I should have read Traveling Mercies a while ago, it’s been on my reading list, I just never got around to it. Anyways, my wife has been a reading machine, and I had recently recommended Lamott, which she devoured in less then a week. She enjoyed it so I figured I should read it next.
Lamott is a great author. I want to write like her. Some things I noticed that she does is she gives very specific allusions. She’ll randomly reference specific characters in movies or she’ll give vivid word pictures. For example:

I’m unclear about the fine line between good parenting and being overly protective. I get stumped by the easy test questions – like whether I should let Sam ride his two-wheeler for several blocks without me when I secretly want to run alongside him like a golden retriever. He wants to walk to a friend’s house; I want him to stay inside and draw while I sit on the front porch with a shotgun across my lap like Granny Clampett.

Unfortunately, we have no front porch
-p.81

Or this priceless gem…

“…such awful thoughts that I cannot even say them because they would make Jesus want to drink gin straight out of the cat dish.”

I tried to write a little using her style, but I don’t think my mind is at the creatively imaginative stage Lamott’s is at. She’s also very raw in her honest. I think that might disturb people at times, but it’s only disturbing in that she’s willing to share her secrets in a way others of us are not.
Traveling Mercies is more or less a random collection of essays, I don’t think there is any terribly defined theme running through, but each one is unique and adorable in its own right. Definitely recommend you pick it up.

Here are a few more quotes I enjoyed:

Again and again I tell God I need help, and God says, “Well isn’t that fabulous? Because I need help too. So you go get that old woman over there some water, and I’ll figure out what we’re going to do about your stuff.”

..Grace thought it had been just fine. “It was what it was,” she shrugged. But I knew it hadn’t gone well – even her husband said it had been a disaster. And my fear of failure has been lifelong and deep. If you are what you do – and I think my parents may have accidentally given me this idea – and you do poorly, what then? It’s over; you’re wiped out. All those prophecies you heard in the dark have come true, and people can see the real you, see what a schmendrick you are, what a fraud. -p.142