Anne Lamott has a way with words and a refreshingly unconventional Christian perspective. She sees herself as a detective always searching for clues to God's presence or absence. She possesses a keen eye for detail and a zany sense of humor. All of these qualities come to the surface in this delightful collection of essays.
Lamott is now 60 years old, so there are the obligatory writings on illness, dying with dignity, and slowing down. But she has lost none of her spunk. She says of her female friends, "almost none of the women would care if they ever got laid again, even when they are in good marriages." On the other hand, she admits being lonely and gives us a glimpse of her online dating experiences. A list of the preferences she seeks in a man goes: "Smart, funny, kind; into nature, God, reading, movies, pets, family, liberal politics, hiking."
Lamott has written before about her upbringing as a child of divorce and being a recovering alcoholic. These experiences have enabled her to talk frankly about her own vulnerabilities (read the essay "Enemy Lite") and to do continual inner work on forgiveness, which she calls "the hardest work we do."
Whenever we put up memes on Spirituality & Practice's Facebook page using quotations from her books, people like and share them with big numbers! Here are two we intend to use:
• "Jesus was soft on crime. He'd never have been elected anything."
• "Having a good dog is the closest some of us are ever going to come to knowing the direct love of a mother or God."
