Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
by Anne LamottSign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of this book.
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Read in November, 2007
Anne Lamott is a person who has lived a lot of life and managed to come through the other side. Thanks to her good sense (and good sense of humor) this book is not so much a victim-y detailing of her descent and recovery, as much as it is a compelling story of how she began to catch glimpses of grace in everyday living. To this end, she offers a series of short vignettes on various topics including hair, beauty, illness, kids, family relationships, politics, music, drugs, eating, sex, etc. All...more
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I have always enjoyed Anne Lamott’s writing style. Her calculated and deliberate grammar choices, she wants to keep her reader present and breathless with her. I find this engaging in Traveling Mercies. The question I have been batting around is, does this work as a spiritual autobiography? And further, does she capture, in her use of tone and character, her sense of God? I would posit that God is as much a character in the text as Lamott herself. God is never “out there,” He or She (I lo...more
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Read in January, 2005
recommends it for:
You, if you're among the faithful, but enjoy a little irreverence & don't mind colourful language.
Classic Lamott if you excuse the navel gazing. Lamott’s autobiographical search for faith. Honest, with great one-liners. Her value is showing God’s grace. You think, if Anne Lamott can have faith and forgiveness, so can I.
Summary
Lamott grows up in an atheist family. Parents unhappily married, drunk, unfaithful California hippies. Lamott secretly believes in God. She visits mass services with a Catholic friend. She loves the sensory aspect of church, incense, holy water, ...more
Summary
Lamott grows up in an atheist family. Parents unhappily married, drunk, unfaithful California hippies. Lamott secretly believes in God. She visits mass services with a Catholic friend. She loves the sensory aspect of church, incense, holy water, ...more
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Read in November, 2006
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
These are the last three sentences of the book, "Traveling Mercies" by Anne Lemott. And they sum up this collection of stories beautifully. This is a book about faith and a book about gratitude. It is intelligent, thought provoking, funny and highly readable. Anne Lemott, Annie--as it appears her friends call her--lets us into her world and shares a very personal and poignant path of a unique and awkward girl taking off her "glasses of puber...more
These are the last three sentences of the book, "Traveling Mercies" by Anne Lemott. And they sum up this collection of stories beautifully. This is a book about faith and a book about gratitude. It is intelligent, thought provoking, funny and highly readable. Anne Lemott, Annie--as it appears her friends call her--lets us into her world and shares a very personal and poignant path of a unique and awkward girl taking off her "glasses of puber...more
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I bought this book the day before I had a late-night conversation with life-time friends about religion, and heritage, rational thought vs "faith," and personal responsibility. I learned a lot from that conversation. Indeed, I think I keep learning from it. Perhaps reading this book prolonged those lessions. At the very least, it kept alive in my own mind the debate. Can a rational, free-thinking, independent person have religious faith? Is there any good in organized religion? ...more
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Read in May, 2008
I thought Traveling Mercies sounded like an interesting book from the title, and was recommended by a fellow overseas co-worker as a good one to read as a world traveler. However, I was disappointed. Maybe my perception would have improved had I mustered up the endurance to stick it out and read the whole book. Traveling Mercies chronicles author Anne Lamott's journey to faith through a diversity of religious & not-so-religious experiences. Since I stopped reading partway, I...more
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I have some mixed feelings about this book. I don't really know how to express them clearly, so just let me know if you want a more detailed explanation!
Reading Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz gave me some clarity as to why I didn't like Traveling Mercies. On the back of Blue Like Jazz, a commentary compares Miller and Lamott, but I completely disagree with that comparison. Before becoming Christians, both had very strong adversions to Christianity and yet both decided to give their lifes ...more
Reading Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz gave me some clarity as to why I didn't like Traveling Mercies. On the back of Blue Like Jazz, a commentary compares Miller and Lamott, but I completely disagree with that comparison. Before becoming Christians, both had very strong adversions to Christianity and yet both decided to give their lifes ...more
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Read in January, 2004
I flat-out love this book. It's probably my favourite book ever, certainly my favourite book on faith and spirituality. Annie Lamott earned her place as my very favourite Author and person-I-want-to-be-like-when-I-grow-up with this book. It's a "spiritual memoir" of sorts, written by a funny, idealistic, liberal, reformed imperfect prophetess alcoholic. This book has perhaps the best description of God I've ever read - God as cat at the door. We are all glad Annie invited him in.
Ann...more
Ann...more
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Read in May, 2008
Engaging, funny, and profound at times. Lamott writes about Christianity while living (and not denying she does), where all of us (really) live, in rough, heartbreaking, sometimes glorious, everyday life. And she doesn't waste time trying to make us feel bad for our predispositions: dependency, lying, envying, hating. Nor does she fiddle with trying to "fix" people--herself or others. She just lays it out--"it" being what she's experienced and how she's seen God work in her...more
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Read in February, 2006
if I were in the position of Saint Peter, I don't know if Anne Lamott would make it through the Pearly Gates. But I'm not, so I absolutely loved this book that tickled my funny bone and stabbed my heart. The account of her conversion was powerful and hilarious: "Fuck it. I quit. All right, Jesus, You can come in." After being at Mount Level, her descriptions of Saint Andrew resonate deeply with me. I adored her descriptions of her friends as unrelentingly beautiful. Indeed, her capacit...more
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Read in January, 2007
Anne Lamott renews my faith in Christianity. How can a ex-alcoholic left wing foul mouthed hippie renew my faith in Christianity? Her books are just brutally honest and raw. They make me realize how flawed we all are. That perfection is overrated and life is just messy sometimes. Reading the quirky stories that fill her books forces me to laugh at our human failures and cry when life spins out of control. She shows me that even irreverent people can love… and be loved by God. Her book &...more
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Read in January, 2003
I just cannot say how much I loved this book. She is able to get inside your head and say exactly how you feel but never feel the freedom to express. She is able to describe her life and struggles - yet you don't feel sorry for her, just amazement at her. She is not asking for sympathy or whining about her lot in life. She has gained strength and understanding from it. She is calling people to a more authentic assessment of their own lives and what they believe in and how to live that out. ...more
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Read in January, 2005
recommends it for:
anyone who is on a spiritual journey, but not necessarily a 'religious' one.
I found this book to be so powerful and perception-altering for me. I had just been laid off from a job AGAIN and was questioning a lot about myself and my choices. I'd had the book for awhile, but hadn't read it. I grabbed the book and a beach chair, and headed to the beach.
I spent all day there, alternately absorbed in the book, and contemplating its messages. Anne Lamott is a rare combination of funny, smart, spiritual (but not overly-religious), personable, wry, and irreverent. We...more
I spent all day there, alternately absorbed in the book, and contemplating its messages. Anne Lamott is a rare combination of funny, smart, spiritual (but not overly-religious), personable, wry, and irreverent. We...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommended to Jeff by:
Ron Jones, my near neighbor to the northrecommends it for: People who like personal stories and how faith is discovered.
If you like Anne Lamott, you will like this book. Much of what she writes here, she has referred to in her other books. Traveling Mercies, has a little less emphasis on her son Sam and a lot more insight into Anne's dysfunctional family. My favorite chapter was one she published in Reader’s Digest a number of years ago entitled “Why I Make Sam Go to Church.” I love the character Mary Williams; every church needs a few more congregants like her. Finally, I like the use of a famous quot...more
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This is a book club book. It was OK. It is obvious this girl has had some hard times. Some of it her doing. But she seems to know a lot of people who died of cancer. Her dad, her best friend….She had a child out of wedlock which did not seem as bad as it should have been. The boy seemed to be a neat kid. Anne is definitely liberal. I mean when she gets so upset with herself because she grabbed her kids arm. It was obvious she never disciplined the kid. She is lucky he didn’t turn ou...more
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Read in April, 2008
I listened to an abridged version on tape, so I did not get the whole feel of the book. Lamott is an engaging story teller, making her somewhat pathetic and indulgent earlier life sound like a great foundation for faith. I can see why many people like her writing, and yet for me there was an undercurrent of disdain for this child of liberal hippies to lead such a reckless and self-destructive life as an alcoholic, drug addict, and probably a sex addict. There is probably more to her story than s...more
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Read in July, 2008
Anne Lamott has a very humble way of admitting her failures and still loving and forgiving herself. I would love to meet her and rest in some of that love and acceptance ;)
There are too many good quotes in this book but here are a couple of my favorites.
"We can't read other people's hearts. We just know what's in our own, what wrongs we are capable of, and that knowledge is terrible enough."
"Everything is usually so masked or perfumed in the world, and it's so touchi...more
There are too many good quotes in this book but here are a couple of my favorites.
"We can't read other people's hearts. We just know what's in our own, what wrongs we are capable of, and that knowledge is terrible enough."
"Everything is usually so masked or perfumed in the world, and it's so touchi...more
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Read in January, 2007
I've been trying to get through this for months... years actually. I first became familiar with it from an article in the LA Times (in 2000?) and thought it sounded interesting. I was curious to find out how an intelligent and progressive-minded person would end up defining herself as "a Christian." So I started reading it back then... I'm not even sure how far I got or how much I had to re-read once I picked it up again several months ago.
The writing is honest and easy, and her st...more
The writing is honest and easy, and her st...more
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Read in February, 2008
I liked the first 2/3 of this book better than the last third. It just seemed to drag on a bit and became more of the authors anecdotes on life rather than specifically "thoughts on faith"(more like another of her books, Operating Instructions). However, I enjoy her as an author. She is irreverant, open, and honest(although her language can be a bit "salty" as a friend of mine described it.) She has had an interesting life and this book talks about her journey towards, an...more
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Read in May, 2007
I liked this book pretty well. She has an uncanny ability to make wonderful connections, flowing from very different situations or thoughts to another while creating interesting ties and really describing well. She makes great analogies and is very honest about herself. Yes, she she has a thread about spirituality but it is more of a sort of personal reflection on things - a collection of short stories that allow you a glimpse into her life and growth. I liked it, but I guess I went into it expe...more
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avg rating (all editions): 4.19 (4306 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 4.18 (4136 ratings) number of reviews: 634
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