Traveling Mercies
By Anne Lamott

The autobiographical essays in this collection cover faith and family, booze, men, and self-love. They're full of the small moments in Lamott's life, the observations that make you laugh really hard and make you bawl really fast—two of my favorite activities. She talks about how the most popular prayers are "Help me, help me, help me" and "Thank you, thank you, thank you." I've read all her work, and she continually surprises me and speaks to me. One of the lines from this book that I love is: "All you can do is show up for someone in crisis. Your there-ness...can be life giving, because often everyone else is in hiding." That's just killer.

Lamott is so open and funny and honest about her own shortcomings and insecurities that you feel connected. She takes away the mystery of things like writing or religion or motherhood and makes you feel included in a very human way. I think every good book should make you feel connected to the rest of the world.