Glad to be in the world with Anne Lamott

I was in the sold-out crowd last Friday night as two of my favorite authors, Anne Lamott and Elizabeth Gilbert, spoke at UCLA. Highlights were Elizabeth Gilbert's funny and graceful opening talk about Anne, and then Anne's hilarious reading of "Ski Patrol" from her latest book "Grace (Eventually)," in which she falls off a chairlift and pretends to be fine.

Anne Lamott's talk picked up the conversation right where her books leave off; launching into diatribes about her legendary fears and hangups, raising her son Sam, railing at the Bush administration, ministering to friends, loving Jesus, staying sober, getting older. The difference in hearing her speak, rather than reading her books, is an appreciation for her comic sense of timing. My side ached from holding in laughs so that I wouldn't miss her next witticism. My friend Kir now has a tiny (okay, HUGE) crush on her.

Elizabeth Gilbert has sold four million copies of Eat, Pray, Love. If you haven't read it yet, or any of Anne Lamott's collected essays, I suggest you join the next wave of the women's movement and do so immediately.

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