Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson

 

 Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson. Simon and Schuster, 2003. Adult biography.

This is probably one of the definitive biographies of Benjamin Franklin and his life and times.  

It covers his family's history, his scientific, political, and work life and includes insights that most readers would not have gleaned from American history classes. 

When Ken Burns recently premiered his PBS series on Ben Franklin, one of the experts shown was Walter Isaacson. I was so impressed that I picked up this title. It does not disappoint. Two of my very favorite tidbits include

"Of the first eighteen women who came to Massachusetts in 1628, for example, fourteen died within a year." p.13

"The more earthy and middle-class backwoodsmen still revered Franklin's Autobiography-it was the one book that Davy Crockett carried with him to his death at the Alamo"...p.479

Truly, we read to learn and Walter Isaacson does not disappoint!

Blue Shoe by Anne Lamott

 

 Blue Shoe by Anne Lamott. Riverhead Books, a division of Penguin Books, 2002. Adult fiction.

      Californian Mattie Ryder, mother of Harry and Ella, has moved back into her family home. Her ex husband, Nicky, is still around at times. Her mother, Isa, lives not far away. The narrative explores Mattie's friends, family, inner life, church life, and generally EVERYTHING about Mattie, her past, present, and future. 

      This book has been in my stack to read for a long time. Maybe it just took a freeze for everything to shut down and for me to pick it up. Somehow, the book was just the ticket to realize that things could always be worse! 

Death at the White Hart by Chris Chibnall

 

Death at the White Hart by Chris Chibnall. Pamela Dorman Books (Viking), 2025.

In the same vein as his wildly successful Broadchurch series, Chibnall scores another well written crime to be solved. Detective Nicola Bridge and her family are new to small Fleetcombe on the English coast, but it is where Nicola grew up. Have things changed much?  When the body of local bartender Jim Tiernan is discovered, Nicola and her partner, Harry Ward, must piece together the local legends, the personalities of the people, and the clues left at the scene.

As Nicola weaves the web of her home and work into a workable web, readers will look forward to more novels about this heroine.