Wintertime reading

I purchase very few books, either eBooks or real ones with paper pages.  The library satisfies most of my reading needs, now that it's possible to check out books for the Kindle or Nook from my easy chair at home.  Sometimes I will see a current book recommended that can only be found at the library in real-book form... as a matter of fact, I have one waiting for me now.  "The Oregon Trail: a New American Journey", a New York Times best seller.  We'll pick it up today.  
For some reason I decided that Margaret Truman's book about her father, Harry Truman, was worth paying for and bought the Kindle edition.  Thanks to the fact that Amazon lets Cliff read any book I purchase, we are both in the process of reading it on our devices.  Cliff is a lot farther along than I for the simple reason that I keep getting notice that one or another of the books I put on hold at the library is waiting for me.  Library books, of course, have to be read in a certain amount of time, so I take a break from the Truman biography to read them.  

We are both loving everything about the Truman book, and learning a lot, too.  The events during Harry Truman's presidency happened during our childhood, so neither of us knew much about that time in history.  The only thing I remember about Harry Truman from my childhood is that my parents didn't like him (staunch Republicans, you know) and that they had a poor opinion of Margaret's singing.

What I love best about the book are the many excerpts from letters Harry wrote during his life, and he must have written thousands.  You can't possibly read them without seeing the true nature of the man.  I've seen him describe national events to his mother and sister, to his wife and daughter, that put a whole different perspective on things than what history books would give.

I especially enjoy seeing the way he loved and interacted with his family in the letters.  He talks about himself in the third person when he writes to his daughter, calling her "sistie" and saying things like, "your old dad misses you", teasing her for not writing back to him and asking if her arm is broken.  

I've always been interested in Missouri's favorite son.  This book lets me get acquainted with him in a way I would never have thought possible.  I don't see how anyone could read the book and not love the man.