Early on, Anne Lamott writes a sentence that neatly sums up this memoir and perhaps her whole oeuvre: "this is life on life's terms, not Annie's." In Lamott's case, life surprised her with an early grandchild from her young son, Sam, then 19. She recounts her dutiful support and earnest reliability during the stressful birth and first year of the new family. As in her other writing, Lamott here discusses her feelings about events with honesty and openness. Unfortunately, nothing exceptional is going on, and neither Lamott's overwrought prose nor her overlong explanations can mask the tedium. VERDICT The authors' lack of skill as narrators destroy this as an audio title; Anne's monotonous, overly serious honk grates after just a few seconds, and Sam's quiet passages reflect his dewy-eyed outlook. For fans only. [The Riverhead hc was a New York Times best seller.]-Douglas C. Lord, Connecticut State Lib., Middletown (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year (1993), Lamott humorously and poignantly chronicled the sometimes painful, often joyful ups and downs of raising her son, Sam, as a single mother. Twenty years later, when Sam announces that he is going to become a father, Lamott is stunned, disappointed, overjoyed, and hopeful. Much as she did in her reflections on Sam's first year, she and Sam chronicle her grandson Jax's birth and all of the tremendous anxieties and life-altering events that it brings. Throughout this first year of being a grandmother, Lamott lives by two slogans: " 'Figure it out' is not a good option," and "Ask and allow-ask God, and allow grace in." Through e-mails, interviews, and letters, Lamott and Sam sort out the difficulties and pleasures of raising a child, but Lamott devotes the bulk of the journal to sorting out her own feelings of love, anger, bewilderment, and happiness. She observes that her son and his son share deep powers of observation and focus, though as a baby Sam was more edgy in his watchfulness and Jax has a sturdy, calm quality. She learns that her job is simply to help keep Jax safe, support his explorations, and not have a complete collapse all the time from loving someone so deeply. Lamott's insights into grandmotherhood are hardly profound or startling, but her canny ability to see the extraordinary in the ordinary with wit and irreverence makes for an entertaining ride through Jax's first year. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Lamott burst onto the literary scene in 1993 with Operating Instructions, her achingly honest account of her son Sam's first year of life, endearing herself to single mothers, parents, and even nonparents. She is set to do the same thing now for grandparenthood, as she and Sam explore their first year with Sam's son, Jax. When Sam announced that he and recent girlfriend Amy were about to become parents, Lamott reacted as only Lamott could, with a joyful Oh, yes! followed by a fearful Oh, no! After all, at fiftysomething, she was too young to be a grandmother, and at 19, Sam was too young to be a father. But tell all that to Jax, who is, of course, the Perfect Baby. That his parents' relationship is less so is a source of constant consternation for Lamott, who tries to fix things in her own inimitable and irritating way. Funny, frantic, and frustrating, Lamott enthusiastically embraces this new chapter in her life, learning that she is a wiser grandparent than parent who, nevertheless, managed to produce one pretty remarkable son. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Best-selling Lamott will delight her avid fans and attract new readers among fellow grandparents as she goes on a national tour and makes media appearances.--Haggas, Carol Copyright 2010 Booklist