Traveling Mercies by Ann Lamott

Women, Wine, and the Word will read Anne Lamott’s bestseller Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith and meet on June 17. Contact Diane Schmidt or the Church Office for further information.

First published in 1999, and still in print, California author Anne Lamott's collection of nonfiction essays about her spiritual evolution is an irreverent, often humorous exploration of faith and what it means for the author.

Traveling Mercies is divided into thematic sections, beginning with "Overture: Lily Pads,"

which explains how Lamott became a devout (albeit flawed) Christian after a lifetime of struggle and hopelessness. She compares each step toward faith to an accident, steps that eventually led her to a Presbyterian Church that welcomed her despite her checkered past—which included drug and alcohol abuse, struggles with eating disorders, and sexual promiscuity.

In “Overture” she recalls how various religious people she encountered in her prior life impacted her views on God: from Catholics to Christian Scientists to a born-again English teacher named Sue to the Jewish liberals she met in college. After struggling for years to reject the presence of God, Lamott finally accepted her faith and found a spiritual family at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Marin City, where she today leads its Christian Education program. Her most recent book is Somehow: Thoughts on Love, 2024.