I've seen some back and forth reviews about this book. There are some people who are die hard lovers of this book and this author, and there are others who absolutely hated this book. I personally enjoyed the writing style and the subject matter. It wasn't the greatest memoir for me, but it was a good read. 

 Hussein was born in 1935, a child of Prince Talal and Princess Zein al-Sharaf. He attended school at Victoria College in Egypt, before continuing his education at Harrow School in England. He also had a great relationship with his grandfather, King Abdullah I, who was also grooming him to be a monarch. While accompanying his grandfather to Jerusalem to perform prayers, the were the victims of a Palestinian assassin. King Abdullah I died. Prince Talal, Hussein's father, took the throne, but was forced to abdicate due to a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Hussein then took the throne, and had a multitude of political issues to contend with. He reigned during the Six Day Way, Black September, the Yom Kuppur War, riots in 1989, the Gulf War, and a host of assassination attempts. He became quite ill, resulting in a diagnosis of Non Hodgkins Lymphoma. He ultimately died in 1999 from the disease.

I found this book and decided to pick it up, because I had previously read the book written by his wife Queen Noor. I really learned a lot about Jordan from her book, as well as her life assimilating to Jordanian culture. Of course, she talked about her husband, but I thought it would be wise to read a biography about him. This one was well researched and covered a lot of things about his policies and decision in wartime. I really learned a lot from this book, and found it very enjoyable. 

 This book is the personal account of two combat tours in the Gulf War by Robert Serocki. People often comment about how the Gulf War wasn't a "real" war, and even though the loss of life on the side of the United States was miniscule compared to involvement in other wars, people still died. People still watched their friends die. People still ran around in the middle of the desert- hot, tired, and hungry. They still left their families and homes for months at a time, not knowing if they would come back. War is war. War is not a pleasant thing, no matter if people are dropping like flies or not. I think a lot of people are just ignorant of what war experiences are like, and what the aftermath of those experiences can do.

I love a book about personal experiences, and as someone interested in military history/war memoirs, I assumed I would love this book. I really appreciated the candor of this book. There are three groups of people, really. One group glorifies military members and the government to deity proportions. The other group can't stand either. There is a small spattering of people who understand that service members do that work for a multitude of reasons, respect them for that, and wish them well when they come home. That same small spattering also realizes that the government most often has some shady reason for doing something and uses live people as pawns in their schemes. It's especially tragic when someone we love experiences traumatic things and comes home and ultimately takes their own life from the mental and physical toll that this line of work took on them. (Which is part of the reason I have avoided getting my unread war books read that have anything to do with Iraq/Afghanistan or Marines.) This was a deeply moving book to me, and I really suggest reading this if you are interested in what goes on in war. I also learned a bit about the Gulf War in general, because I am not really knowledgeable on that specific war. 

 Rolling Stone Magazine was founded in 1967 by Jann Wenner and Ralph Gleason. To begin with, the content was rock and roll related, with coverage of things that artists were doing, new releases, etc. Hunter S. Thompson covered political news, which I thought was really interesting to learn about. The information about how the magazine was founded and how they got their ideas for articles and interviews was really interesting to me. This book is written by one of the founders, Jann Wenner, and details the magazine's life up to the point of sale.

The magazine has covered some really interesting topics. There was coverage about the Altamont Free Concert (1969; I encourage you to look this up), the Charles Manson saga, NASA missions, all sorts of Presidency issues, and other domestic events. I used to have a subscription to this magazine, but I canceled it after I received the one with the Boston Marathon bomber on the cover. (I thought it was disgusting and chose to no longer support the magazine. I do not feel that such a vile person should have been on the cover, which is my opinion, and if you are fine with that, okay, not my business.) There have been some really neat covers, and some really good articles over the years. One of the most explosive things that I can recall was when the magazine published excerpts from the book about the Afghanistan War, written by Michael Hastings, who later died from not so natural causes. Most recently, they published an article about how there were no hospital beds due to people overdosing on livestock wormer (endorsed by President Trump). The hospital mentioned said that was a blatant lie, but I am not shocked to learn that journalism is biased or untruthful, especially since I have become an adult.

I picked this book up at the library this past week, and I am so glad that I did. I had this on my to buy list, but I would have been disgusted with myself if I had wasted my money on it. I expected a lot of name dropping in this book, because why not. If you spend your career around big names, you are going to mention big names. That part wasn't disturbing to me. The author did, however, let his ego come right on through in this memoir. I didn't care for it, but that is his right to do with his memoir. I did also feel a bit out of touch, being a child of the late 80s, I didn't really relate to a lot of the people mentioned in the first half of the book. I do not really enjoy that era of music either. I thought that this book would be a really neat read for the simple fact that I could learn about the mag's foundation and processes, and I was not disappointed in that aspect. Almost 600 pages was a bit tedious for me to read about this topic and about this person that I only had a passing interest in. I suppose I made a bad choice in selecting a book for myself this time around, but if you wish to read it or think it is interesting, do not let my negativity stop you. 

I love Amy Bruni. She was one of my favorite people on Ghost Hunters, and I really enjoy her new show Kindred Spirits with Adam. I remember a lot of these episodes that she mentions in the book, so that was a fun walk down memory lane. I also enjoyed reading about other personal experiences of hers and how many changes have occured in the world of paranormal investigation. I'm glad I picked this book up.

 Elizabeth I was born in England in 1533. She was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, his second wife. Her father had her mother executed via beheading when she was two years old. Before the execution, their marriage was annulled, making Elizabeth an illegitimate child. She was educated by tutors, learning several languages. When Henry VIII died, she lived in the household of Katherine Parr and Thomas Seymour. He engaged in severely inappropriate and abusive activities toward Elizabeth, which I am sure traumatized her in some way. He was eventually executed for plotting to marry Elizabeth, as well as marrying her cousin to her half brother. Eventually, after the death of her brother Edward VI, her cousin Lady Jane Grey, and her sister Mary I, she became queen. The year was 1558, and she was 25 years old. Elizabeth would go on to be the last of the five monarchs of the House of Tudor.

During her reign, she was known for a lot of different things. The fact that she absolutely refused to marry was one of them. She did not want to give a man the right to control her and her decisions, and I certainly cannot blame her for that. Plus, they were all scheming anyway to become King. She did have a long love affair with Robert Dudley though, and was probably not a virgin as people were want to call her. She was also an imperialist, seeking to grow her kingdom. She engaged in several military conflicts, but also worked to foster good relationships with allied kingdoms.

Alison Weir is one of my favorite female historians. I typically enjoy all of her work, and this one was no exception. Her research is always very well done, and I have picked up further reading from her bibliography several times. I enjoy the way she tells the stories of people in a way that is interesting, entertaining, and educational. Elizabeth I is a monarch that I have read a lot about, but still managed to learn a few new things from this book. Any book by this author is a good choice to add to your TBR pile. 

 I thought that this books was going to be something different than what it was, and I was really surprised by it. I really enjoyed the storytelling and writing style that the author used. I loved learning about the history of New Orleans, Civil War facts, and about his family member and the rise of the KKK. This was a really good book, and I hope to pick up some more books by this author. 

 This book was about those who were in service in some great European homes. I ordered a few books in this vein after watching Downton Abbey. I know that service wasn't hardly like that show, but I am sure there were some interesting experiences and relationships that came from the work, just like with any job. I enjoyed learning about these people and their jobs and way of life. 

 This book was suggested to me by similar Amazon purchases, so I picked it up with my Audible credit. I love books about historical buildings of all kinds. I actually became aware of the Dakota through a podcast episode about Mark David Chapman murdering John Lennon outside of it. I had no idea that this building was built by Edward Clark, Singer sewing machine magnate. The story of construction wasn't terribly interesting to me, but how the building wound up with the name Dakota was neat. I also had no idea that Roberta Flack was the first African American resident of the Dakota. There were a lot of famous names mentioned in this book with stories and anecdotes about them. If you are interested in celebrities, this might be a book for you. I have a couple of other books of similar topic, and I am looking forward to reading them as well. 

 I bought this book after listening to a podcast about the West Memphis Three. I was very interested in the case, and thought that reading a book written by one of those convicted would be interesting. I was not disappointed. I enjoyed hearing the other side of the story. I am hoping to read Devil's Knot soon.