I'll admit to a fondness for books of 'bits' of information ... trivia, anecdotes, etc. on, well, just about any subject. This time it was Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents: Strange Stories and Shocking Trivia from Inside the White House, by Cormac O'Brien. (It's not as lurid as it sounds). There's good and bad here about all the presidents (even a short entry on the current one). So many familiar themes: bribes, adultery, scandal ... ! And the criticism! That's not new, either. Why anyone wants to be president is a mystery to me! :-)

And, just to balance things out here, try Secret Lives of the First Ladies: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the Women of the White House, also by Cormac O'Brien. The author included short entries about the wives who died before their husband became president, a nice touch, I thought. And while a wife may have publicly supported her husband, behind the scenes they did not want to live in the capitol. In the early years several said they'd rather live on the frontier (think canvas tents)! I suggest reading these books at the same time, reading about both of them together.

Tall Reader loaned me America's First Daughter, by Stephanie Dray & Laura Kamoie. It's written from Patsy Jefferson's view of her father's life. Well researched and with a nice writing style (with one glaring grammatical error throughout that probably only bothers me), it was an interesting read. That being said, I did not warm up to any of the characters, and it was time when husbands could, and did, beat their wives and children (not Jefferson, but the husbands of his daughters did). It's long been known that Jefferson died leaving a huge debt, but turns out it was not all his doing. As a good Virginian he'd taken on the debts of his sons-in-law. Also new to me was that Sally Hemmings (with whom he had several children) was the half-sister to his (deceased) wife. As I said, an interesting read!

Reading Hermit With Dog