Rapid City Journal from Rapid City, South Dakota • 82

THIS WEEKEND'S ffisn, astrosiOfls od osfesay dozen astronauts describe what it's like to explore the moon. Countdown by Frank Borman with Robert Serling (Morrow, $19.95) and Schirra't Space (Quinlan Press, $16.95) by Walter Schirra with Richard Billins. Autobiographies that cover the 1960s space programs, including Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. The Annotated Hobbit (Houghton Mifflin, an An encyclopedia that delves into the U.S.S.Rs space program with graphics, illustrations and pictures. For All Mankind (Atlantic Monthly Press, $22.95) by Harry Hurt IIL Two Here are best bets reaching bookstore shelves this fall illustrated Tolkien treasure by Douglas A.

Anderson. Fifty magical years ago, an entire generation of young readers met the furry Mr. Bilbo Baggins in Vwl IllMMWNIII tlW0 nia I lvl Inrl W-il ImiwS 2nd S3 fvll Iu3 George Burns Grade fZsa 1 that doesn't resemble Hollywood love stories no glittery parties, no scandalous scenes. He describes his wife and comedy partner as "very smart, smart enough to become the dumbest woman in show business history." Burns' definitive look at Allen starts with the moment he laid eyes on the winsome vaudevillian and ends with their final goodbye. It doesn't sway from its subject Gracie as partner, Gracie as wife, Gracie as mother.

7 The Home Planet (Addison-Wesley, $39.95) edited by Kevin Kelley. This handsome coffee-table entry tops fall's galaxy of space books. Planet features 150 ooh-and-ahh pictures of Earth, the moon and beyond, with poetic prose by U.S. and foreign astronauts. Polish explorer Miroslav Hermaszewski on weightlessness: "I soar as if I were inside a soap bubble.

Like an infant in the womb of my spacecraft, still a child of my Mother Earth." Look for excerpts in LIFE magazine's November issue. Also: The Soviet Manned Space Program (Orion Books, $24.95) by Phillip Clark. October's book racks will carry a touching love story from the early days of show business, soaring accounts of space travel by both U.S. and foreign astronauts, and a happy birthday celebration for Bilbo Baggins, the Hobbit who has charmed three generations of readers. Look for these titles: Gracie, A Lore Story (Putnam, Comedian George Burns pours out his heart in his latest book, giving finely etched definition to the phrase "my better halt" His voice is so clear, you can see him puffing a cigar during asides that follow his sometimes teary, sometimes silly stories about Grade Allen, the woman he called "Googie." "For forty years," he begins, "my life consisted of one joke.

And then she died." He tells a Hollywood love story J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. This fall, the anniversary is celebrated with several releases, including this one. Anderson's book tells the story with footnotes and drawings from many foreign editions, including French and Russian. Also: a newly designed edition of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Ringt trilogy; the paperback release of Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter.

I) Kara 1 MID- i I I SUP.GECN GENERAL'S WARNING: Quitting Smoking Now Greatly Reduces Serious Risks to Your Health..