Summer Readings

Been pretty quiet here lately. I hope it is because people can't put down Lincoln books for long enough do any writing...just kidding, Though, has anyone done any summer reading on Mr. Lincoln? What did you think? I have begun Abraham Lincoln: A Life. Wow, full of some much information it is unreal. Mr. Burlingame has done his work. So far I love it, it is very readable and you couldn't ask for better research or a larger scholar in the field. I recommend it to all who are interested in Mr. Lincoln. I'm also a couple chapters into Lincoln and His Admirals. Another one that I am enjoying and one I would suggest to others as well.

I just joined this group. The Burlingame book intrigued me but I have refrained from getting it, so far, because of the amount of time that one must dedicate to the book.
Is the book better as a narrative or as a reference book?

The book will probably be used by most as a reference book, but I think the book is written well enough that the narrative will stand up to most AL titles out there. Not sure if that helps you. Actually, the Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College has most, if not all of book 1 on their website. If you want to check it out, that would be the place to do it.

Thanks for the reference- I checked the site and read the first chapter (excluding footnotes though). Found it quite interesting with a wealth of detail that I have not seen in other biographies of Lincoln. Of course, I have not read that many biographies of him.
Ii may purchase the book.

I just finished reading about 1/3 of the whole thing ("A Life"). On the one hand, it is chock full of *new* information. Burlingame must have scoured every early Illinois newspaper in search of anything Lincoln might have written himself, and he has seemingly found a lot. However, I think that the book is more encyclopedic than a narrative. At times I found it to be an interesting read, but other times it was so dense that it was hard to follow. This will be the go-to reference work for all Lincoln scholars from now on. It is doubtful that many people will read it in the same way that the Donald book was read a few years ago. For me, I just didn't have the reading time for something like this. So, now I'm reading 'Lincoln at Peoria', and find it an interesting read (so far).

I am still ambivalent about purchasing Burlingame for some of the reasons you mentioned (estamm).
I finished reading Lincoln at Peoria and did enjoy it thoroughly- I thought it was well document and the writing was smooth. It improved my significance of that speech enormously.