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Book Review: Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
I have a crush on Anne Lamott.
When I picked up Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, I had no idea I was going to fall in love. Maybe it’s her innocent-sounding name; maybe it’s that all her books have dealt, at least in some small way, with matters of faith; maybe it’s the fact she is both a bestselling author and respected writing teacher. Whatever the reason, I had the notion that Ms. Lamott was a kindly, serious, perhaps even schoolmarmish, woman of letters.
Boy, was I wrong.
Anne Lamott has a fierce, moving, and often screamingly — wickedly — funny voice that turns a meticulous eagle-eye on whatever it is she decides to investigate. In Bird by Bird, she takes on the craft of writing. But it’s not just the processes and semantics and rules of the trade that she thoroughly dissects here. Instead, Lamott focuses her lens on the writing life: what it means to live, work, and breathe your passion for words. As the book’s subtitle suggests, this isn’t a mere manual for writing.
It’s a manual for life.
Drawing on her decades as a working writer, Lamott shows us how to live like writers. How to see like writers. How to process like writers. And how to bust through the myriad roadblocks, pitfalls, gaping maws, and yellow-police-taped zones of neuroses all of us writers have, to just get it all down. Comprised of chapters with titles like “Shitty First Drafts”, “Radio Station KFKD [K-FUCKED]“, and, one of my personal favorites, “Broccoli”, Ms. Lamott has fashioned a no-nonsense guide to tackling writing as your passion, your career, and the very stuff that flows through your veins.
Though she made me wail with laughter throughout this book, Lamott is equally adept at creating truly poignant and emotionally pure scenes and nuggets of wisdom. Some of the book’s most profound lessons come from the time she spends with her dying best friend Pammy. Like any good writer, Lamott is unafraid to look directly into those dark places and confront the inky silence head-on. But what makes her unique is her ability to experience every moment of it, no matter how painful, and then step back, tear away the layers, and marvel at the lesson beneath it all.
An added bonus of Bird by Bird is this, one of the most beautiful insights into books that I’ve ever come across:
“..for some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid pieces of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet you or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die. They are full of the things that you don’t get in real life–wonderful, lyrical language, for instance. And quality of attention: we may notice amazing details during the course of a day but we rarely let ourselves stop and really pay attention. An author makes you notice, makes you pay attention, and this is a great gift. My gratitude for good writing is unbounded; I’m grateful for it the way I’m grateful for the ocean.”
And I am grateful for Anne Lamott. Grade: A
Book Title Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Author Anne Lamott
Publisher Anchor
Year Published 1994
ISBN 0385480016
Snarkbytes Lamott’s life and work is the subject of the documentary Bird by Bird with Annie: A Film Portrait of Writer Anne Lamott, by Oscar- and Emmy-winning filmmaker Freida Lee Mock.
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7 Responses to “Book Review: Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott”
Comment away, my little snarkie-pies. But please play nicely. Poopy-pants comments (spam, hate speech) will be flushed down the shitter.
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WHAT IS A SNARK?
The Snark is a creature created by Lewis Carroll in his poem "The Hunting of the Snark". To give a proper description of Snarks, one must look no further than Carroll himself, who summed them up in one word: Unimaginable.
But this much we do know: some have feathers, some have whiskers. Snarks sleep a lot, yet they are an ambitious lot -- with very little sense of humor. They love bathing-machines and tend to bring them wherever they go; they are also handy for striking a light. Snarks live on a far-off island, a place filled with chasms and crags, and are constantly on the lookout for Snark-hunters. Their mortal enemies are hope, care, thimbles and forks.
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