The book that made me feel sane, during those early weeks of baby when I could do nothing more than stagger about, nurse, and gasp for water. Lamott is funny, poignant and accurate. My copy (paperback) is dog-eared and marked with pen. And, for the record, it's one of maybe a half dozen books I've ever read twice (once while I was pregnant, and again when Bean was born). Edgy, reverent, and slap-stick, reading this memoir of Lamott's first year with her Sam, is like having someone make you tea and rub your feet while riding a roller coaster. Both comforting and unnerving, she tells the universal story of new parenthood, but makes it uniquely her own.