During the month of October, I’m posting brief reviews of some of my favorite books from the past couple of years: those that really touched my heart, gave me a new perspective, taught me something, or were just plain fun. Hopefully you will be inspired to add something to your to-read list. 🙂
I know Jimmy Carter isn’t the most popular president ;), but after I read a children’s biography of him to Mr. D back in 2012, I wanted to learn more about his life, and found An Hour Before Daylight at my library. This is what I wrote:
Reading this book made me think of Wendell Berry’s theme of “place”. Jimmy Carter’s love of the Plains, Georgia area, where he still lives, is very evident. He describes in detail his farm life and many other events and people from his childhood, and the incongruous nature of race relations at the time (for example, he played all the time with his black friend on the farm, but they could not sit together at the movie theater). It was quite amazing to read of all the work that he was expected to do at a young age, and of his early business endeavors. It wasn’t exactly a page-turner, and there were a few anecdotes I would have rather he left out, but overall it gave a good picture of rural Southern life during the Great Depression.
I also enjoyed listening to him read his book Christmas in Plains.
