Well, Cairo seems like a good place to speak!

Probably not a thought that crosses the minds of many western, Christian authors. Or many people at all. Yet, this past weekend, we heard Anne Lamott, an American, Christian author, speak, once at the American University in Cairo and twice at a church in an expat-filled area of Cairo. Apparently, each year this church hosts an individual of academic, literary, artistic, or ecclesiastical distinction to give talk with some spiritual theme. Last year, William Dalrymple spoke, whose book incidentally is on my t0-read-next list (Nate finished it a few weeks ago).

Anyway, Anne Lamott speaks like she writes. (Or perhaps she writes like she speaks?) She has one of the most vivid personal voices I have experinced as a reader. She's funny, irreverent, totally sincere, and sometimes quite wise. And she's one of the few authors that makes me actually laugh out loud. Someone said something that I think captures the essence of her writing: "She writes about imperfect things, perfectly." I'll try to find some good examples in the days to come and post them here.