similes like suffocating pillows

books:


	• Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith Anne Lamott Anchor, 2000 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 304 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

similes like suffocating pillows

Oh deliver us from the deeply insightful similes..ack. Lamott confuses praying and wishing, and she never prays/wishes for a greater good...just me me me. She mentions two prayers: "helpme helpme helpme, and thankyou thankyou thankyou. Yes I found that funny too...but didn't we think like that in junior high? This book got very tiring very fast, like a .....

Part of my spiritual journey

An "in the trenches" view of spirituality that puts a human face on her version of Christianity. Don't mistake this for a run-of-the-mill "God squad" inspirational or How-To book: It is a powerful narrative of spiritual enlightenment that would be good for anyone to read. I am not a Christian nor do I subscribe to any specific religion -- frankly I'm more likely to be Agnostic as anything else -- but this book was a powerful and important read for me and part of my spiritual journey.

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Close to the bone

Brutally honest, endearingly quirky, funny as the dickens, and turning on dimes to catch a reader's heart by surprise. This little volume is a treasure. From discussion of her formative years and early losses, through alcoholism and on into single parenting, Lamott holds nothing back. Her prayers, her curses, her neuroses, her blessings, are all laid out for inspection. Through it, despite her admitted self-absorption and bottomless fears, wisdom born of close attention and contemplation leaps off the page. More than once the reflected brightness lit up parts of my own life and character and motives that suddenly seemed to have lain too long in the dark. Breezy and deep are not two words I would commonly apply to the same essay. Here they fit.

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Entertaining Read...

This book is written differently than just your average book. It's a compilation of several life lessons all molded into one story. The short stories are really interesting and her humor gives it a fun kick. She tells her stories in such detail it feels as though you're experiencing it with her. The stories are so diverse that I guarentee someone finds some story in there that they relate to. No matter what your religion is, this book is a really powerful read. Prayer helps the author out in numerous ways that will prove to the readers that there is power in prayer. This book is touching and it really makes you think about life.

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A Book that Resonates

Anne Lamott writes with tremendous vulnerability and sincerity. She opens her veins for us and spills the contents of her life onto the page--the good, the bad, and the very very ugly. Her words are raw and evocative.

I must say that while this book resonates with many people, including myself, who have been hurt by life, disillusioned by the church, and a bit angry at things, I did not come away feeling closer to any tangible answers. I didn't think her crass and vulgar language added much to her message. It was kindof distracting, and I felt like taking a shower after wading through it.

My generation is craving something more--something deeper. We want real answers for real problems. While I continue to read Lamott, I would not say this is her best work.

Shameless plug--check out my new book Sex, Sushi, and Salvation: Thoughts on Intimacy, Community, and Eternity

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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.

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