Interesting read of Lamott's essays on her ideas about faith and living out her principles. ( )

Ugh. As a fan of Anne Lamott, I have to say this is not one of Anne's best books. There are WAY too many political rants in this one. It was readable, but I had to skip many chapters b/c it was annoyingly full of political vitriol. And the title thoughts on faith leads one to believe that the content will be just that- thoughts on faith. This was more a compilation of anecdotes with some mention of grace. I'm moving on to another book of hers which I hope will be better. ( )

Grace (Eventually) by Anne LaMott
4 stars
Anne Lamott has written a series of personal essays examining a wide range of life experiences and her personal struggles with sobriety, parenting and ultimately keeping faith. She speaks honestly and exposes her personal flaws with insight and humor. She is as forthright about her ultra-liberal politics as she is about her fundamental Christianity. I enjoyed her humorous turn of phrase and I appreciated the message of her constant struggle for, as she termed it, grace, eventually. I had some favorites among the essays. I loved her take on teaching a pre-school Sunday school class. (It ended with everyone on the floor creating a big art project with their butts in the air; a perfect synopsis of much of my teaching career.) She wrote hilariously about helping out with a special needs dance class and about starting a one person revolution. She had wonderful things to say about librarians in an essay about protesting the closure of a public library. And when she wrote about being the single mother of a teen-aged boy, I wanted to call her up and invite her out for coffee. I don’t think it would be necessary to share either her political views or her religious beliefs to appreciate this collection.
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Loved some of this. ( )

Anne Lamott’s writing speaks to me. Her complete honesty, no doubt. The way she speaks her truth about her life. The words she strings together to make me understand how she feels. I recognize myself in some of what she writes about.

She makes me think. And then she makes me giggle as I think about how I might also panic because my dog ran off out of sight on our walk. Although I think I’d be more worried about the rattlesnakes.

And while I was reading, I was reminded how oddly grace works in my life. How, really, it’s not so bad. How when I’m not paying attention and wallowing around in my own mire, grace comes along and does something unexpected. Then I feel all right and ready to keep going.

Her books have literally been life changing for me. bird by bird taught me about the discipline of writing, of being creative, every day. Whether I want to or not. Grace (Eventually) reminds me to wait patiently for the grace which envelops me and takes care of me. Reading Anne Lamott is like meeting a new, old friend with whom I could share an afternoon talking about the deep things in life, while cracking each other up. ( )