Leisure reading

'The Wrong Stuff'

By Stern, Kammer, Calbreath and Condon

Public Affairs, $25.95

This book, subtitled "The Extraordinary Saga of Randy 'Duke' Cunningham, the Most Corrupt Congressman Ever Caught," is about an American success story gone wrong.

The authors are four members of a journalistic team who uncovered massive corruption and received a Pulitzer Prize for a Washington Post story.

Cunningham, a Midwestern boy who became a war hero and let his fame carry him into Congress, was the basis for Tom Cruise's character in "Top Gun." To the electorate in San Diego, Cunningham was a "heroic family man" and conservative Republican. But in reality he was hard-drinking, partisan and aggressive, with no moral compass.

He was found guilty of giving lavish post-9/11 contracts to rogue businessmen, and receiving millions in bribes.

Today, he sits in prison, convicted of massive corruption. This is a book anyone who cares about government should read.

The writing style is juicy and gossipy, but it is also sobering to realize any member of Congress could do the same thing. — Dennis Lythgoe

'Perfecting Amiable'

By Marilyn Arnold

Mayhaven, $19.95 (softcover)

In her seventh novel, Arnold writes about humorous characters in a rural Utah town. The main characters have strange names — Thurlin and Thoral Carruth, bachelor brothers born 10 minutes apart who inherit their parents' house.

Now in their 60s, the brothers have never gotten along. Forty years earlier, they fell in love with the same girl — and of course, neither got her. And they both wanted the house. So they decide to cut it in half so that each will get his inheritance but neither will have to put up with each other.

An outrageous concept but not nearly enough to carry an entire novel. It is written purposely in homey, hokey language, allegedly in imitation of the way rural Utahns speak. Actually, Arnold is a highly respected professor of English emeritus from Brigham Young University who has written much more sophisticated papers and stories.

She really needs to use her enormous talent to write solid, provocative novels in her real voice. — Dennis Lythgoe

'As Time Goes By'