Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith

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Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith

by Anne Lamott (Goodreads Author)

4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 · rating details · 21,893 ratings · 1,611 reviews

Anne Lamott claims the two best prayers she knows are: "Help me, help me, help me" and "Thank you, thank you, thank you." She has a friend whose morning prayer each day is "Whatever," and whose evening prayer is "Oh, well." Anne thinks of Jesus as "Casper the friendly savior" and describes God as "one crafty mother."

Despite--or because of--her irreverence, faith is a natur...more

Paperback, 288 pages

Published February 15th 2000 by Anchor (first published January 19th 1999)

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Sep 15, 2007 Aileen rated it 5 of 5 stars

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? Do we have an obl...more

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Feb 24, 2008 Jocelynlt rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: best-and-brightest, humor, faith

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.

Anne Lamott has...more

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Nov 05, 2007 Susan B. rated it 4 of 5 stars

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 a...more 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 are informed by her trademark self-depricating humor. This is a good book to read when you feel like you'd like to see the world differently from the way it usually presents. I bought a copy of it about 7 years ago shortly after a dear Aunt of mine died, but never quite got around to reading it until last week.

I had been thinking my Aunt quite a bit in the last week or so, missing her more intensely than I normally do in the normal course of life. One day I was waiting for the red line train at Belmont, heading south towards downtown. As is pretty common these days, it was slow and running on the wrong side of the track due to construction on the line. When it finally came, I boarded hastily looking for an empty seat and as I sat down I looked up to find a woman who looked remarkably like my Aunt. Same age, hair-do, style of scarf, lipstick type. Then she started to talk to me, just as my Aunt would have talked to a total stranger, about what she was doing that day, where she was going, her kids, her earlier life, crocheting caps for cancer patients and so forth. It could have been my Aunt. Really. Even though I knew better, it felt like it WAS my Aunt, so much so that I felt a real pang of loss, again, and had to choke down a few tears as I climbed up the subway stairs and hurried down the street to my appointment.

I thought about it all week. At the end of the week I learned that in the christian church All Saints Day is supposed to signify a time when the boundary between this world and the next, the material and the spiritual is said to be very thin. I don't think I ever heard that in all the years I spent in Catholic Church as a kid. It's a good spin. I wonder if it holds in the subway too. Anyway, I lit a candle on Sunday in memory of my Aunt, feeling more at peace about her than I had for quite some time. (less)

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Jun 18, 2007 Heather rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 capacity for incr...more

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Apr 04, 2007 Kate rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoirs-bios, philosophy-spiritual, favorites

A great writer, whether you like the terrain or not.

I have not read any of her other books, but I am a big fan of this one. It is humourous and dear, ripe with blasphemy and deep spirituality all at once, which is just how i like it.

Anne Lamott writes about life and christianity with very real and human eyes. She is blunt but tender in her thoughts, highly educated and yet unafraid to show sentimentality. She is a bundle of extremes that work together beautifully with all their flaws and jumbled...more

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Mar 15, 2010 Liz Findlay rated it 4 of 5 stars

My mother in law gave me this book for Christmas-- it's one of her favorite books. I have to say after finishing it, it just made me love her even more.

I especially enjoyed reading this book as a woman of faith myself. At first glance (or rather, through the first several chapters) it was too easy to say that my faith was very different than hers, and that my own experiences fell at the opposite end of the (faith?)spectrum. However, by the end, it was clear that there wasn't that much different...more

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Aug 13, 2007 Erin rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm having a hard time identifying why I didn't really enjoy this book. Many of the stories and the related "morals" resonated with me and the author presents them in a very palatable form which is surprising to me given the strong christian current running throughout the book. But yet, I did not look forward to picking this up and found myself reading it just to get it over with.

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Feb 15, 2009 Megan rated it 1 of 5 stars

Anne Lamott writes sharp, funny, clever prose -- another of her books, _Bird by Bird_, really does give wonderful advice on writing and is how I was initially introduced to her. This book is a number of essays on a variety of issues -- getting older, handicapped people, what you can learn when you hurt yourself on a ski slope. She can be quite smart and very cute. But although she has a "love everyone" approach and is all about forgiving and laughing through life's brokenness and hurt... it all...more Anne Lamott writes sharp, funny, clever prose -- another of her books, _Bird by Bird_, really does give wonderful advice on writing and is how I was initially introduced to her. This book is a number of essays on a variety of issues -- getting older, handicapped people, what you can learn when you hurt yourself on a ski slope. She can be quite smart and very cute. But although she has a "love everyone" approach and is all about forgiving and laughing through life's brokenness and hurt... it all gets a little thin and stale. She is, after all, in good health, with family, living in the wealthiest nation in the world. Her problems are generally problems of the soul -- and God knows, those are the hardest of all to face. But does she really face them?

In writing about abortion, her hatred against those who oppose it is bleak and glaring. And I could barely read the chapter where she helps euthanize a friend. Which is when I stopped reading. Confusion and seeking are a part of life (especially in cultures wealthy enough to have leisure for certain kinds of existential angst). I would also agree that there's a certain tender beauty in the ubiquitous inelegance of humanity. But I'm afraid this book is just an echoing of Sixties psychology -- a gushily warm philosophy (or, in some cases, really a religion) of Self that in practice is totally depressing. In so far as she escapes that philosophy, her book is beautiful; in so far as she clings to it, the book is extremely disturbing.

So it gave me a perhaps useful insight into a politics and morality much different than mine and helped high-light what areas of confluence there can be. (It might be worth a read for priests and seminarians who want to understand the mind of the Sixties generation which is still very much with us.) But, in the end, I am enough spoiled by the Academic approach to chuck aside a book with a tinge of disgust that vilified any politics or morality besides its own while failing to be conscious (or honest) about its own inner contradictions and problems.(less)

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Nov 03, 2007 Jeannine rated it 2 of 5 stars

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 to Chr...more

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Jun 26, 2007 Michele rated it 5 of 5 stars

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 puberty" and coming of age....more

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May 11, 2009 Lauren rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: own-it, favorites

This book is officially on my all-time favorites list. Anne Lamott shares her hilariously funny and at times deeply moving perspective on God and her relationship with Him in a way that makes me want to immediately drop what I'm doing and take my daughter to church. I think that everyone can identify with at least one of her struggles, which range from alcoholism to the shape of her thighs.

Her imperfections, to me, make her that much more lovable. I was completely absorbed in her internal strug...more

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Aug 12, 2012 nycjinn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: heart-warming, great

I'm glad I gave Lamott another chance. A few years ago I tried to read her book "Operating Instructions" and it was, despite its few humorous moments, way too political for me at the time.

With this memoir, I found myself dog-earing pages, trying to make it easier to go back and find some of the beautiful passages and statements in this book. Lamott can be searingly, self-deprecatingly funny, but also poignant. In short, this book touched me. One particular story of her personal encounter with J...more

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Apr 28, 2013 Carol rated it 4 of 5 stars

I am taking my time reading this book, savoring each chapter. I've become tired of memoir, particularly that of someone who has been abused or who has abused herself, but this little book is different. Lamott doesn't claim to have answers, there is no self-righteousness here and no proselytizing. It's the story of someone who was without faith who came to God much to her own surprise...and, ultimately, delight and gratitude. It's nice, it's sweet but not cloying, it's a pleasure to read. I am ve...more

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Aug 11, 2011 Lisa Rathbun added it

I like, "in the Christian experience of baptism, the hope is that when you go under and you come out, maybe a little disoriented, you haven't dragged the old day along behind you. The hope, the belief, is that a new day is upon you now." I don't like, "You don't want to die when you're this upset --you get a bad room in heaven with the other hysterics, the right-to-lifers, and the exercise compulsives." I am really troubled by "I wouldn't put anything past God, because he or she is one crafty mo...more

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Apr 25, 2009 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: spiritual

The book is not about your conventional spiritual journey because Anne Lamott is anything but conventional. She writes with a directness and honesty that makes this book intense and involving but also very funny. She grew up in an unconventional family and struggled with drugs, alcohol, and eating disorders before realizing that she might not live much longer if she continued on that path. In addition, she found herself pregnant and single. If there is ever a time when you need a spiritual awake...more

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May 02, 2013 Ruth rated it 5 of 5 stars

No matter how much I enjoy a book, I'm generally fine with returning it to the library. I'm sad to do so with this one (I'll have to buy it eventually). I've loved Anne Lamott ever since reading 'Bird by Bird,' but this one is--if possible--even more personal and wonderful. I felt hungry for more on every page. The typical wit and what Newsweek calls "ruthless honesty" is definitely in place here; this is not an author who shades her meaning or writes coyly. There are no riddles or abstruse meta...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Jon rated it 4 of 5 stars

This came highly recommended by a Goodreads friend, and I've found it just as good as he said. At first I was a little put off--the author grew up on San Francisco Bay, the daughter of comfortable liberal parents, and one would suspect that she'd only have the blues 'cause she ain't got nothin' to have the blues about. But one would be wrong. She is a very sensitive, funny, and open-hearted writer, not ashamed to admit her inadequacies. She spent most of her time from high-school to early thirti...more

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Dec 27, 2012 Julie Luekenga rated it 4 of 5 stars

I love Anne Lamott's writing, especially in her non-fiction books. In Traveling Mercies, Anne writes a memoir account of her faith journey. Although she was raised in a very non-religious home, she found her way, through self-destructive behavior, to a church and ultimately to her self-designated title of "born again Christian."

But don't write off this book as a typical religious-speak book. Anne Lamott is anything but. She is left-wing, liberal, pro-choice, homosexual-compassionate and support...more

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Dec 13, 2012 Jonna added it

I'm on an Anne Lamott streak right now, reading everything she's written. I enjoyed this very much -- she's smart and funny, and always willing to share her embarrassing everyday craziness - about food, her difficulties with her hair -- and how she overcomes it through trying to be saner using twelve step strategies and her faith, which seem to be pretty similar for her.

I didn't enjoy this as much as some of her earlier work -- I think because she's been sober and faithful longer, and is calmer...more

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Jun 01, 2012 Nicolas Shump rated it 5 of 5 stars

I had experienced some significant personal crises in 2011 and at some of my lowest points I looked for signs and wonders in the midst of introspection and prayer. It seems as if my prayers were answered in the form of the work of Anne Lamott. Some of you may be aware of her writing from some of her other collections or from her commentary at Slate magazine. I was not aware of her, but picked up a copy of Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith.
Unfortunately like many books on my shelves, des...more I had experienced some significant personal crises in 2011 and at some of my lowest points I looked for signs and wonders in the midst of introspection and prayer. It seems as if my prayers were answered in the form of the work of Anne Lamott. Some of you may be aware of her writing from some of her other collections or from her commentary at Slate magazine. I was not aware of her, but picked up a copy of Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith.
Unfortunately like many books on my shelves, despite an initial infatuation, I pushed her aside for a newer more intriguing book, until she sat there gathering dust with so many other forlorn books.
So I decided to pick up this book, which is easy to leave and return to, since though it has a narrative structure, it is a collection of essays/columns that can be read piecemeal too.
The book begins with a poem from W.S. Merwin that emphasizes the importance of being thankful and of actually saying "Thank You" throughout the day and throughout one's life. It is a theme that Lamott returns to over and over again in these various pieces. Lamott is a brutally honest writer and I very much admire this trait of her writing. She gives you her story warts and all, even if it makes her look bad in the process. She unflinchingly portrays her battles with poverty, addiction, a parade of lovers and failed relationships, and her unusual path to faith in God and her embrace of Christianity. She is the product of a divorce between a father who grew up in China as the child of missionaries and a quietly suffering mother who when she divorces Lamott's father, moves to Hawaii to pursue a new life as an attorney after working her way through law school. Lamott writes about her father, with whom she lived after the divorce and who she was clearly closer too. However, I do wonder what type of relationship she has/had with her mother. In lieu of a nuclear family, Lamott finds a circle of friends, some religious and some not. She also has the blessing of her son, Sam, who she raises as a single mother. Perhaps most importantly for her faith, Lamott finds a spiritual home in a very multicultural and socioeconomically diverse parish.
Though Lamott's story is a conversion narrative of sorts, it has an organic feel to it that I find particularly credible. She shows that faith is a process, one that continues even after you have found your faith. I can definitely confirm this in my own life.
What I will take away from Lamott's work is that despite our best efforts and most fervent wishes, we will suffer misfortunes and tragedies. Friends will die, lovers will come and go, but life continues to go on. We cannot stop it from happening, short of ending our own life. So we are left with a choice as to how to deal with this? I know that during my own "dark night of the soul", I often wished for life to end or for my life to return to a less difficult time. However, I had to finally realize that I cannot turn back the clock to avoid all the mistakes and foolish actions I have taken over time. Instead, I had to find a way to go on, to continue to eat, sleep, work. In other words, I willed myself to keep on living. And often slowly, over time, we realize that the darkness has lifted from our heart and our lives. To what do we this attribute to? For believers like Lamott and me, we might call it the tender mercies of faith or perhaps even a moment of grace. I know that for me, reading the work of Anne Lamott has been one of those small mercies in my life. I am immeasurably grateful for her writing and for her candid and heartfelt Christian witness. (less)

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Feb 19, 2012 Breakfastinmoscow rated it 5 of 5 stars

It’s an autobiography about a stringy-haired, former bulimic, funny, gentle, honest and awkward writer from California.

I love the writing and the honesty and how it makes me laugh in the metro.

Anne Lamott is one of my favorite writers. It’s interesting to hear her thoughts on faith, and it makes me think about what it means to be a Christian.

Like how I’ve been one of those Christians who “seemed almost hostile in their belief that they were saved and you weren’t.”* Which is sad, but very, very t...more

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Oct 15, 2011 James Swenson rated it 2 of 5 stars

I was hoping to like this book, but I couldn't. Now, as I write this review, I'm becoming more sympathetic than I was while reading it, but not so much that I'd recommend reading the book.

Going in, I thought that I was right in the target audience for Traveling Mercies (liberal Christian). Now I'm not sure who might be in the target audience, apart from the author herself.

In fact, the subtitle, "Some Thoughts on Faith," could probably stand to be amended to "Some Thoughts on Anne Lamott." The du...more

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Sep 17, 2011 Mark Oppenlander rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: theology

Anne Lamott is the perfect antidote for anyone who thinks that all evangelical Christians are straight-laced, right-wing conservatives. Growing up the child of left-wing, atheistic, Bay-area radicals and coping with alcoholism, drugs and even bulimia, it is a miracle that she came to faith at all - or even survived her own self destructive tendencies.

In a delightful, ruggedly honest yet whimsical fashion, Lamott describes her unlikely journey from emptiness to reluctant searching to an even more...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Jeff rated it 5 of 5 stars

I finished Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott. The book was a very easy read and at times almost made me pee myself from laughter.

The book has not direct theme running through it. Each chapter stands on its own. It is written in the "Blue Like Jazz" format, except I think this book came out before "Blue Like Jazz" so I guess "Blue Like Jazz" was written in the "Traveling Mercies" format. In face you could say that I am behind the times in reading these books. Who wants to read a review of a book w...more

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Jul 22, 2011 Emily rated it 1 of 5 stars

I recently read both Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott and The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Lemmon. Traveling Mercies is, in my opinion, everything that's wrong with faith-based books - it's all talk. It is the author rhapsodizing about her personal experiences with faith, which is such a highly personal topic that I can't imagine anyone actually wanting to read someone else's, when we all have our own. Dressmaker, on the other hand, is not intended to be a book on faith, but was highly ins...more

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Jun 12, 2011 Rebecca rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 23, 2011 Jenifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

I liked Lamott's tenderness in the face of real-life situations. I liked her love of community and her reverence for friendship. I liked her admissions of growth and progress while also recognizing her own human error and frailty. She reminded me to be more forgiving and to look for grace in the everyday. I am a better person for having read this.

A couple of things I really liked;

p82. "I called all my smartest friends. All the ones who believe in God told me to pray, so I did. Here are the two...more

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Jan 25, 2010 Kat rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have had the fortune to not only hear Anne Lammott speak, but also to meet her in person. I had just graduated from college and was working as a rep for a box office when Lammott approached me at the Will Call station for a literary event in San Francisco one night. I told her I had seen her speak at my school in San Diego, and found her writing immensely inspirational. She graciously received the the compliment with a cool, yet friendly "Thank you. I like your glasses."

While I haven't had any...more

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Oct 30, 2009 Jan rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is a collection of the author's thoughts and reflections on many and various subjects. She is a satirical, tongue-in-cheek comedian. Here are just a few of my favorites (some are rather thought provoking and serious).

"The two best prayers I know: 'Help me, help me, help me.' AND 'Thank you, thank you, thank you.'"
"Where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure." Rumi
"I've been thinking of killing myself, but I need to lose five pounds first."
"The glasses of puberty make us see all...more

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Jun 15, 2009 Beverly rated it 5 of 5 stars

I am not a person comfortable with organized religion or discussions of faith and had a friend not lent me this book in a pile of other books, I might not have picked it up. But I'm very glad that I did. Anne Lamott's irreverence and humor made this a wonderfully likeable book and an enjoyable read. I could clearly relate to her as she was roughly the age I am now when she wrote the book, and the mother of a child who was just turning 8 at the end of the book - roughly the same age as my oldest...more

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About Anne Lamott

Anne Lamott is an author of several novels and works of non-fiction. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, her non-fiction works are largely autobiographical, with strong doses of self-deprecating humor and covering such subjects as alcoholism, single motherhood, and Christianity. She appeals to her fans because of her sense of humor, her deeply felt insights, and her outspoken views on topics such...more

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Books by Anne Lamott

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“It's funny: I always imagined when I was a kid that adults had some kind of inner toolbox full of shiny tools: the saw of discernment, the hammer of wisdom, the sandpaper of patience. But then when I grew up I found that life handed you these rusty bent old tools - friendships, prayer, conscience, honesty - and said 'do the best you can with these, they will have to do'. And mostly, against all odds, they do.” — 188 people liked it

“Man is born broken. He lives by mending. The grace of God is glue” — 101 people liked it

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