Anne Lamott Speaks Tonight

Lots of people love Anne Lamott. Us? Well, we're big fans of Bird by Bird, and moderate fans of Operating Instructions. Then, around the time Traveling Mercies came out, we kind of burned out on Annie. We're not sure if she's gotten more precious as time goes on, or if we've just gotten more sensitive to it, but over the years, as we read more and more of her Salon.com columns, we became less and less enthralled.

That said, we admire anyone willing to tell an audience full of Catholics that abortion is a good thing. And she's got a devoted following, people who love her way of speaking truth to power -- and to herself.

Lamott's in town today to promote her most recent book, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith. The LA Times says it's full of "essays that are howlingly funny mini-sermons, reminding us of what's important in life, pointing out the ways she believes our country has strayed from its core values and exhorting readers to go easy on themselves and with each other." Our intuition says it's not likely to change our recent opinion of Lamott's work.

You can judge for yourself tonight at Seattle First Baptist Church at 7:00.