NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH: Raising Lance, Raising Me

A memoir written by a famous athlete's mother may seem like a blatant attempt to cash in on yet another aspect of the athlete's celebrity. Yet Kelly, mother of six-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, has managed to turn out an honest, fun and engaging account of her life. For the most part, this is Kelly's story, in which Lance plays a key supporting role. Kelly painstakingly recounts her 1960s Texas childhood with a poor mother who moved the family (sans Kelly's father, who abandoned them) from one lousy apartment to the next. Though self-sufficient—she landed a job at a KFC when she was only 13—Kelly was thrown for a loop when she unexpectedly became pregnant (with Lance) as a junior in high school. She made the most of her limited circumstances, raising Lance alone. They'd eat mac and cheese and play silly games at home instead of going out to the movies; they got used to "stumbling and getting up again." Kelly relates their trials—as well as the string of less-than-perfect boyfriends and husbands she went through—in a winningly homey and self-teasing manner. Not surprisingly, when the issue of Lance's cancer arises later in the book and mother and son endure brutal rounds of chemotherapy, readers' heartstrings get thoroughly strummed, though not unnecessarily so. This is a sincerely heartwarming tale, laced with true Texas grit. Agent, David Hale Smith. (Apr.)