Operating Instructions - A Journal of My Son's First Year
Registered by 
GoryDetails
of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 10/20/2015
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
GoryDetails of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 10/20/2015 This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
I found this fair-condition softcover at a local Goodwill thrift shop, and nabbed it for another release copy.
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 City Hall, 229 Main St. in Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Wednesday, October 21, 2015
GoryDetails at City Hall, 229 Main St. in Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Released 8 yrs ago (10/21/2015 UTC) at City Hall, 229 Main St. in Nashua, New Hampshire USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
I left this book propped against a lamp post near City Hall - the post bears one of the many scarecrows that ornament the downtown area for this Halloween season. Hope the finder enjoys the book! *** Released as part of the 2015 Spook-tacular release challenge, for the embedded "rat" in the title. ***
*** Released as part of the 2015 TICK TOCK release challenge. ***
