Operating Instructions

A must read for new moms out there (and old moms too). And perhaps don't read it until you're actually a new mom, with a little buzzing baby running the show. I don't suppose you could relate as well to Anne Lamott's truthful, hilarious prose in the same way if your babe was still cooking in the tummy.



Laura left it for me yesterday when she packed up her bags to head back to Georgia. With explicit instructions to read it little bits at a time. But I couldn't resist and devoured half of the book on the couch yesterday whilst breastfeeding. Every other sentence is a little gem and her thoughts are yours but recorded in a deliciously funny way. And there are tender parts too, that make you wish you were making such loving, astute observations about your own baby. But for now I will be satisfied that Anne has done it for me.

To wit:

"His hair is dark brown and thick, and he has what Pammy calls pouty baby porno lips. It's a very beautiful mouth, but all you see when you look at him are his eyes. They're not quite human; they're more like those of a gentle extraterrestrial."

Operating Instructions

I will be reading it again I am certain.

(PS. I am not reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog. I want to, but it's a bit too philosophical for my brain at the moment. Instead I am reading things like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Which was great in that pure entertainment sort of way).