I
first fell in love with Anne Lamott in her book Bird by Bird, a book about the writing
process. In Bird by Bird, she
normalizes the writing experience and consequently made me feel less neurotic. Any writer that can make you feel less
neurotic is
worth the $15 book (therapy is much more).
While Lamott titles Bird by Bird "Some instructions on writing and life," she paints Traveling
Mercies as "Some thoughts on faith." Traveling Mercies is memoir-style, a series of essays that are separate yet all connected
to the whole. Lamott describes in raw terms her troubled childhood, her at once
begrudging and powerful conversion to Christianity, and many moments of pain
and hilarity in between.
She
lets herself be completely unpolished for the reader, giving everyone the
permission to be nothing but scathingly honest with oneself and one’s life
experiences. She’s often
irreverant, sarcastic, and prone to expressions of obscenities, all in the spirit of truth-telling and truth-searching.
I
loved how she exposes life’s mystery, tragedy, and irony without denying its
startling beauty. The essence of
life is not knowing which one we will be startled with today when we awake: beauty
or tragedy. One day never predicts
the next.
I went crazy for the poems and quotes she includes at the beginning of each section, my
favorite being the quote from her 7-year old son, “I think I already understand
about life: pretty good, some problems.”
To catch up on what's happening at City Lights this week, click here.
To order Traveling Mercies, click here.
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