This book is by the mother of Dylan Klebold, one of the shooters at Columbine High School. I always say that people often overlook the families of perpetrators of these types of crimes. This book gives an insight onto the other side of a tragedy like this. People always want to make comments about how it must have been the upbringing of a person to cause them to do the horrible things they do, and it isn't always that simple. I feel terrible for Sue Klebold. I cannot imagine being in her position and losing my child, and then realizing that they had done these terrible things. I cannot imagine having to field reporters and tv crews and endure all of the negative and speculative things that people would say. How hard it must be to work through grief under these circumstances! I really appreciated this honest and candid look into the other side of this well publicized tragedy. 

 This book was about some of the most well known dictators and other historical figures who were violent and murderous. It was interesting to read, but it wasn't as in depth as I hoped it would be. I did learn some things about some characters I had not learned much about up to this point. It was worth reading. 

 While I prefer books that feature only one case, this one was very interesting. All of the cases featured in this book really serve as an eye opening reminder of what can happen. It is sad that people must always be hypervigilant about everyone around them, but that is the world that we live in. It also serves as a reminder that just because a place seems picture perfect, it doesn't mean it is. Creeps are everywhere. This was a decent book, and I am glad that I found it on sale. 

 

This is the personal memoir of Stephanie Klein, who struggled with a weight issue during childhood. She details her personal feelings about her weight, and how people and their attitudes and hurtful comments affected her. Her parents were just as guilty as her peers for making rude and insensitive comments about her body, which caused lasting damage to her self esteem. Her parents even sent her to a camp for overweight children when she was in eighth grade.

This book gives an inside look into the goings on at these "fat camps". I think the author did a great job explaining what went on there. I also think the author did a great job in conveying how damaging it is for people to constantly made horrible comments about other people's bodies, especially when some of those people are your own family members. This would be a good book for parents to read, because it offers a great reminder of how your words and actions toward your child can affect them in the long run.

 I bought this book partly because I buy every World War II book I see and partly because I liked the movie. The book follows the team from it's birth to the conclusion. These people did amazing work, attempting to recover the artworks that were stolen by the Nazis. I am glad some of these works were finally able to be recovered, and there have been other instances of artworks being recovered even fairly recently. I wonder how much is out there still hidden away or ruined. This was a very enlightening book. I really enjoyed it. 

 This was an interesting account of life in a gang and the things that come along with it. I believe I bought this book for less than a dollar at a used book shop, and I am glad I didn't pay more than that for it. It was not as good as I had hoped. I probably would not recommend this book to anyone, unless they were expressly interested in LA gang life. 

 I found this book in the crime section at the used book store and thought it would be interesting because it is a mix of crime and old history, but this did not read like a typical crime book. It read more like a history book and then happened to cover a crime. This book is clearly about the so called Monster of Florence, who committed some gruesome murders in Italy. Law enforcement did not seem to be really keen on crime solving, and I was interested to get some resolution for this case. It was really very interesting. 

 This book is about Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern who found herself involved in an adulterous relationship with President Bill Clinton. Linda Tripp, the person who outed Monica and her relationship, was a spiteful woman. She was a backstabbing gossip monger. I just watched her interviews in a documentary on Hulu a couple of days ago, and she made me so angry. I remember Monica being the butt of a lot of gross jokes about her and her relationship. Her affair was wrong, but she made that choice. She has had to live with the consequences of that. President Clinton knew it was wrong, and he chose to participate in it as well. He had to live with the consequences, though it seems like he didn't get nearly as raw of a deal as she did. I think Monica was young and made poor choices. I do not think she is a dumb slutty girl by any stretch. In fact, she is very well spoken in all of her interviews. She does a lot of public speaking about bullying, and I think she is very inspirational. 

 This is the personal story of Karen Gravano, her life and troubles, as well as a personal account of her father, Sammy The Bull. Sammy The Bull Gravano was a hitman for the Mafia, who turned informant. Much has been made about him turning into an informant, and Karen certainly received her share of backlash from that in the public eye. It was an interesting thing to read. 

 Alphonse (Al) D'Arco was born in 1932. He missed World War II, but enlisted in the United States Army for the Korean War. He wanted to go to Korea, but was sent to Alaska to guard some things. He wound up with an honorable discharge after two years of service. After that, he went back to the streets. He got married, having five children, one of which, (Joseph), became a member of organized crime. Al D'Arco became an official made member of the Lucchese Family in 1982, right after he turned fifty. (I thought that was a long time to wait for that, considering he had been on the street pretty much all of his adult life.) He was involved in a number of criminal activities, much like all other organized crime guys. Loansharking, theft, drugs, robbery, arson, hijacking, and murder were his most often committed crimes. He was involved with ten murders, including the murder of Bruno Facciola. D'Arco was convinced that he was marked for death, which was confirmed by FBI agents later, and he decided he was going to become a government witness. His testimony was used against several organized crime members, including Vincent Gigante. He also testified against two corrupt officers with the NYPD, which is how I became familiar with his name. The police, Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, were involved in all kinds of shenanagins. I also thought it was interesting that he was involved with the same people that are in the movie Goodfellas- Henry Hill, Jimmy Conway, and Tommy DeVito.

It took me absolutely ages to finish this book, no fault of the book. I kept falling asleep and having to go back to the last part I remembered. I think I have been listening to this book for about six days, which is abnormally long for me. I usually always enjoy a good organized crime book, and this one was no different. It is amazing to me how many irons these guys have in the fire, and how they are able to get away with things. I realize that this is covering a time period without all the technology we have now, but there are still organized crime families in operation and they are still managing to get away with activities. It is really amazing to me. I really liked the actual quotes from Al D'Arco. It gave the book a little more flavor.