In the "third third" of her life, best-selling author Lamott recognizes that she can be judgmental and worried. After all, the environment is damaged, the globe is warming, Covid-19 is rampant, and there's a lunatic in the White House. Still, she manages to face life with her characteristic offbeat faith and hilarious insights. With a new husband enhancing and complicating her life, Lamott seeks a way for all of us to recover our faith, hope, and optimism. We're all flawed, says Lamott, but no one is more honest or funnier about their shortcomings than she is. Whether she's waiting for a flight that's been delayed for 14 hours or searching for a missing kitten or recalling an embarrassing pre-sobriety outing or teaching Sunday school, Lamott is painfully precise in her confessions. Also notable is how her strong faith seems to break through during even the darkest moments, bringing light and hope. Growing older is not for the weak, and every aging person faces loss of mobility, hearing, and focus. But Lamott reminds us that "we have seen life self-correct again and again." We all need to march together and share our stories, Lamott observes, because in the end truth, science, and love almost always win. A message of reason and hope we all need to hear.

Bestseller Lamott (Almost Everything) explores the relationships between personal anxieties and larger social concerns in these quiet, often darkly humorous reflections. Citing recent "crushing developments" in UN reports on the effects of climate change and mass extinctions, Lamott wonders how to have faith and take joy in a world on the brink of disaster. "Salvation," she writes, "will be local, grassroots," and manifested through loving acts between individuals. Concentrating on being more intentional and focusing on small changes in one's personal life, she writes, allows hope to grow and to serve as the first step to larger societal changes. Lamott argues that people too often block themselves from love through perfectionism, self-loathing, cowardice, and the fear of being vulnerable with others. She also weighs in on domestic matters, including problems both weighty (alcoholism) and trivial (how one's new spouse does the laundry). To her credit, Lamott turns a pessimistic mindset on its head with the difficult question: "What holds when you and your family are walking toward extinction?" Her answer: kindness, humility, words of love, and stories of when the worst seemed possible, but it turned out okay. Lamott's many fans will enjoy this ode to relishing small things. (Mar.)

By turns wise, funny, tragic, mystical, visionary, and imaginative, Lamott's latest book after Almost Everything: Notes on Hope will appeal to a wide range of readers who have previously enjoyed her relatable writing. Readers new to Lamott are opening themselves to a real treat, as her abilities as a storyteller are in full form in this latest book. Beginning with her first marriage at age 65, Lamott, proceeds to detail her life with a characteristic humor based in profound spirituality, offering insight into relationships with her husband, father, and spiritual advisers. Though she is a born-again Christian, she also shares how friendships with Buddhists and Jesuits have influenced her life and teachings. Amusing anecdotes are offered throughout. Her Sunday school students bring her great joy and frustrations. She riffs on the Grimm fairy tale of Six Swans, noting how she relates to the youngest brother with one arm and one wing: "weird, beautiful, hobbled, beloved." Although each chapter stands on its own and can be read separately, the full impact of the book comes toward the end when Lamott writes about the events that led to her recovery from alcoholism. VERDICT Another standout from Lamott that will have wide appeal.--David Azzolina, Univ. of Pennsylvania Libs., Philadelphia