Anne Lamott

When I worked at the Green Mountain Inn I became a little obsessed with the Stowe Public Library. There are really only a handful of things that make Stowe at all worthwhile...the dump, Amy's cafe, the quiet trail.... and the public library. It's a cool enough place that kids, high school kids, file off the school bus after school to hang out there. I know that I didn't hang out at the public library when I was high school.

It's two blocks from the inn and during slow times, which was most of the time, I'd spend hours in there. It was through that library that I discovered the author Anne Lamott. After I read every book of hers that they had on their shelves, I began getting others through their inter-library loan program. I left my job at the inn at the end of June to buy the coffee shop and by that time there was only one book of Anne Lamott's that I hadn't yet read. It was the first book she ever published... Joe Jones...and it's been nearly a year that I've wondered about it.

She's written some great non-fiction... a book called Operating Instructions about her first year as a mother. She glorifies nothing and made me laugh till I almost peed my pants. She also wrote a book called Bird by Bird ~ Instructions on Writing and Life. Loving to write as much I do, this book became a kind of bible for me. She's also written some non-fiction stuff on faith and how much George Bush sucks and how life is still a beautiful thing even when her good friends die of cancer and the planet is in such a state of disarray.

Her fiction is full of sweet, solid friendships and candid detail on the day to day motions of simply being. She moves from gorgeous prose to the simple mundane in one graceful swoop... but seems to take your breath away while she does it.

On my way to the airport, I stopped at one of the box store bookstores, much as it goes against my better judgement. I just didn't have the time to go into Burlington to patronize the Crow Used Bookstore. Five minutes into the experience of perusing the new fiction shelves, I started to get riddled with serious anxiety. Too many options. Too little time. Way too much room for potential disappointment. I had two long days of air travel and it had to be a book worthy of distracting me from uncomfortable seats and turbulence.

After a solid ten minutes of that anxiety, I was reminded of Anne Lamott and that one, last book that I had yet to read. I hopped my little behind on the escalator and found the L aisle of the fiction section and, lo and behold, there was Joe Jones.

Call it fateful divinity, but it turns out that Anne Lamott's very first novel, the only book I had yet to read, was centered around a small town cafe and the close woven dynamics of the owners/workers/patrons. It was like I took the very best elements of my new barista coffee shop owner life with me on that trip. It was like she put it all to music. Made poetry out of it. I came home, re-opened the shop and started to wonder who our Eva is and who our Willie is.... started to see each of my regulars as characters. Started to think of how this is all incredibly tied together... this little town, this little coffee shop community... the history, the stories, the characters.

I've been considering asking some of them if I could have the freedom to write little blips on them here and there... especially Old Bob, who I've mentioned before on this blog. He's got a pretty wild life story and even though he repeats it at least four times a week to whoever sidles up to him at the bar...I figured I should ask anyway. Of course, he had no idea what a blog is and didn't mind at all if I tell his stories. Which I'll do.... but not now. Right now I have to go take pictures of my brother's beautiful photography now hanging in the shop and then I have to post them here so he can see them!