I have been very interested in learning about the workings of North Korea over the past several years with the back and forth between the US government and the North Korean government. I have searched and searched for books by defectors or people who have had the full experience of living in North Korea, and I was very pleased to find this one. It was a very interesting read, and if even a fraction of what was in the book is accurate, I am very thankful that I did not grow up in that place. What a hard way to live. It makes you really appreciate what you have when you read about how much people are controlled and how much they do not have, and how much fear they must live in. I would suggest this book to anyone who was interested in Asian history or North Korea. 

 This book is about nurse Genene Jones, who murdered over thirty children. I learned about her from a program about killer nurses, and I ordered this book right away. This book has the entire story from the second she was hired as a nurse, to the second the gavel smashed down on her fate. It was very interesting. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in nurses like this. 

 I love Erik Larson. His work is always so well researched, and I like the dual, connecting story lines. I love the way Larson paints a stunning picture of the event as well as the era itself. This book was about the sinking of the Lusitania during World War I. Lusitania was sailing from New York to Liverpool when it was sank, with around 1,200 lives lost. I will always recommend any Erik Larson book, but this one especially. 

 This book was (obviously) about the Dyatlov Pass, and the students that died there. I have always wondered about this, and I know that recently people have decided it was an avalanche. I thought this book told the story in a very captivating way, and the author made the reader feel like they really knew each of these people who met such an awful end on a cold mountain. I thought that all of the suspicions and theories about what it was that caused them to end up like that were presented well. 

 This book is about a deacon from Florida, who liked killing prostitutes in his spare time. People from church are supposed to be the ones living the sin free life and setting a welcoming example for everyone around them...unfortunately, there are some who really make a bad name for themselves and their religious organizations. This book was a pretty decent read, and I appreciated the presentation of facts. 

 Anita and Jean-Claude have decided to make a public engagement, but she still have a million other boyfriends and sex partners. She is having a terrible struggle with being a professional person, or a person at all, separate from Jean-Claude...forget about all the other lovers. Nobody takes her seriously anymore, bless her heart. Lucky for her, people decide she is still their most educated contact about the supernatural world, and she continues to have some semblance of a career that we hardly ever get to see anymore because we are too busy talking through every single occurrence in every single relationship, sucking dicks, and having sex with everyone that moves. To top that off, this book includes zombie porn. I literally have no idea anymore. 

 This book covers the case of Cheryl Cunningham, wife and mother of three, who was murdered by her husband, Brad. Brad Cunningham was a manipulative, conniving slimeball. He ran up debts. He was a serial abuser. This book was very thorough and I think that it may have been a bit too long. I found myself tired of reading towards the end. I was ready to be done. I think Ann Rule did a great job presenting the facts and the case and making the story personal for the reader. I like Ann Rule's books, but I certainly prefer these types to the ones that have several stories in one. 

 This was one of the books I chose for my January 2021 Reading Challenge. I had never heard of Gander, Newfoundland, and happened to come across this book on a website. While it was not the best book I have read, it was good. I would suggest it to every American. People are so quick to forget the kindness that other people showed us during our personal tragedies. Reading about how these people opened their home to complete strangers and helped them make the best of a situation that was terrible on many fronts was truly touching, even for a person not prone to emotional outbursts. 

 This book was the personal account of Isaac Bashevis Singer, who grew up in Poland. His account of life in Poland was very interesting to read, and so sad to think about how all of these beautiful places and things were destroyed in World War II. Childhoods were never the same after World War I and World War II in this region. I thought this was a great read. 

 John F. Kennedy Junior was the son of President John F Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy. He had one sister, Caroline. His father was assassinated three days before his third birthday. His mother died in 1994, which made me glad that she did not have to live through losing a baby, a son, and a husband. That's a lot for one person. John Jr. was a lawyer, and also dealt in journalism and magazine publishing. He really liked acting, and did some plays and things in school, but his mother was not impressed by the idea of him being an actor for a career. He served in the role of New York assistant district attorney for several years. He had relationships with several famous ladies, including Cindy Crawford. He married Caroline Bessette in 1996. He had always wanted to have a pilot's license as a child, and finally achieved that goal in 1998, not long before his death. He was flying, along with his wife and her sister, to a Kennedy family wedding, when his plane crashed. It took about five days before their bodies were found on the ocean floor by divers. It is the common belief that John Jr. crashed the plane on accident while unable to determine the ocean's surface from the sky.

I remember when John Jr died. I was in the summer between sixth and seventh grade. It was all over those magazines that you find at the grocery store check out, and all over the news. I didn't really understand who he was at the time, because my interest in history and the Kennedy's didn't come until later. I have also read more about JFK and his siblings and wife than I have about any of the Kennedy offspring, so I did learn a great deal from this book. It did not cover so much about the day he died, so I was slightly disappointed, but it was still very informative.