Traveling Mercies: Summary and book reviews of Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott, plus links to an excerpt from Traveling Mercies and a biography of Anne Lamott.
Traveling Mercies Some Thoughts on Faith
by Anne Lamott
Hardcover: Feb 1999,
272 pages.
Paperback: Feb 2000,
255 pages.
From the bestselling author of Operating Instructions and Bird by Bird comes a chronicle of faith and spirituality that is at once tough, personal, affectionate, wise and very funny.
With an exuberant mix of passion, insight, and humor, Anne Lamott takes us on a journey through her often troubled past to illuminate her devout but quirky walk of faith. In a narrative spiced with stories and scripture, with diatribes, laughter, and tears, Lamott tells how, against all odds, she came to believe in God and then, even more miraculously, in herself. She shows us the myriad ways in which this sustains and guides her, shining the light of faith on the darkest part of ordinary life and exposing surprising pockets of meaning and hope.
Whether writing about her family or her dreadlocks, sick children or old friends, the most religious women of her church of the men she's dated, Lamott reveals the hard-won wisdom gathered along her path to connectedness and liberation.
Seattle Times
[She is] sidesplittingly funny, patiently wise, and alternately cranky and kind.
Newsweek
Lamott writes about subjects that begin with capital letters (Alcoholism, Motherhood, Jesus). But armed with self-effacing humor and ruthless honesty--call it a lower-case approach to life's Big Questions--she converts potential op-ed boilerplate into enlightenment.
Los Angeles Times Book Review
Smart, funny, comforting. . . Lamott has a conversational style that perfectly conveys her friendly, self-deprecating humor.
People
Eloquent, detailed, emotionally honest. . . Lamott deserves praise for telling it like it is.
The New Yorker
Anne Lamott is a cause for celebration. [Her] real genius lies in capturing the ineffable, describing not perfect moments, but imperfect ones. . . perfectly. She is nothing short of miraculous.
A celebrated writer's irresistible, candid, and eloquent account of her pursuit of worldly pleasure, spiritual devotion, and what she really wanted out of life.
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