Pres. Lincoln's 200th birthday is Thursday.

I've been reading a lot of Lincoln books lately. One of the best books of the ones I've read is Manhunt: The 12 Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer.

Even if you know already know something about the topic, this book won't disappoint. The author makes it all seem like it just happened--urgent, suspenseful, well-written, well-researched. Once you pick it up, it's truly hard to put it down until you've read it to the end.

Our Durham library has a copy or two.

At the website I linked above, you can see a few accolades for the book, including historian Doris Kearns Goodwin who says:

"James Swanson has written a terrific narrative of the hunt for Lincoln's killers that will mesmerize the reader from start to finish just as the actual manhunt mesmerized the entire nation. It is a triumphant book."

The author, James Swanson, is a bit of an odd duck, or at least that's the impression I got from this article about him.

You can hear Mr. Swanson discuss his book at this link.

On a related note, the History Channel has been replaying its The Hunt for John Wilkes Booth which is interesting to watch after reading the book.
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Durham County Library Interactive Calendar

It's possible that I'm the last one to know about this online resource, but I inadvertently found it while looking for something else, so I thought I'd post it.

Durham County Library has a comprehensive calendar with all the arts & crafts workshops, kids' story-telling times and kids' movie times, computer workshops, ballroom dancing, community meetings, and everything else going on at the Library.

You can run your cursor over the program to get a pop-out of the event with more details. You can sign up online. You can even grab the RSS feed.

Here's the direct link to the calendar: Durham County Library interactive calendar. (I'm saying 'interactive' because you can evidently sign up for events by clicking on the links within the calendar.)

Bookmarked.

A great read: The Legal Limit

Once in a long while I'll get so engrossed in a book that I stay up all night reading it. That happened recently with this book so I thought I'd do a quick blog entry about it. Here's the book, The Legal Limit:

The book is based on an actual murder that took place in Stuart, Virginia about 20 years ago, and the events that took place afterwards. The author, Martin Clark (Davidson graduate), is a judge in Virginia, and he wrote a fascinating, fictionalized account of the murder. The story has delicious and absorbing twists and turns in the plot, as well as truly interesting ethical questions.

It may've had an extra appeal to me because I've been in and around Stuart, Virginia--which is near Mt. Airy, NC and Fancy Gap, VA. Everything and everyone seemed so familiar in the book, it seemed like I was reading about something that happened to a friend. The characters and dialog flow like the real thing, like they should.

I long ago got bored with John Grisham's books, no offense to Mr. Grisham. This book stands head and shoulders above any legal 'thriller' books I've read recently. In fact, I'm not sure I've read any in that genre recently. This one is worth picking up and reading, in my opinion, if for nothing but sheer joy of the ride it gives, twisting and turning this way and that, with provocative ethical questions thrown in to mull over during the ride.
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Thomas Frank at Quail Ridge Books

We zipped over to Raleigh tonight to Quail Ridge Books to see the author Thomas Frank give a reading from his latest book, The Wrecking Crew. He's the guy who wrote What's The Matter With Kansas among others. The Durham Bull Pen household has several of his books already, so we thought we'd listen to him speak, read some from his latest, and get the books signed. The place was full, people standing the aisles even, to hear him. He's such an incredibly smart and funny guy. Lots of great questions from the crowd too.

He said he had to leave quickly after signing books but didn't say why. He cheerfully signed books and then left in a hurry, thanking everyone for coming.

We drove back to Durham, flipped on the Rachel Maddow Show (loving her new show on MSNBC), and there was Thomas Frank, being interviewed LIVE by Rachel. Funny moment. "Hey, we just saw him!" Guess he was on his way to the local NBC studio so he could be interviewed.

Thomas Frank at Quail Ridge Books

He's writing a column for The Wall Street Journal these days too, called The Tilting Yard, and here's the latest installment: Get Your Class War On.

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A Luna Moth!

A big beautiful Luna Moth came to visit on my front porch for a while. So magical, named after the Roman moon goddess.



The Luna Moth also appears in one of my all-time favorite modern novels, Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it.

Hope you find a bit of magic in your life this week too.

A true American hero was in Durham tonight.

Colonel Ann Wright. And I had the pleasure of seeing her and hearing her speak. She was at The Regulator bookstore on 9th Street speaking to a packed basement of folks--all chairs taken, people standing and leaning against the walls, sitting on the staircase. She's written a great book called Dissent: Voices of Conscience featuring people who spoke up and spoke out about the Iraq Invasion and risked their careers and lives in doing so. (It is meticuloulsy footnoted and has a superb bibliography of cited references too.)

Who is Colonel Ann Wright? She's probably most widely known for being one of three U.S. State Department officials to publicly resign in 2003 in direct protest of the invasion of Iraq. She gave up a 29 year career in the military and as a diplomat because she felt she had to speak out.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

When she resigned, it was to Colin Powell with this letter of resignation, which is amazing.

She even has the distinction of having her microphone cut when speaking the truth to Bill "Falafel" O'Reilly.


Tonight she spoke about a few people featured in her book, such as Sibel Edmonds. She knows her stuff (facts, figures, people, events) cold about the run-up and aftermath of the invasion of Iraq. I got the feeling she could've kept on talking about it all for hours on end. It was almost unbelievable until you realize it really happened. To all of us.



The Indy also had a recent article on Colonel Wright here.

Always something interesting happening in Durham.