Help, Thanks, Wow

If you have someone in your life you’d like to introduce to prayer, Anne Lamott’s book, Help, Thanks, Wow: the three essential prayers, (Riverhead, 2012) may be your best bet. It’s irreverent enough to make the uninitiated feel comfortable and insightful enough to shock them. What could be better?

If you have a seeker in your life, someone who is trudging down the path of life and spirit and pain Help, Thanks, Wow will be a wonderful respite from the journey. It’s a little oasis of a book, a refreshing conversation with a fellow traveler. You will laugh and nod your head as you read this book, and so will your seeker friends.

If you have someone in your life who’s awash in tragedy, not in the thick of it, but in the aftermath; someone who’s angry, who’s maybe lost faith and is or is not trying to put on a brave face, Help, Thanks, Wow is just the book. Anne Lamott doesn’t sweeten things up, doesn’t wear rose colored glasses and doesn’t pretend that everything is beautiful and nothing hurts. She is just the friend you want to see in the hospital or at the funeral home.

Help, Thanks, Wow is a very slim volume, the perfect size for a quiet evening. I will give it to friends and family for years to come, like banana bread at Christmas. Anne Lamott has given us all a great gift with this book, and I hope you’ll share it with those you love.

— Jeff Jay