Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Stitches: A Handbook on Meaning, Hope, and Repair

Title: Stitches:  A Handbook on Meaning, Hope, and Repair
Author:  Anne Lamott
Publication Information:  Riverhead Hardcover. 2013. 112 pages.

Book Source:  I read this book because of an interest in the author's work.

Favorite Quote:  "The search is the meaning, the search for beauty, love, kindness and restoration in this difficult, wired and often alien modern world. The miracle is that we are here, that no matter how undone we've been the night before, we wake up every morning and are still here. It is phenomenal just to be."

Stitches is a discussion on a search for meaning in life - the different ways in which we search, what can bring us meaning, and what we can to do to see a deeper meaning even in the most ordinary things.

Throughout, the book uses the metaphor of stitches - of sewing a life together with pieces from all around us, of darning the holes, and of picking up stitches that fall. The author weaves in examples from her own life and from conversations with others.

Earlier this year I read another of Anne Lamott's books Help Thanks Wow. I thought that book would have been better as an article or essay.

This book I enjoy much more. It feels like a conversation with a friend. I also really appreciate the "stitches" metaphor. I knit, and I sew a little. So, those words and concepts speak to me. So, the ideas and are not new, but the presentation is one that appeals to me.

This book is very short and a very quick read. Well worth a look if the genre appeals to you.

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