Leisure reading
By Jimmy Carter
Simon and Schuster, $22.95
Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, has become a prolific author. His latest is a warm tribute to his mother, Lillian, a registered nurse, pecan grower, university housemother, Peace Corps volunteer, public speaker, and raconteur.
She was an advocate of integration, a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers and frequently appeared as a guest on talk shows.
Carter notes that Lillian worried when he ran for president that he talked too much about being a Christian and how much he loved his wife. She thought "It is much more important for him to choose a good-looking running mate."
She also worried that Jimmy would get the "big head" and said "There was nothing really outstanding about Jimmy as a boy." — Dennis Lythgoe
'Education of a Wandering Man'
By Louis L'Amour
Bantam, $25
This memoir by a legendary Western writer, Louis L'Amour, will be popular to his plethora of devoted fans.
L'Amour, who wrote 86 novels, 16 short story collections and three works of nonfiction, discusses growing up in Jamestown, N.D., the parents who instilled in him a love of reading, and his decision to leave school at 15 to make the world his classroom.
He read books all the way. Then he put all his experiences into his novels. — Dennis Lythgoe
'Relentless Pursuit'
By Donna Foote
Knopf, $24.95
Written by a noted journalist, this book takes a look inside "Teach for America," an organization devoted to closing the gap between rich and poor students.
Foote spent a year inside the program, at Locke High School in South Los Angeles, where the students are mostly black and Latino.
Into this school that resembles a prison, the organization dropped some of the "best and brightest" students from other schools. Through the eyes of four teachers, Foote reveals the progress and problems of this idealistic mission.
It was "exhausting, exhilarating, maddening and unforgettable." — Dennis Lythgoe
You can be the first to comment on this story.