Biographies L-M

I've been trying to expand my horizons, reading biographies of various people - one for each letter of the alphabet. It's an ongoing project, because I read lots of other books between each biography. If you didn't read my A-K posts, they're in the January archives.

Abraham Lincoln, President - probably the person on my biography list I already knew the most about. But I wanted to read Carl Sandburg's book, so Lincoln became my choice for 'L'. Sandurg originally wrote this as two separate books - I have the combined volume. I wanted to read it all, but ended up reading only The Prairie Years. I was so bored! Sandburg was extremely thorough in his research, and the fact is we know very little about the first 20 years of Lincoln's life. So I trudged through page after page of "Lincoln's father bought land in Kentucky at 10 cents an acre..." It was tedious reading. It did get more interesting once Lincoln became more of a public figure, and someday I'll go back and read The War Years. It won't be for a while, though.
Christopher Milne, literary figure - I saw this book on the library shelf and thought "Christopher Robin!" and that's what Didder said when I told her what I was reading. Yes, Christopher Milne is the son of A. A. Milne, the author of Winnie the Pooh. He grew up in a rather interesting position, being the inspiration for a fictional character. The only others I can think of in a similar situation would be Louisa May Alcott's sisters, although they were much older when Little Women was written. Anyways, this book was part memoir of his father, part the real story of Winnie the Pooh, and part the story of someone who did not want to be Christopher Robin. He liked it until he was about 10 years old - mostly because his parents shielded him from a lot of the noteriety. Once he went off to school, however, he thought the name was a burden. It was an interesting book.