings, nappings, and showering, if you are lucky, you could read a few entries. I now give this book to all new parents and I always get the same response, "Thank you for the best gift we have received."

Operating Instructions.......2007-02-19

The perfect little "instruction manual" for any new mom, especially a single parent mom or a mom of a male baby. Lamott's honest writing about the difficulties of parenting an infant will bring tears of relief to the physically and emotionally exhausted and parent. And some parts of the book will make you laugh right out loud,which feels very good. Don't feel guilty and inadequate - you need a nap and a couple of hours to yourself to do something adult (for example, read this book). For more stories of Lamott's journey, see "Traveling Mercies: Some thoughts on faith."

Average customer rating:

Wonderful examination of Faith and Life
Such a Comfort--Written In Almost Perfect Prose
If you want to Think and Laugh read this book.
Good suggestion from a friend
Not my cup of tea.

Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith
Anne Lamott
Manufacturer: Riverhead Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
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Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year

ASIN: 1594481571

Amazon.com

Few people can write about faith, parenting, and relationships as can the talented, irreverent Anne Lamott. With characteristic black humor, ("Everyone has been having a hard time with life this year; not with all of it, just the waking hours") she updates us on the ongoing mayhem of her life since Traveling Mercies, and continues to unfold her spiritual journey.

Plan B finds Lamott wrestling with mid-life hormones and weight gain while parenting Sam, now a teenager with his own set of raging hormones. Her observations cover everything from starting a Sunday school to grief over the death of her beloved dog, Sadie; lamenting the war to bitterness over her relationship with her now-departed mother.

As she tugs and pokes out the knots in a slender gold chain necklace, it becomes a metaphor for letting go and learning to forgive. "…any willingness to let go inevitably comes from pain; and the desire to change changes you, and jiggles the spirit, gets to it somehow, to the deepest, hardest, most ruined parts." It's her willingness to show us the knotted-up, "ruined parts" of her life that make this collection of sometimes uneven essays so compelling.

"Everything feels crazy," writes Lamott, adding, "But on small patches of earth all over, I can see just as much messy mercy and grace as ever…." Lamott's essays will serve as reminders to readers of the patches of messy mercy and grace in a chaotic world.--Cindy Crosby

Book Description

With Anne Lamott's trademark wisdom, humor and honesty, Plan B is a spiritual antidote to anxiety and despair in our increasingly fraught times. This New York Times bestseller picks up where Traveling Mercies left off.

Download Description

With the trademark wisdom, humor, and honesty that made Anne Lamott's book on faith, Traveling Mercies, a runaway bestseller, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith is a spiritual antidote to anxiety and despair in increasingly fraught times. The world is a more dangerous place than it was when Lamott's Traveling Mercies was published five years ago. Terrorism and war have become the new normal; environmental devastation looms even closer. And there are personal demands on Lamott's faith as well: turning fifty; her mother's Alzheimer's; her son's adolescence; and the passing of friends and time. Fortunately for those of us who are anxious and scared about the state of the world, whose parents are also aging and dying, whose children are growing harder to recognize as they become teenagers, Plan B offers hope in the midst of despair. It shares with us Lamott's ability to comfort, and to make us laugh despite the grim realities. Anne Lamott is one of our most beloved writers, and Plan B is a book more necessary now than ever. It will prove to be further evidence that, as The Christian Science Monitor has written, ""Everybody loves Anne Lamott.""

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful examination of Faith and Life.......2007-06-25

Equisitely written magazine articles brought together in one book. Questions of Faith and Race and other big issues are dealt with with incredible honesty and truth. I love the way she writes. If you devour it too quickly, it can feel a bit samey, but if you read it slowly, take a break between chapters, it is indeed a soul refreshing draught of water. I got it from the library and immediately went out and bought a copy. That's how much a keeper it is. :)

Such a Comfort--Written In Almost Perfect Prose.......2007-05-21

This is the book for the days when you know DEEPLY in your heart of hearts that you aren't worth a "tinker's damn". You know you are old, wicked, taking too much delight in other's misery, can't stand any member of your beloved family ONE MORE MINUTE or any other human being. You hate your job and know the angels weep over the disappointment you are to God. Annie helps you see, through writing that is timeless and utterly superb, that yes, you are that person, but you are so much more and even more important, known to be that wretched human and still loved and forgiven by God. This may not be the book for the person facing a life crisis but may be a better choice for someone who is just tired. This book, some excellent slippers and a hot chocolate WITH whipped cream and sprinkles could encourage those individuals whomped one too many time by life to carry on.

If you want to Think and Laugh read this book........2007-05-13

I really enjoyed this book because it made me think. It was also a book that made me laugh. Sometimes both things happened at the same time.

Good suggestion from a friend.......2007-05-13

I recently told a friend, "I'm learning that I need to accept that life is mostly "Plan B", meaning that nothing is perfect, and I have to learn to be more flexible about things."

My friend quickly remembered this book, and suggested that I read it. Although I am not a single parent, and my children are not teenagers yet, there are many things in the book that I could relate to.

It's easy reading and a light, sometimes humorous look at one woman's life with her teenage son.

Beware Republicans! She is not pleased with President Bush.

The lesson she reveals is very simple.

Be true to yourself, and amidst the busy-ness of life, don't forget to help the less fortunate.

(This is the foundation of her Christian faith, Love of God, self, and others)

Not my cup of tea........2007-02-11

I read this book for a book club. Although I did not enjoy it at all, and I would never read another one of her books, its was interesting to hear other peoples comments on it. The majority enjoyed it. I found her a very angry person, who uses her writings as therapy. As she works her way around her problems, I just wanted to yell grow up and get over it. Life is not perfect and neither are the people in it.

Average customer rating:

She makes me laugh
good but light
love the brutal honesty
laughter to match the times
Poignant...

Hard Laughter: A Novel
Anne Lamott
Manufacturer: North Point Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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All New People: A Novel
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Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith

ASIN: 0865472807

Book Description

Anne Lamott's poignant first novel, reissued in an attractive new edition.

Writer (and sometime housecleaner) Jennifer is twenty-three when her beloved father, Wallace, is diagnosed with a brain tumor. This catastrophic discovery sets off Anne Lamott's unexpectedly sweet and funny first novel, which is made dramatic not so much by Wallace's illness as by the emotional wake it sweeps under Jen and her brothers, self-contained Ben and feckless, lovable Randy. With characteristic affection and accuracy, Lamott sketches this offbeat family and their nearest and dearest as they draw ever closer in the intimacy Jen prizes "among the other estimable things: good music, good hard laughter, good sex, good industry, and good books."

Customer Reviews:

She makes me laugh.......2007-05-10

I had missed reading this book by Lamott for some reason and when I saw it on the front cover of her new book ordered it to catch up. I am so glad I did as the insights are so fun and even though the material is heavy and my life is "heavy" right now...I find a smile on my face and some laugh outloud moments....I am so glad I ordered the book and dove right into it's story.

good but light.......2007-01-07

Great light reading for late at night. Some good gems, examples; "I knew by 10 years old that life would be happier if only I were quite stupid and devoutly religious.." or, "Happy work is as gratifying as sex or hard laughter or love or good drugs." Or about boys, "I wonder if they will grow up to be adult males who are led by their penises and wallets, or if, at thirty, they will visit sad friends." And, "Your looks start to go about the time you start growing up, about the time things are starting to gel.."

love the brutal honesty.......2004-06-09

How could anyone not love this book (and the author)?!? Never have I read such a brutally honest account of ones life. Anne Lamott's writing is so refreshly sincere. All believers in Christ should rally around Ms. Lamott and encourage her to continue to bare her naked soul to the rest of the world. I read reviews that said she was irreverent, which if you read with a closed mind you may find this to be so, but I found her to be a REAL person, who realizes she is simply saved by God's grace and by nothing she's done on her on. I would encourage everyone to read this book, with and open mind and heart, and check your judgemental mind at the door. Keep it up Anne!

laughter to match the times.......2003-07-14

With a father recently diagnosed with a brain tumor, a significant other who is hardly significant, and a neurotic dream consultant for a best friend, it seems hard to believe that Jennifer, the main character of Anne Lamott's book, could find anything to laugh about. And yet, as the title suggests, she not only finds some hard laughter in the situation, but also realizes that laughter is, in fact, one of the things that makes life worth the struggle. Whether or not you're of a mind to appreciate Lamott's neurotic humor, that realization--the preciousness and beauty of laughter in the face of the darkest times--alone makes this book worth reading. True to the terrible mundacity of tragic life events, Lamott's book subtly and deftly captures the experience of a family's brush with a potentially devastating situation--the waiting, the disappointment, the embarassment--the laughter in hard times and the good hard laughter in spite of those times that carries you through.

Poignant..........2003-05-15

Reading one of Anne Lamott's novels is like taking a refreshing cool bath on the hottest day of the year; it quenches the soul. Additionally, her wonderfully gritty voice resonates from the pages. The story of a family's struggle to keep the happiness going through the most poignant and disarming moments of their lives is insightful, touching and memorable. Hilarious and poignant as ever, Lamott again illustrates how her characters make everything difficult seem worth undertaking. All in all, a wonderful and illuminating read...

Average customer rating:

All New People
Not Traditional Anne, but Still Good.
Anne, You're da bomb!!!
Thinly Disguised Nonfiction
Anne Lamott is amazing!

All New People: A Novel
Anne Lamott
Manufacturer: Counterpoint LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1582430543

Book Description

With generosity, humor, and pathos, Anne Lamott takes on the barrage of dislocating changes that shook the Sixties. Leading us through the wake of these changes is Nanny Goodman, one small girl living in Marin County, California.

A half-adult child among often childish adults, Nanny grows up with two spectacularly odd parents-a writer father and a mother who is "a constant source of material." As she moves into her adolescence, so, it seems, does America. While grappling with her own coming-of-age, Nanny witnesses an entire culture's descent into drugs, the mass exodus of fathers from her town, and rapid real-estate and technological development that foreshadow a drastically different future.

In All New People, Anne Lamott works a special magic, transforming failure into forgiveness and illuminating the power of love to redeem us.

Customer Reviews:

All New People.......2007-01-05

The book was very similar to Lamotts Travelin Mercies....only fictionalzed. It was sad and sweet and in some parts you were left kind of hanging...not sure what was meant or felt. Then again, Anne Lamott does that to you. She challenges you to branch out in your way of thinking. It was a good read.

Not Traditional Anne, but Still Good........2003-01-09

This book is somewhat different than Lamott's other work, but I still enjoyed it thoroughly. It is about a girl named Nanny and her family and the sixties. It reads like a memoir, and my guess is it has very much basis in the reality that is the author's life. The narration has a very stream-of-consciousness feel to it, and covers a lot for such a quick read. I loved the way of storytelling--Nanny tells the story straight through the emotional center of the things that happen. Anyone who ever had a childhood will enjoy everything in this book. Even if that childhood wasn't in the sixties.

Anne, You're da bomb!!!.......2002-04-18

I've read all of Anne's books and this one is as good as or better than the best. Anne is the Queen of all writers of all time! Nobody does it better. She has a sense of humor like no other woman I've ever known, and it shines through in this book. The line from which the title comes is suberb---and now a part of our family lingo. "In a hundred years, all new people!" I love it!!! Thanks, Anne, for sharing your sparkling wit and unique family with us. I can't wait to read your new one coming out this year, "Blue Shoe".

Thinly Disguised Nonfiction.......2001-02-08

I've read all Lamott's nonfiction and fallen in love with her wit, honesty, and spiritual searching. I approached this first fictional experience wondering if her personality and style would show through. The answer: Yes.

I couldn't help but feel I was reading one of Lamott's nonfiction pieces, actually recognizing characters, quotes, and anecdotes from her own life. This is inevitable in any fiction, I suppose, but Anne's style is so unique and strong that it was somewhat distracting to me.

I do intend to try another of her fictional works--I'll read anything of hers I can get my hands on. She is poignant without being melodramatic, funny without being insulting. I love Lamott's writing; in general, though, I think I prefer to read her real life experiences.

Anne Lamott is amazing!.......2000-11-23

I think that Anne Lamott is one of the most amazing writers of our time! I have read everything she has ever written, both fiction and non-fiction and have always eagerly awaited her next book! I only wish that Oprah would discover her and then the rest of the world can find out what they have been missing! I know Anne has a devoted, loyal following but she deserves to be a best-selling author! All New People was the first book of Anne's that I read and I discovered it completely by accident when I picked it up in the bookstore one day. Her characters are so real and funny and ALL of her books ALWAYS make me laugh and cry! I feel as if I know her characters and her as well. I have recommended her books to all the readers I know and I hope EVERYONE reads her books someday! Anne,your books are wonderful !

When You Eat at the Refrigerator, Pull Up a Chair

Average customer rating:

Best (non)diet book I've ever read!
excellent book
when you eat at the refrigerator, pull up a chair
Life-changing.
What I had been looking for!

When You Eat at the Refrigerator, Pull Up a Chair
Geneen Roth , and Anne Lamott
Manufacturer: Hyperion
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Accessories:

Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor

ASIN: 0786885084

Amazon.com

Geneen Roth estimates that she's gained and lost more than 1,000 pounds during her life. That makes her uniquely qualified to write this, her sixth book, which delivers exactly what its subtitle indicates: 50 Ways to Feel Thin, Gorgeous, and Happy (When You Feel Anything But). It's sure to appeal to her considerable cult of readers who've bought her other feel-good, anti-diet books including the bestselling When Food Is Love: Exploring the Relationship Between Eating and Intimacy and Why Weight?: A Guide to Ending Compulsive Eating. It's for the estimated 25 million women in America alone who are on diets; for those who find that they're never happy because they delay gratification ("I'll be happy when I lose 10 pounds"), and those who punish themselves for eating one too many chocolate chip cookies.

Roth's advice is simple, but often beyond the realm of thinking of someone obsessed with calorie counting. She recommends that you eat at least one hot meal every day, as a slice of hot pizza will make you feel more full than a cold and cardboardy one will; that you should do one "exquisitely kind" thing for yourself every day, be it buying new underwear or taking a sledgehammer to your scale; and that you should "separate the desire to be thin from the desire to be cherished." She also gives straight diet advice that can't be found in publications along the lines of Cosmo: "Too much fat makes you fat. But too little makes you fat, too, because you usually make up for eating nonfat foods by eating twice as much. I suggest you allow yourself to eat enough fat to feel full. Part of the reason that many of us feel as if we could start eating at one end of our kitchens and chomp our way clear across the United States is that we never give ourselves permission to feel full without feeling guilty, to eat enough fat when it's not on a binge." Amen. --Erica Jorgensen

Book Description

Geneen Roths pioneering books were among the first to link overeating and compulsive dieting with deeply personal issues that go far beyond weight and body image. Now, in this fun, practical book, she helps readers radically shift their relationships with food and find more life-affirming ways to care for themselves. With an exhilarating combination of intelligence and wicked good humor, she offers bite-sized pieces of invaluable wisdom.

Customer Reviews:

Best (non)diet book I've ever read!.......2007-06-09

I originally checked this book out of the library. I loved it so much I bought a copy and am reading it again. I also purchased two copies to give to good friends. This book may or may not help me to loose weight, however, it is so uplifting and encouraging it has really helped to change my attitude towards food and not to be so self-loathing.

excellent book.......2007-01-10

as a person on the way from recovery from anorexia, this book offered helpful advice in a fun demeanor. would definitely recommend this book to everyone--on either sides of the spectrum.

when you eat at the refrigerator, pull up a chair.......2006-08-26

I like it that this book is divided into short chapters so that I can read it when I have small bits of time.

Life-changing........2005-10-16

I am only on page 14, but I already know that this book is going to change my life. Geneen has an against-the-grain look at dieting, weight loss and cultural expectations of women, and has already made me question the way I treat my appetites and my body. I am looking forward to reading the rest of this book.

What I had been looking for!.......2004-09-10

I've had this book a couple years now and I must say it's what I always go back to when diets disappoint me. It really tells it like it is and I'm planning to buy more books by Geneen as soon as I can. If anything this book at the very least puts things into perspective. A lot of it is "obvious" but then again are things we all tend to forget or not realize. I will keep this book on my bedside table forever!

What Would You Do If You Had No Fear? Living Your Dreams While Quakin' in Your Boots

Average customer rating:

Loved It
a better way to challenge yourself!
What would You do I you had no fear?
Inspiration: yes; Substance: no
Inspirational!

What Would You Do If You Had No Fear? Living Your Dreams While Quakin' in Your Boots
Diane Conway
Manufacturer: New World Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Motivational | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith
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ASIN: 1930722427

Book Description

For this book, author Diane Conway approached a police officer, a waitress, a politician, a lawyer, a cab driver, and many others, and asked them each the same question: "What would you do if you had no fear?" The results, chronicled in this book, were both surprising and enlightening. Her respondents told her their secrets, their long-hidden dreams, and their fears. Their dreams included quitting mind-numbing jobs, applying to medical school, buying tickets to South America, finding true love, quitting drinking, or having an affair. The distance between dreaming and doing, according to Conway, is surprisingly short. In What Would You Do If You Had No Fear? her fresh voice and "Studs Terkel in drag persona" challenge readers to stop, open their hearts, and truly live. Included are self-tests, quizzes, growth exercises, and inspiring quotes for realizing one's fear-free potential.

Customer Reviews:

Loved It.......2007-01-13

Just what I needed to refocus and prioritize after 20 years in the same job. This was an instant sabbatical for me. Gave me the energy boost I needed to move forward.

a better way to challenge yourself!.......2006-05-16

This book is fantastic in pushing us all to our very limits, posing the best of the best "what if" questions, and ecouraging us to act on them! So much fun to read, dream, and answer with action-- what would you do if you had no fear???

What would You do I you had no fear?.......2005-09-24

A light delightful read that offers hope to those who feel caught in a life of few choices. It's a basic follow-your-heart advice manual which also questions how much one depends on money for happiness.

Inspiration: yes; Substance: no.......2005-06-30

A magazine article prompted me to buy this book. Conway's humor's engaging, and the anecdotes are inspiring. But the book stops there.

Each section is headed with an aspect of the title's question:

*What would you do [if you had no fear]?
*Who would you be [if you had no fear]?
*Where would you go [if you had no fear]?

Your answers are likely to be:
...I would do/make/be/write/create ____, if I had ____.
...I would go to ____, except that I don't have _____.
...I would be a ____, if I'd ever gotten to ____ like I wanted to, all those years ago before ____.

And you are left hanging with your answers. Conway does inspire you to rekindle your desires, but she doesn't help you deal with the rationalizations standing in your way.

[For that, honestly, I'd suggest Laura Berman Fortgang's "Living Your Best Life."]

Conway often alludes to what occurs in her seminars. So the reader (or at least this reader) is left to wonder whether the seminars have the same content as the book, or whether they have more meat to them--and if so, why isn't that in this book?

Inspirational!.......2004-12-12

This book gives hope and inspiration to many who wish to change or break through a fear. I enjoyed every story and could in some way relate to them all. Ms. Conway has a refreshing and witty way of writing and look forward to her next book!! I recommend this as a gift to someone that needs a little boost.

Average customer rating:

ANNE LAMOTT'S "ROSIE"
okay
A gentle book.
expected more
Not the type of book I usually read

Rosie
Anne Lamott
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140264795

Book Description

In Anne Lamott's wise and witty novel, the growing pains of motherhood are portrayed with rare humor and honesty. If Elizabeth Ferguson had her way, she'd spend her days savoring good books, cooking great meals, and waiting for the love of her life to walk in the door. But it's not a man she's waiting for, it's her daughter, Rosie—her wild-haired, smart-mouthed, and wise-beyond-her-years alter ego. With Rosie around, the days aren't quite so long, but Elizabeth can't keep the realities of the world at bay, and try as she might, she can't shield Rosie from its dangers or mysteries. As Rosie grows older and more curious, Elizabeth must find a way to nurture her extraordinary daughter—even if it means growing up herself.

Customer Reviews:

ANNE LAMOTT'S "ROSIE".......2007-05-12

This is a great book..funny, but pulls at your heartstrings. Read it before you might read "Crooked Little Heart". It is kind of a sequel.

okay.......2007-01-07

This book had a lot wrong with it but it still pulled me into it and I ended up staying up late to finish it so it had a lot right with it too. Basically Lamott has great character insight and can keep a story rolling. The main character is recently widowed and raising a young girl (Rosie) alone. We are privileged to know of all her failings and neurosis which are amazingly easy to identify with.

A gentle book........2006-12-13

Rosie is indeed one of my favorite characters in all of literature; she is fiercely independent, charming, funny, and Lamott has written her well (as well as the other folks in this book), inclusive of all human foibles. This book, as many of Lamott's do, is abundantly filled with love and a gentle understanding of what makes us all tick. This is one of those books that it does my soul good to read each year, as if I am visiting old friends with whom I can laugh and cry.

expected more.......2006-07-12

Cutesy and pedantic, clunky and dull. I just had no interest in Elizabeth The Drunk, and wondered what all these male admirers saw in her, given that she did nothing, was paranoid and boring and always drunk. LaMott seems to have lots of fans, but this is just plain bad writing.

Not the type of book I usually read.......2006-05-23

"Rosie" is not the type of book I usually read. In fact, I discovered Anne Lamott quite by accident. I first read "Blue Shoe" and found the insights into a normal person's sometimes insane psyche incredibly compelling. Lamott has an uncanny ability to capture a woman/mother's daily struggle to hold her life together while maintaining her sanity. Aspects of her characters ring true with moments from almost anyone's life. "Rosie" beautifully captures the competing demands between self-fulfillment, motherhood, and addiction. I highly recommend this book. I am hooked!

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