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Recently author Stephen Hess told me that Barack Obama has the potential to be “our most literary president since Lincoln.” This is not a toss-off remark, nor a mere reference to Lincoln’s considerable rhetorical gifts. Abraham Lincoln, our 16th president, was an autodidact whose reading habits and material shaped his heart and mind. When we remember him as one of our greatest leaders, we should not ignore this (I’ll be ranting more about the importance of reading next week).

Here is a list, properly annotated, of books scholars know or have reason to believe that Lincoln read. It’s a wonderful list in so many respects, ranging from poetry to scripture to speeches to history to novels and much more. It’s shorter than a modern president’s list might be, but the important caveat is not only that books were more precious and harder to come by in the 19th century, but that Lincoln (especially in his early years, when he had very little money for extras) read deeply. He didn’t skim texts; he learned them, and thought about them, and tested their ideas against his inner compass. 

Next week, in honor of Abraham Lincoln’s February birthday celebration, WETA will be airing two special Lincoln programs: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln from The American Experience, and Looking for Lincoln with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. 

Early next week I’d like to put together the Ultimate Abraham Lincoln Bookshelf — books about President Lincoln. I’d like to see your picks now, so I can include them.

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This week WETA begins airing “The Jewish People: A Story of Survival“  tonight at 8:00 p.m. Since the Jews are often referred to as “People of the Book,” I can’t think of a more fitting tribute in this blog than to provide a reading list of some excellent titles that can help viewers expand their knowledge of the race that is fundamental to our civilization.

Of course, my aim in providing this list is twofold: to help viewers of the program expand their knowledge, but also to spark visitors to this blog and to the WETA.org site to add their own reading suggestions. The more titles we have, the better — just as with the Ultimate Julia Child Bookshelf, we can make a list that can be disseminated in many places.

Please note that this list is not exhaustive, nor is it in any particular order. Later today I’ll add my own blurbs (no time right now!). The links I’ve selected are the ones I believe give the most information about each book, including excerpts, bibliographic information, and author biographies. There are so many more titles that can and should be on here! But these are the ones I’ve read and/or know well…I look forward to your contributions.

Daniel Deronda by George Eliot

Night by Elie Wiesel

To Life! by Harold S. Kushner

Enemies, A Love Story by Isaac Bashevis Singer

A History of God by Karen Armstrong

The Chosen by Chaim Potok

Tevye the Dairyman by Sholom Aleichem

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

Goodbye Columbus by Philip Roth

 A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People by Eli Barnavi

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Since WETA is currently running this series about England’s royal family, I thought it only proper to provide viewers with a list of books that you can read while you watch, after you watch, or even if you miss the series entire (although I’d never recommend that and, just so you won’t have an excuse, here are the broadcast times.)

I’m going to get this started now, and add to it over the next few days, so please come back — and please offer your own suggestions for books about the Windsors in the comments.

Majesty : Elizabeth II and the House of Windsor by Robert Lacey is the best introduction I know to this enigmatic monarch and her lineage.

The Firm: The Troubled Life of the House of Windsor by Penny Junor is a comprehensive but softpedal look at the challenges (including all the scandals) that the contemporary royal family has faced - sometimes well, sometimes not.

The House of Windsor by Andrew Roberts and Antonia Fraser is part of their A Royal History of England — although the book isn’t as in-depth as others, it is a helpful and well-illustrated way to get to know the “players” on this particular stage.

The Rise and Fall of the House of Windsor by A.N. Wilson is a loyalist’s look at how a great British institution has survived its troubles.

Back with more quite soon, but looking forward to your recommendations.

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Read Part One of “Book Maven Interview: Annette Gordon-Reed”

BP: You also believe that Tom Jefferson brought up the sons he had with Sally to live out sides of his own personality and passions that he could not fully live out himself.

AG: His real love was woodworking. He spent most of his time with his carpenters, like Sally’s half-brother John Hemings and John’s apprentices. Tom made them sort of versions of himself that are not the exalted version, but if they were white as they were by VA law, carpenters, musicians, etc. They are a part of him, in a way, but it’s not the part that we focus on.

BP: Why do you think that people who deny Jefferson’s long relationship with Hemings do so? Is it good, old-fashioned racism?

AG: I am turning this over in my mind. There’s a puritan streak in the American consciousness, and Jefferson is one of our “pure” figures — or we want him to be that way.  For him to have had sex with a partner he wasn’t supposed to is problematic for many people on several levels, especially for those people who draw his power from the notion that he was celibate after his wife’s death — after all, women sap your wisdome and strength, and all that notion.

We all draw boundaries around our families. It just happens that most people care about their immediate families most, but in the case of Jefferson, his fame makes him loom larger. There’s a racist and a sexist aspect about denying Sally Hemings and her family’s influence in Jefferson’s life, but for the family, it’s about protecting that membrane, that boundary, around who is in and who is out.  In the case of this issue, I live a sort of 18th/19th century life; I don’t follow it completely. I had an interesting conversation with one of the Hemings-Jefferson descendants, who asked his great-grandfather if the whole story were true. The response? “Of course it’s true, but they’ll never prove it.” What you finally have is the people who show up, and speak up.

BP: After all of your research, how do you regard Jefferson today? How do you believe we all should regard him?

AG: He is one of the greatest Americans who ever lived, flaw and all. I just don’t think you can find an aspect of life in America that he did not have a hand in some way: slavery, race, women, agriculture, the arts, government…I find him a fascinating individual. I plan to write one more volume about the Hemingses, and then a biography of Jefferson that will be at least two volumes, maybe three.

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This morning I was speaking to a colleague who is about to leave for three weeks in Gloucester, and she’s eager to read The Last Fish Tale by Mark Kurlansky. As she should be! Unlike Kurlansky’s famous books Salt and Cod, which focused on commodities through the lens of numerous places, this book focuses on one place using a number of lenses: the fishing industry, immigration, demographics, preserving culture, geography…it’s a fascinating and fully realized portrait of an American place that is beyond sui generis. Gloucester’s separation from the rest of Massachusetts is more than just a canal-cut deep; it’s a place that thrives on being unto itself.

I hope you’ll enjoy watching my interview with Kurlansky. He’s very smart, and his ideas about how Gloucester can survive and thrive in a post-fishing economy have bearings on other places in the U.S., too.

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Happy Monday! That’s a “fish tale” in and of itself, isn’t it? Of course, real “fish tales” may be lies in and of themselves, but they’ve always got a great story attached.

However, Mark Kurlansky’s new book, The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the Atlantic and Survival in Gloucester, America’s Oldest Fishing Port and Most Original Town holds no lies at all. Kurlansky has written engagingly and beautifully and factually about subjects ranging from the Basque country to salt to cod to the summer of love; the main “fish tale” characteristic of The Last Fish Tale is that there’s a great story attached.

We’ve got ten giveaway copies to hand out to the first ten readers who tell us your last favorite nonfiction read.

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Full disclosure: As I confessed in another blog entry, Kelly DiNardo is my homegirl. We grew up in the same part of New York’s Hudson Valley, and it’s a real thrill for me to be able to showcase DiNardo’s debut book on Author, Author!

DiNardo brings her skills as an established freelance writer to bear on “Gilded Lili: Lili St. Cyr and the Striptease Mystique“, providing excellent research but using it in the service of showcasing St. Cyr, rather than allowing the background to overwhelm her subject. The result is a substantive book with a frothy whip of showmanship on top.

I’m pretty sure Lili St. Cyr would approve of this new biography, and I’m absolutely sure you’ll approve of this interview with DiNardo. Let us know what you think!

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Who’s your favorite ecdysiast? (Guess who’s been spending too much time on FreeRice.com?) Kelly DiNardo’s is Lili St. Cyr, and DiNardo’s first book is thus “Gilded Lili: Lili St. Cyr and the Striptease Mystique.”

You’ll definitely enjoy my interview (posted on Wednesday) with DiNardo, who explains the differences between burlesque, striptease, and stripping (bet you never thought you’d be reading about that here). If you want to learn more, you’ll have to read Kelly’s blog, The Candy Pitch — but even better, read her book!

I’ll make the latter easy for you: we’ve got ten copies of “Gilded Lili” to give away, and all you have to do is tell us who your favorite sex symbol is — doesn’t matter if it’s Marilyn Monroe, Brad Pitt, or Olive Oyl (of course, if it’s Ms. Oyl, you might want to use a nom de post). Don’t forget to check out our Guidelines for giveaways before you post, too.

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It isn’t easy to talk about Frankenstein without lapsing into cliches about green skin, neck bolts, and visible sutures. For 21st-century Americans, Herman Munster lies closer to our conception of Frankenstein than the actual description of what Dr. Victor Frankenstein created in Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus.’

Shelley was just 19 when her novel was published, in 1818 — she was a pregnant unwed mother who was basically on the lam with her lover, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Susan Tyler Hitchcock, who holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia, has long been fascinated by the Shelleys, but didn’t become a full-on Frankenstein fanatic until the time she wore a full-face Frankenstein mask in to class on Halloween, hoping to ignite some laughs. Instead, she ignited the liveliest discussion of the semester — and realized she was on to something. Why does Frankenstein fascinate us? Why do we keep watching the Creature (as Shelley called him in her novel)?

In this week’s interview, Hitchcock reveals some of the answers to these questions — and appears with a special guest, too. Her lively responses will, I hope, encourage you to pick up her equally lively book. For more about it, check out this Washington Post review.

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No tricks this week, just a treat for Halloween: we’re giving away free copies of our Book of the Week to the first ten Author Author! readers who write in and tell us their favorite Frankenstein-related anecdote. Maybe you dressed up as Frankenstein for Halloween? Tell us about your costume. Maybe you had a dream that Frankenstein lived in your closet? Maybe Frankenstein really DOES live in your closet… Whatever your angle, share it with us, and we’ll send you a brand new copy of ‘Frankenstein: A Cultural History’ by Susan Tyler Hitchcock.

The easiest way to win is to leave a comment on this post with your anecdote. Don’t worry, your email address will not be published publicly. If your tale is too harrowing for public consumption, then you can drop me an email at thereadingwriter at gmail dot com. If you are a winner, I will email you requesting your mailing address so we can send the book.

Speaking of the book, ‘Frankenstein: A Cultural History’ is a fantastic journey through the nearly two centuries that “the monster” has been with us. Hitchcock told me that it cost a lot to get all of the images — but it was well worth it. Combined with her smart but not stuffy analysis of how Mary Shelley’s creation morphed into an iconic monster, these engravings, photos, and images remind readers why we’re fascinated with technology.

Frankenstein, it seems, is the ultimate (monster) mash-up. Check back on Wednesday and Susan Tyler Hitchcock will tell us all about it in this week’s interview.

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