Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year
Registered by 
GoryDetails
of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 9/10/2013
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
GoryDetails of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 9/10/2013 This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
I've really enjoyed Lamott's non-fiction, and had read and released copies of this one some time back, so I was glad to find another release copy. This one's a slightly-battered trade paperback that I got at the big library book sale in Chelmsford MA.
Lamott's interesting to read - wickedly funny, sporadically spiritual, and given to wild swings of mood from euphoria to black depression and back again. As a survivor of long-term alcohol and drug abuse, she's not what comes to mind as the ideal mother, and yet her "operating instructions" journal of the first year of her son's life is really wonderful - she covers the sublime, the incredibly difficult, and the ridiculous aspects of child-rearing, along with forays into the meaning of faith and the value of friendship. Funny and heartbreaking by turns... I'm not a "baby" person at all, but I really enjoyed this book [all the while being profoundly thankful that it wasn't happening to me!].
Samples:
And this one, which pretty much typifies her world view, I think:
I should perhaps caution potential readers that Lamott's language tends towards the, um, colorful. OK, crude, with side trips into the obscene. But if you like a little vinegar with your lyricism, give her a try.
Lamott's interesting to read - wickedly funny, sporadically spiritual, and given to wild swings of mood from euphoria to black depression and back again. As a survivor of long-term alcohol and drug abuse, she's not what comes to mind as the ideal mother, and yet her "operating instructions" journal of the first year of her son's life is really wonderful - she covers the sublime, the incredibly difficult, and the ridiculous aspects of child-rearing, along with forays into the meaning of faith and the value of friendship. Funny and heartbreaking by turns... I'm not a "baby" person at all, but I really enjoyed this book [all the while being profoundly thankful that it wasn't happening to me!].
Samples:
"Sam is two weeks old today. His umbilical cord fell off. I'm probably supposed to feel like the cord is very lovely and natural, but I must say I'm going to be able to live without it somehow. It's like something a long-haired cat would get stuck in her tail."
And this one, which pretty much typifies her world view, I think:
"Now there is something that could happen that I could not survive: I could lose Sam. I look down into his staggeringly lovely little face, and I can hardly breathe sometimes. He is all I have ever wanted, and my heart is so huge with love that I feel like it is about to go off. At the same time I feel that he has completely ruined my life, because I just didn't used to care all that much.
"God, they sure shit a lot, don't they?"
I should perhaps caution potential readers that Lamott's language tends towards the, um, colorful. OK, crude, with side trips into the obscene. But if you like a little vinegar with your lyricism, give her a try.
Journal Entry 2 by GoryDetails at Brookdale Farm in Hollis, New Hampshire USA on Sunday, September 22, 2013
GoryDetails at Brookdale Farm in Hollis, New Hampshire USA on Sunday, September 22, 2013
Released 10 yrs ago (9/22/2013 UTC) at Brookdale Farm in Hollis, New Hampshire USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
I left this book on the hay-bale giant at Brookdale Farm at around 4 or so; hope the finder enjoys it!*** Released as part of the 2013 You're Such an Animal release challenge, for the embedded "rat" in the title. ***
*** Released as part of the 2013 September Sapphire release challenge, for the blue cover. ***
