Operating Instructions

My goal is to read 100 books by the end of 2013.  I just finished book 68.

Operating Instructions: a Journal of my Son's First Year by Anne Lamott

Summary:
Published in 1993, this book is (as the title states) an account of the first year of her son Sam's life, from the mundane pleas for sleep to the deeper struggles of being a single mom and watching her dear friend battle cancer.

My Opinion:
I really like the author's writing style.  It's conversational and calm and while it does have great emotion, she doesn't beat you over the head with it.  It felt very personal but also global, so even though I don't know the people she talks about and we don't have many experiences in common, I could still relate.  Even though it was written over 20 years ago, it wasn't dated since it was mainly about her feelings and concerns as a mother and those base instincts (am i doing okay? are they healthy? are they happy?) never change...if you overlook the occasional references to Polaroids and Walkmans (and the quite frequent references to George H.W. Bush for some reason), it could have been written yesterday.
I'm interested to see how their family journey continued and plan to read Some Assembly Required, which has the same format but is about Sam's son, her first grandchild, very soon.        

Quote from the Book:
"Still, you know what the name Samuel means?  It means 'God has heard', like God heard me, heard my heart, and gave me the one thing that's ever worked in my entire life, someone to love."