Operating Instructions is an amazing chronicle of the first year of Anne Lamott’s life with her baby boy.  It describes the best and worst of mothering a newborn infant and she faces up to feelings that aren’t easy to acknowledge since having a baby is pretty idealized in our world.  She is a single mom, so there are special challenges and feelings that come up because of that.

My only complaint is that she talks about god way too much.  Obviously, I am not religious and this got tedious after a while.  She would even bring it up when it didn’t even seem relevant to what she was saying. Overall, it was a great read and is a good gift for any expecting parent since it can really help prepare them for the reality of it.