THE NOT-SO-LEANING TOWER OF BOOKS

view from bottom looking up

Finally FINALLY we were able to visit Ford's Theatre Museum on our recent trip to Washington, DC. The ticket includes a tour of the Petersen House across the street, which is where Lincoln spent his final hours.

(Interesting thing I learned: there are no living descendants of Abraham Lincoln. I suppose I would have heard about them, if there had been. But this fact kind of stunned me.)

There's more museum stuff at the Petersen House, including a temporary exhibit of letters written to the parents of Matthew Shephard. Tough stuff, and yes, there was a box of tissues on the bench in front of the display. It reminded me of Leslea Newman's lovely book of poems, OCTOBER MOURNING: A Song for Matthew Shepard.

view from the top looking down

The centerpiece in the gift shop/museum was a tower of 1500 books written on the topic of one Abraham Lincoln. 1500! Writers, just think about that anytime you're worried something's been done before. Of course it has! But you can certainly bring your unique slant to a topic, and readers will gobble it up.

Here's pictures of the tower. It's enough to make a gal wish she'd written an Abraham Lincoln book. :)