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nrt43's review
4.0
This book is (I think) an extension of her TED talk. I assume the book came after the talk, but they both look at 12 ideas that she "knows for sure" - things that apply to everyone. I love these sort of books where older folks with some wisdom reflect on what they know. To me it feels almost like cheating on a test, ha. But this is great! Lamott includes plenty to laugh about and to ponder. It's a great, little book.
egould1's review
5.0
It’s possible that the current pandemic circumstances have upped my rating, but as always, Lamott’s words are just right when I need them. I needed these words of hope. My favorite part was the prelude - paradoxes, hope and hopelessness, light and darkness. Lamott’s words provide reminders of truth during an especially paradoxical time.
trisha_thomas's review
3.0
“More than any other sentence I have ever come across, I love Ram Dass’s line that when all is said and done, we are all just walking each other home.”
We're in weird times, all stuck at home due to a pandemic. So I'm just scrolling through my libraries audio books and this one popped up. In no way is it my normal kind of story, but I figured...why not?
It was interesting but a bit all over. The title is accurate, it's filled with a little bit of a lot of stuff. But it didn't really get into anything big....except it hit home loving those as they pass and....God. Not really God with a capital G but....it was still quite a bit about a higher power.
Meh. Either way, it was interesting and the author had a unique voice.
We're in weird times, all stuck at home due to a pandemic. So I'm just scrolling through my libraries audio books and this one popped up. In no way is it my normal kind of story, but I figured...why not?
It was interesting but a bit all over. The title is accurate, it's filled with a little bit of a lot of stuff. But it didn't really get into anything big....except it hit home loving those as they pass and....God. Not really God with a capital G but....it was still quite a bit about a higher power.
Meh. Either way, it was interesting and the author had a unique voice.
gilmoreguide's review
4.0
(3.5)
Anne Lamott’s new book Almost Everything: Notes on Hope is not straight path reading. It’s not her style and I, for one, am grateful for that. But if you looking for succinct advice on how to feel better about the world today, you’ll be frustrated and, maybe, disappointed. She’s a wanderer, but one who always reaches her destination. In this lovely little book, she makes the journey to wisdom with thoughts that amble between things as far-ranging as Cinnabon and Ram Dass. It’s Lamott being Lamott, but what’s not to love about a woman who describes herself as someone who “views death mostly as a significant change of address”?
Almost Everything is a series of essays that cover aging, food, friendship, self-esteem, acceptance, and family, as well as gentle jabs at just why hope feels like a futile endeavor these days. She doesn’t dive into politics, but don’t think she’s not paying attention with what’s happening in America. Rather, she wants to go beyond it. She talks about the toll so much hate takes on all of us. As for the hate we may respond with
...this was satisfying for a time. But it didn’t work as a drug, neither calming nor animating me. There is no beauty or safety in hatred. As a long-term strategy, based on craziness, it’s doomed.
She also shares the secret of her go-to source of joy, what brings her back to life when the world has deadened her. It’s one I know all too well so I loved this passage:
Books! To fling myself into a book, to be carried away to another world while being at my most grounded, on my butt or in my bed or favorite chair, is literally how I have survived being here at all. Someone else is doing the living for me…I get taken out of myself, and I get to salute all the people and experiences I recognize, with surprise and pleasure. “I so get that, but I never found the words. I know her. I am her.”
The rest of this review is at The Gilmore Guide to Books: https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2018/12/almost-everything-notes-on-hope/
Anne Lamott’s new book Almost Everything: Notes on Hope is not straight path reading. It’s not her style and I, for one, am grateful for that. But if you looking for succinct advice on how to feel better about the world today, you’ll be frustrated and, maybe, disappointed. She’s a wanderer, but one who always reaches her destination. In this lovely little book, she makes the journey to wisdom with thoughts that amble between things as far-ranging as Cinnabon and Ram Dass. It’s Lamott being Lamott, but what’s not to love about a woman who describes herself as someone who “views death mostly as a significant change of address”?
Almost Everything is a series of essays that cover aging, food, friendship, self-esteem, acceptance, and family, as well as gentle jabs at just why hope feels like a futile endeavor these days. She doesn’t dive into politics, but don’t think she’s not paying attention with what’s happening in America. Rather, she wants to go beyond it. She talks about the toll so much hate takes on all of us. As for the hate we may respond with
...this was satisfying for a time. But it didn’t work as a drug, neither calming nor animating me. There is no beauty or safety in hatred. As a long-term strategy, based on craziness, it’s doomed.
She also shares the secret of her go-to source of joy, what brings her back to life when the world has deadened her. It’s one I know all too well so I loved this passage:
Books! To fling myself into a book, to be carried away to another world while being at my most grounded, on my butt or in my bed or favorite chair, is literally how I have survived being here at all. Someone else is doing the living for me…I get taken out of myself, and I get to salute all the people and experiences I recognize, with surprise and pleasure. “I so get that, but I never found the words. I know her. I am her.”
The rest of this review is at The Gilmore Guide to Books: https://gilmoreguidetobooks.com/2018/12/almost-everything-notes-on-hope/
amb3rlina's review
3.0
These essays felt scattered and a little careless. That could have been on the part of the author or yours truly. Enjoyable but ultimately I didn't take much away other than some lovely lines here and there.
lindseyfranson's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
3.5