★★★★☆ | Essays | Audio | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads
A wonderful collection of essays across a variety of topics. I read her essay “Three Fathers” in the New Yorker a while back, but it’s so much more engaging to hear Ann read it aloud in her own voice. Her writing reminds me of my own if I were better — and that it’s possible to write and essay and still be impactful.
Particularly enjoyed Ann’s portrait of a local Nashville “saint” who devoted his life to helping the homeless. To paraphrase this man’s approach to helping others: I’m not here to fix people. People are not a problem to fix. I’m here to love people as they are. His mother was murdered in a random act of violence, but he forgave the killer. He as not angry that God took her, reminding others that God sacrificed his own son.
For as many times as the horrible thing happens, a thousand times in every day the horrible thing passes us by.