I was really looking forward to this book, because I am interested in history, crime, and organized crime. I hated this book. I absolutely hated it. The only reason that I have it two stars instead of one was because it did have some very interesting historical facts in it. It was tedious and really could have been about half the length. Last year, I was at the Alcatraz East crime museum and they had a display of the clothing worn by one of these gangs, as well as a copy of this book. Looking at that one set of clothes was more interesting that reading the entire book was. I cannot imagine living in the conditions with the struggles these people faced, but that didn't make the book any better. 

 I really enjoy books written from the German perspective. I have read so much from Allied perspectives and those who were targeted for the Holocaust. As a school boy, he got interested in the Hitler Youth and set his sights on the SS. It is always very interesting to me to see what interested people about the Nazi Party. This particular individual went through some interesting things during his time in the SS, and I was very engaged in it. I really enjoyed this book. 

 Funny Cide was foaled in 2000. His sire is Distorted Humor, his dam is Belle's Good Cide. It is easy to see where his name was derived from. He was purchased for $22,000. He was then purchased by Sackatoga Stable, which was owned by ten friends from New York, for $75,000. He was trained by Barclay Tagg, a former steeplechase jockey. Hall of Fame jockey, Jose Santos, was his regular jockey. He raced in the 2003 Kentucky Derby against the famous Empire Maker, where he came in first. There was some controversy after the race, as Santos appeared to have a buzzer used to shock horses in his hand in a picture. The picture was compared to other pictures and they determined it was just a shadow from the green silks of Empire Maker's jockey. Funny Cide went on to race in the Preakness Stakes, where he came in first. He raced the Belmont Stakes as well, coming in third to Empire Maker. He was voted Horse Of The Year two times, and retired with eleven wins from thirty eight starts and over three million in earnings. He was put to work as a stable pony, taking racehorses to the track and training with them. He eventually retired to the Kentucky Horse Park, where he was given Cigar's stall. He has no issue, as he was gelded before his racing career due to having one undescended testicle.

I remember seeing him run against Empire Maker, who was actually my favorite in the races. He was beautiful. I hope that he is still at the Kentucky Horse Park when I visit this fall and that I get to see him. I know that he was shipped to the track with American Pharoah when he won the Triple Crown, so that was a neat little side line to his story. I loved reading about him and seeing how he was trained. This is a good book for fans of horse racing. 

 Usually, when I read a disaster book, I spend a lot of time shaking my head in disbelief of decisions that were made that contributed to the disaster. I know they were not expecting a huge earthquake and a huge tsunami, but some of the decisions that were made caused this nuclear disaster to be so much worse than it might have been. I have watched a few documentaries and read several articles about Fukishima and the pollution and devastation for the people living in the surrounding area, and this book was very eye opening. It made me extremely uncomfortable, as I live in between two nuclear plants. There is one 20ish miles to the north of me and 20ish miles to the south. I wonder how much radiation we are actually exposed to and how many things they cover up at these plants that the public should know about. What poor decisions are they making that could result in something like this or another Chernobyl level incident. I shudder to think. 

 I found this book on a discount website and decided to give it a try. I chose this book for my February reads for the 2021 Reading Challenge. I found her book to be entertaining and interesting. I have never really given much thought to the adult entertainment industry and how one gets into that business, but it was a very interesting insight into that world. Stormy Daniels seems like an industrious person, with a good concept of handling her business and providing for herself. Standing up and speaking out against any person who is in a position of power or well known will certainly result in a lot of back and forth comments and nastiness, especially with rabid supporters of the person. This is happening so much in the music industry lately, as well as the film industry. People should be held accountable for their actions, and Stormy certainly seems to own her part in this particular fiasco. I will say that I have absolutely no desire to go anywhere near a mushroom again in my life. 

 This book was included in the Audible Plus catalog, so I listened to it. I remember reading about this event in the news, but it never really registered in my mind that it was prior to the attacks in 2001. The very morning that the commander of this ship was debriefed about this attack incident, was on September 11, 2001. During this meeting, he expressed his concerns about Osama bin Laden and the Al Qaeda. What a sinking feeling that the author must have had. I thought this book was extremely interesting and informative. I was glad that I found it. 

 Temple is back in this book, which is unfortunate, because I really despise this character. I hate the name too. Scarpetta is working the cases of murders that resemble the ones done by Temple as a partner of the FBI. Scarpetta is so bent out of shape about creepy Temple that she nearly shoots Lucy, which probably wouldn't have hurt my feelings much. She grates my nerves in the worst way, nearly as bad as her little girlfriend Carrie. Marino also has a girlfriend in this book, which is a shock because he is so uncouth most of the time that I cannot imagine a woman who would want to put up with him longer than a second.

As I write this review, I have read the entire series to date and I know that certain things that happened in this book were not as resolved as they seemed. That being said, this book was probably my least favorite of the series to this point, because the resolution of this book was wrapped up in about two pages, after going through the whole ordeal of the other book. I feel that it should have been a better resolution. I think there are several other reviews that feel this way as well. 

 This book was about Jaycee Dugard, who was kidnapped as a young child. Instead of letting herself be beaten down and hampered by all of the things she missed while she was being held in captivity, she embraces the world she was freed into. She details all of the experiences she partakes in, from foods to technology to trips. I cannot imagine what it was like to live through what she did, but she tries to be so positive and grateful for the life she has now that it is hard not to love her and cheer for her. I hope that she continues to have amazing experiences and inspire many people for the rest of her life. 

 This book provides the recollections of German women who lived through World War II. The experiences these women had, along with their thought process and beliefs then and at the time of interview were very interesting. I have read a lot about World War II and majored in it in school, but very few of the things that I read were by Germans who were not Jewish. I always enjoy reading books from former German military and German citizens, because it provides a different perspective than I am used to reading. This was not the most well written book that I have read, but it was certainly very interesting. 

 Franklin D. Roosevelt was born in 1882 in New York. He came from a wealthy family, and attended boarding schools and Harvard College. He came down with polio, which wound up essentially paralyzing him. He married his 5th cousin, and also engaged in a series of affairs. He served as the 32nd President of the United States of America from 1933 to 1945. He was a very capable politician, a member of the Democratic Party, and implemented a lot of programs that made up the New Deal in the era of the Great Depression. He was also president for the majority of World War II.

Winston Churchill was born in 1874 in England. He was a member of the British aristocracy, and attended several boarding schools. He joined the Royal Military Academy, eventually serving in Sudan, Cuba, and India. He began working in the House of Commons in 1901. He did a lot of other things in his political career as well. Eventually, he served as Prime Minister during World War II.

These men had a lot of similarities. Both were leaders of powerful nations during World War II. Both had been born into wealthy elite families. Both had attended boarding schools and prestigious colleges. Both had strong political careers. The first time the two met was prior to World War II, at Gray's in 1918. Roosevelt was working for the United States Naval Department and Churchill was the First Lord of the Admiralty. They met again in 1939 when Roosevelt initiated conversation about working together in Naval matters and war issues. The book goes over their communications and strategies, but also makes the comment that Roosevelt was a better politician than Churchill. I'm not sure that is as nice of a compliment as it sounds. It also makes the statement that Churchill was a better man morally than Roosevelt, which may be the case. I knew of their working relationship in passing, because they obviously communicated a great deal and spent a decent amount of time together while the war was ongoing. If you have two leaders on the same side of a global conflict, they will obviously have to communicate to work together. I didn't realize that they had a more intimate friendship than coworkers, and thought this book was really informative about that. I like this author and the way he communicates his facts and his story together.