It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Mailbox Monday - May 29

Welcome to It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Mailbox Monday.   

 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's a great post to organize yourself. It's an opportunity to visit and comment, and er... add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.       

Welcome to the final Monday of May. For those of us in the States, today is Memorial Day, a time to honor and remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice while serving our country. We will be joining in the National Moment of Remembrance today. 

The weather has been beautiful for the unofficial start to the summer. Though officially summer will not begin until June 21st, many consider Memorial Day weekend the kick off to summer. 

The United States Honor Flag™, which flew over the rubble of 9/11, made its way to Rick's Place in Wilbraham this month. Rick Thorpe died in the South Tower on September 11th. This non-profit, dedicated to providing free grief support to children, teens, and families, is one whose board I am proud to sit on.

Moving on to lighter happenings, the pets have enjoyed the warmer weather. 

The Lil' Diva and the Lil' Princess had fun at the Taylor Swift concert at Gillette Stadium recently with one of their friends. 

As far as reading goes, I am making good progress. No audio books lately. I might find one to grab before I drive up for inspections at a property on Tuesday.

My review of this book will appear today at The Children's and Teens' Book Connection. 

Look for my review of this book on Wednesday, also at The Children's and Teens' Book Connection. 

I need to finish this one by June 2. 

I started this one over the weekend on our drive to Worcester to see the nephew's baseball tournament.

I also started this graphic novel that I downloaded from Netgalley.

This book will be next.

Upcoming virtual book tours:

• A Final Farwell by Marilyn Meredith - June 20 (review)
• All That Glitters by Mike Martin - June 29 (review)
• The Unempty Spaces Between by Louis Efron - July 20 (review)
• Exits by Stephne C. Pollock - August 7 (review)
• Ravage & Son by Jerome Charyn - August 21 (review)

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

Nothing in my physical mailbox this week, but I grabbed this one on sale for my Kindle.

Most books about Abraham Lincoln end on April 14, 1865, the day he was assassinated at Ford's Theatre. But that historic event takes place near the beginning of The Last Lincolns, a singular title in the vast output of Lincolnia and one of the most unusual books ever written on the sixteenth president and his family. Going far beyond that fateful day into uncharted territory, it's a gripping page turner written by a TV producer with proven storytelling skills.

This absorbing American tragedy tells the largely unknown story of the acrimony that consumed the Lincolns in the months and years that followed the president's murder. This was not a family that came together in mourning and mutual sadness; instead, they fell out over the anguished mental condition of the widowed Mary. In 1875, Robert, the handsome but resentful eldest Lincoln child engineered her arrest and forcible commitment to an insane asylum. In each succeeding generation, the Lincolns' misfortunes multiplied, as a litany of alcohol abuse, squandered fortunes, burned family papers, and outright dissipation led to the downfall of this once-great family.

Charles Lachman traces the story right up to the last generation of Lincoln descendants: great-grandson Bob Lincoln Beckwith, his estranged wife, Annemarie, and her son, Timothy Lincoln Beckwith. Bob, who was according to all medical evidence sterile, believes the son who bears the Lincoln name was the product of an adulterous affair. Annemarie, however, wanted the boy to be a Lincoln, putting the child in line for a vast inheritance. There's even evidence uncovered by Lachman for the first time that a scheme to obtain possession of the Lincoln fortune was orchestrated by Bob Beckwith's chauffer, who may have been the notorious outlaw and skyjacker, D.B. Cooper.

Published in advance of Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday in February 2009, The Last Lincolns provides an unforgettable glimpse into the personal legacy left by the man who could unite a nation…but not his own family.

I will be in and out today, working on wrapping up that editing project that is overdue. Hope you have a wonderful day.