Book bits

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Readers' picks

The Judgment of Paris by Ross King, interweaves the history of Paris 1840-1870 with a focus on Edouard Manet and the lives and times of the men and women who became the Impressionists. – William Knapp, Dry Ridge, Ky.

I've just finished Patricia Hampl's The Florist's Daughter, a memoir about her life growing up as the daughter of a florist and a very domineering mother. This is a taut, expertly written book, and the account gripped me so profoundly that I read it in two sittings. – Patricia Lucas, Gary, Ind.

Currently, I am reading The Eye of the Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. Gibran is a Lebanese Christian author who lived and wrote in the early 20th century. I find him lyrically inspiring and can only let him speak for himself.– Daniel Jacobson, Silver Spring, Md.

Yankee From Olympus: Justice Holmes and His Family by Catherine Drinker Bowen brings the autocrat to my breakfast table, along with his illustrious father and famous son, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., who went from Civil War combat to serve on the Supreme Court. – Dave Horn, Bloomington, Ind.

Sea of Glory by Nathaniel Philbrick is a great story of the little-known US exploratory expedition of 1838-42. The account of this extended voyage is a great seagoing adventure story. – William N. Butler, Naples, Fla.

Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen by Bob Greene is a personal history of World War II veterans and the many Nebraskans who served at the canteen night and day, providing food and kind words for service men and women traveling by train. It's a wonderful history of those times.– Janet Graham, Mercer Island, Wash.

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Three books about early Americans

Plenty of scholars today seem determined to prove that America's Founding Fathers were either committed Christians – or staunch secularists. That's what makes So Help Me God: The Founding Fathers and the First Great Battle Over Church and State by Forrest Church so refreshing a read. Church, who is a minister at All Souls Unitarian Church in New York, has written a balanced, intelligent account of the complex relationship between church and state that has defined American public life from the start.

"Forget the coonskin cap; he never wore one," begins Robert Morgan's highly readable new biography of Daniel Boone. In this well-researched account, Morgan offers a portrait of Boone as a soldier, explorer, thinker, and early environmentalist. Morgan, an author and professor at Cornell University who says he has been fascinated with Boone since boyhood, brings fresh context and depth to this portrait.

Their correspondence tells the tale not only of the birth of a nation but also of a great partnership between two exceptional beings. In My Dearest Friend, the correspondence between John and Abigail Adams is published in full for the first time. Edited by Margaret Hogan and C. James Taylor, the managing editor and editor in chief of the Adams Papers, these letters make enjoyable and edifying reading.

– Marjorie Kehe

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