Anne Lamott and Donald Miller Book Reviews

What can I say? She's great. She's Anne Lamott. You're gonna get Anne Lamott. She's creative, self-concious, and runs her space. She's like the writer you read about when you read about writers. They're lonely, but eventually they created their own lonliness. You may not want to hang out with Anne Lamott because she seems annoyed by people; but when she does like somebody, they're the greatest human being on earth. She hates George Bush, and refers to God as a she, and always mentions her female pastor's name, Veronica, like she invented them, and none of this bothers me.

What bothers me is this new writing style: You jot down journal entries, hilight the good-ones, and make a book out of them every three years. It's a machine, and your name's the brand. It's also a giant wall and no one, by doing this same thing, gets can scale it.

To be fair, I love this book. I want to send my copy right to my mother, hoping the "she's" and "Veronica's" and the "I hate George Bush's" will lure her closer to Jesus. Or maybe she'll be drawn by the chapter on losing her mother. My mom has two boxes of cremated humanity in her house, my grandma, and this old lady my mom befriended. She has other boxes of ash in her soul that she needs to bury as well, and Lamott's metaphor was not wasted on me. Read it, but be female first, and live a few years, too.


Miller, who may or may not be reading my story right now, has a similar style and love's (I hear) Anne. The book I just finished reading by him has it's share of journal entry-like entries, some stretched to fill chapters; and the big one is saved for last, the Romeo and Juliet/Church comparison, which I loved. It was actually a great book, because he maintained his theme and paid it off. It's a step further, theologically, than his first book, and you can tell he's been taking some classes. I like a raw look at God, unincumbered by establishment theology and Church paradigm.

Okay, if I seem pissed right now, it's because I already wrote this long article and lost it, because blogger crashed, and if it crashes again, I'll be doubly pissed, and will write worse reviews of both authors! (Sorry about that)

Anyways. Both books are great, but I need to pick up some Hem very soon, and get back to the real thing. Of course, Hem's in Hell, probably, and that will be a good title of my next entry.