good english

Something in the last book I read (The Magician's Book) spurred me on to Deep Thoughts. I've been mulling over faith a lot. I have tons of books on paganism and texts that compare faiths, but I wanted something chewier. So I dug out my copy of Traveling Mercies, since I remembered Anne Lamott being recommended as a spiritual writer.

I didn't realize this was a collection of essays until I was two essays deep. I don't know why I didn't realize it, but no point in worrying about that now. So it wasn't quite what I was looking for in that respect -- I wanted something less disjointed -- but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Lamott is an interesting writer, although (since she has no qualms about sharing the bad as well as the good) she can come off as kind of irritating at times. In the end that makes her writing seem more honest, to me. A few times it did feel like she was trying TOO HARD to be honest, if that makes sense, but overall I liked her style. There were turns of phrase that I greatly enjoyed and shared realizations that were lovely and, for me, made the book worthwhile.

Ultimately, Traveling Mercies wasn't life-changing but it was a solid read. It only half-gave me what I was looking for at the time, but that's not the book's fault, so I can't judge it by that. There were times when the "bruises and all" writing seemed one-note and I started reading more slowly, but it was worth digging through those parts for the beautiful shiny bits.


(three-and-a-half stars)