Between the lines: 'Tea' for One Book

The folks who run things at the Sacramento Public Library are excited, and for good reason. The library has announced the featured book for its fourth annual One Book Sacramento: Connecting Our Communities program.

The book is "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission To Promote Peace, One School at a Time" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin, $15, 368 pages).

A starred review in Publishers Weekly magazine said, "Some failures lead to phenomenal successes, and this American nurse's unsuccessful attempt to climb K2, the world's second-tallest mountain, is one of them.

"Dangerously ill when he finished his climb in 1993, Mortenson was sheltered for seven weeks by the small Pakistani village of Korphe; in return, he promised to build the impoverished town's first school, a project that grew into the Central Asia Institute, which has since constructed more than 50 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"Co-author Relin recounts Mortenson's efforts in fascinating detail, presenting compelling portraits of the village elders, con artists, philanthropists, mujahideen, Taliban officials, ambitious schoolgirls and upright Muslims."

I reached Relin, a veteran journalist and world traveler, by phone and asked for a sound bite: "I made three trips to Pakistan with and without Greg and did 200 interviews there – his friends and enemies, religious leaders, soldiers, students at the schools.

"In my opinion, we tend to exaggerate the extent to which the fanatics and extremists are in control. Once you've been there for a while and built relationships with people – as Greg has done – the people will protect you with their lives. The root causes of terrorism and poverty are ignorance. Greg has provided an alternative" to combat that, he said.

Sacramento Public Library director Anne Marie Gold added: " 'Three Cups of Tea' is a most timely read for our community, as Pakistan and Afghanistan are in the world's current focus. It is an inspiring story of one person's determination to make a difference in one corner of our world. One Book Sacramento is about neighbor meeting neighbor, reading and talking about the book, enjoying a variety of programs, and sharing ideas and experiences."

One Book Sacramento asks everyone to read the same book and participate in numerous related literary events that will happen online and at library branches, schools and other venues in October.

"Three Cups of Tea" co-author Relin will appear Oct. 2 at the Tsakopoulos Library Galleria, 828 I St., at a special edition of The Bee Book Club.

For more information on One Book Sacramento: (916) 264-2711 or www.saclibrary.org.

About the writer:

• The Bee's Allen Pierleoni can be reached at (916) 321-1128 or apierleoni@sacbee.com. Contact him with news of coming literary events that are open to the public.