Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year by Anne Lamott; 1993. Hardcover. (Signed by Author)

Personal inscription by author on the title page

An honest, wildly enjoyable book written about motherhood, this book chronicles Anne Lamott's son's first year. A gifted writer and teacher, Lamott (Crooked Little Heart) is a single mother and ex-alcoholic with a pleasingly warped social circle and a remarkably tolerant religion to lean on. She responds to the changes, exhaustion, and love Sam brings with aplomb or outright insanity. The book rocks from hilarious to unbearably poignant when Sam's burgeoning life is played out against a very close friend's illness. No saccharine paean to becoming a parent, this touches on the rage and befuddlement that dog sweeter emotions during this sea change in one's life.