%1

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, which makes this summer a good time to read or reread a Lincoln biography. The more I learn about Lincoln the more fascinated I am by his range of intellectual curiosity, by his voracious reading, by his management skills, by his tolerance of ambiguity—and by his religious sensibilities, which are finally receiving the scholarly attention they deserve.

After a week of chilly, rainy weather, a bright sunny day finally arrived here in New England. Not too hot, not too cool: it was, as Goldilocks found the baby bear’s porridge to be, just right.

My daughter, who had spent the cold, wet days reading her way through a pile of books, gulping them down like milkshakes, didn’t move an inch.

“Look,” I said, “the sun is out! Let’s get our bikes!”

“Mom,” she said, not even looking up, “I’m reading.”