Unlock the Power of Prayer with Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers

Scott: This was a recommendation from an apple news podcast featuring Rainn Wilson. I immediately ordered this book and cracked it open just for a quick overview only to find that was not an option. It was an unexpected treasure. This is a wow.

United States on Jul 11, 2023

Mary Jean: Anne Lamott is so original and outstanding. She puts into words what we are obsessing about. And somehow, this takes the pressure off…

Germany on Jan 31, 2023

Lydia Fleming: Anne Lamott’s perception of life is extraordinary. She views life in a calm, loving way. The way that she writes gives you the opportunity to share in this perception. You are with her and she with you.

United Kingdom on Jan 07, 2021

katie kate: Anne Lamott tells it as it is. There's no fancy paper or pretty bow to tie everything up with, she lays her thoughts and testimony out on the table. Refreshing, challenging and thought provoking.
She's also funny and had me smiling and laughing out loud which is great, but did cringe at her total honesty at times as well. Go girl!
I shared one or two things from this book with a friend of mine which got her laughing. She is now going to buy it. I'm in my 60s and I really enjoyed the reading.

United Kingdom on Oct 18, 2017

Thyme: I was first introduced to Anne Lamott's writing about 25 years ago when I read her book, Bird by Bird. It was a book about how to write and from that moment she became one of my favorite authors. Help, Thanks, Wow is a wonderful book that I have underlined and reread over and over again. Her writing has a voice that many of us can relate to. It's honest and you can feel her pain. She writes with humor to balance the good with the bad. Something that is so important to learn as we go through life. Her descriptions help you see, feel, and smell when she describes "autumn...the colors are broccoli and flame and fox fur. The tang is apples. The rot smells faintly of grapes..." She tells us how to ask for help when you can't do it all by yourself, but how important it is to say thank you, thank you, thank you and Wow for all the things you are grateful for. I loved when she wrote about how service to others is joy ,but how important it is to be kind to yourself. One of my favorite passages was this one, "This morning at six when I awoke, loneliness was sitting on my chest like a dental X-ray apron, even though I was buried in hairy dog love. Help, I am sad and lonely, and already it...

United States on May 06, 2014

christine johnson: Anne Lamott is a unique-styled writer who focuses more on expression than precision and in doing so, you can feel her heart poured out on the page and still hear its pounding. In the reading, there is laughter both from joy and from her refreshing frankness and freshness, as well as beautiful recognition of life and ourselves in her experiences, insights and metaphors. Her writing expresses the passion and pain in life, with the ever-present belief in the great balm of Love and connection to the mysterious, loving creator in all of us. She weaves funny, blatant or pained speech (that you can feel are all truthful from her experience) with absolutely piercing-poetic writing, and the combination touches your heart and is a tonic for the soul.

She focuses and expands on three prayers we reach out to God with of Help, Thanks and Wow. The final chapter is on Amen. This book helped me see the importance of little prayers, big prayers, frustrated prayers, angry prayers, thankful prayers, awe-inspired heart-bursts, wordless prayers expressed in tears, wonderment in your gut from glories seen with your eyes or in your heart. All prayers. Prayers are the expression and connection to...

United States on Mar 09, 2014

Harriet Heinz: This is a good book to have on your shelf for easy access when you need a reminder (after you've already read it once or twice). It is also a great gift to others. Anne Lamott always writes straight from her gut/heart/wisdom and never fails to reach that level in readers, at least me.

United Kingdom on Mar 03, 2013

weeziebear: This tiny little short book is rich as plum pudding with personal accounts, colorful illustrations, heartfelt pleas, delightful humor and deep spirituality. If many people would read it and take it to heart, there would be a lot more happy people around--not glitzy white-teeth-smile happy, but deep-down contented-and-at-peace happy in spite of all the slings and arrows of life. Anne is so energetic and loving--you'll want to have her as a friend. Read this, and pay attention: it could save you a lot of grief and lead you to still water.

Canada on Jan 13, 2013

Steve Lee, Sr.: It shouldn't surprise me that books that I like, by authors that I love, are extremely popular and well reviewed. This is the case with " Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers . We might just as well ask, "Why write another book on prayer? The world is full of them." I could forego the review entirely, but I just can't do that because I love Annie (the author) so much and I cannot pass up the opportunity to say how much I appreciate her life and her work.

While this isn't my favorite "Anne Lamott" book, it is certainly worth reading, if for no other reason than the entertainment value. Her words are so skillfully crafted and lyrical that it causes joy to spring up in my soul. This book will provide some insight into prayer for everyone; from the practiced, long-time prayer practitioner to the novice; from believer to agnostic. You will discover aspects of prayer that you had not appreciated before.

This is not a technical treatise on prayer, but it did encourage me to pray and to be more faithful in prayer... to be more "in the moment" and to recognize the beauty that is everywhere around us.

The day this came out I bought two copies, one for Kindle...

United States on Dec 18, 2012