Maybe I enjoy reading Anne's work because my family of origin was slightly less dysfunctional than her own. The formula outlined sure sounds familiar: "I love you. Now here are the rules." Or perhaps I've read so many of her non-fiction titles that I feel we are old friends chatting over tea again. There is comfort in that.

But more accurately, reading Stitches reminded me again that Anne Lamott does what other writers simply cannot do. She makes me aware of a slightly embarrassing truth: there are many Christian writers, some writers who are Christian, and then there's Anne. Anne talks about faith, nay, Christianity, in a way that makes the religion responsible for the horrors of the crusades and the inquisition look more like a gentle carpenter or a 30- year-sober single mom writing about hope and meaning in the face of loss. A viable option for real, messed up, marvelous, dear persons.

"I wish there were shortcuts to wisdom and self-knowledge: cuter abysses or three-day wilderness experiences. Sadly, it doesn't work this way. I so resent this." (33)

"While it is hard to fathom who we are and how we are to live when public chaos shatters our routine, the slow-motion pain of each private death and cataclysm we endure is harder. Each slams us off our feet, yet we have agreed to pretend to be fine again at some point, ideally as soon as possible, so as not to seem self-indulgent or embarrass anybody. Then people can get on with their lives." (37)

Anne invite others to share in the redemption process wrought by God (shorthand for good in the world), and flows along (with spurts of rapture and resentment), unencumbered by the multi-level marketing of friendship evangelism or the nagging desire for validation of her perspective. Some writers leave me ashamed, not of the gospel, but chagrined by their sales-y voices that claim roles as gospel messengers through print.

Anne just claims to be Anne. Getting older. Still distressed and amazed by life and what comes of living it with caring friends who may have dental hygiene issues. ( )

Not my favorite Anne Lamott book, but still contains some gems on how to make sense of this awful condition called life. My feelings about this book are skewed a bit, as I finished it after a particularly hard day and was looking for something a bit more...I don't know what I was looking for. I liked this book well enough, and will give it as a gift to a couple of people I have in mind. ( )

Okay, NOW Anne Lamott has really won me over! This book is like a piece of Dove dark chocolate--small, but rich in a way that makes you want to roll it around on your tongue and let it melt slowly. I probably read it too fast, actually, but I have a feeling I'll be coming back to it again and again, so that's okay for now. ( )

Thanks to Amazon's new Prime Audible content, I was able to enjoy this book again - though I can't find when I read it before - I certainly recognized the stories, and they're worth reading again.

Lamott reflects on life, how we find meaning and how, thanks to the stitches we use to hold things together, find a good life. ( )

What do we do when life lurches out of balance? How can we reconnect to one other and to what’s sustaining, when evil and catastrophe seem inescapable?

These questions lie at the heart of Stitches, Lamott’s profound follow-up to her New York Times–bestselling Help, Thanks, Wow. In this book Lamott explores how we find meaning and peace in these loud and frantic times; where we start again after personal and public devastation; how we recapture wholeness after loss; and how we locate our true identities in this frazzled age. We begin, Lamott says, by collecting the ripped shreds of our emotional and spiritual fabric and sewing them back together, one stitch at a time.

It’s in these stitches that the quilt of life begins, and embedded in them are strength, warmth, humor, and humanity. ( )