Warren Hastings was born in England in 1732. He attended Westminster School before joining the East India Company. He sailed to India in 1750. He served as a clerk, developing quite the reputation for accuracy and diligence to his tasks. In his spare time, he learned Persian and Urdu, as well as history and societal facts about India. He rose through the rank. He eventually became Governor General. He went through a lot of political issues, and disagreements with his fellow Europeans. I did really like that he was actually concerned with the Native cultures and wanted to learn about them, instead of just conquering.

This book had a lot, and I mean a lot, of information in it. Some of it was relevant backstory to British colonialism in India, and some specific to the goings on of Warren Hastings. A lot of it was interesting it it's own right, but was not really necessary for the advancement of the book. I felt that it could have done with a little more editing out of irrelevant information. With that said, I did learn a great deal from the book, and it did hold my interest. 

 This book features a look at the Lansky family from outside of the fishbowl of mafiadom. I've read a couple of negative reviews about how this book was all about her and not her father....clearly, it is a book about her life. She was a child. She probably did not understand the inner workings of an organized crime family. She tells about HER life from HER perspective. There are other works about Meyer Lansky the gangster that would be more suitable if one wanted to read about him specifically. Sandra Lanksy was a spoiled little kid, who loved her father beyond measure. Her father was in a position financially to spoil her absolutely rotten, and I believe he did a great job of that. In so many of the mafia books I have read, it talks about how they separate themselves a lot of the time from their actual family life in an effort to keep the business out of their families lives- partially in an attempt to keep them safe and partially in an attempt to keep them from having information to give to authorities. It was interesting to read an account from someone on the other side of the veil. I enjoyed the book, and think other people would if they approached it from the viewpoint that it is not a biography on Meyer Lansky. 

 This book is the experiences of Lilia Tarawa during her time spent in a religious cult started by her grandfather in New Zealand. I didn't realize it was about a cult in New Zealand when I bought it, but I was pleasantly surprised. I somehow always wind up with cults in the United States. (We have so many cults here!) This book was really emotional, as cult escapee books usually are. Some of the things she went through, I cannot imagine. I read some other reviews about this book complaining about her life in the cult not being that bad, she jumped from the fire into the frying pan, etc. People seem to not understand that being forced into a religion and forced to abide by rules that someone made up in their mind is not for everyone. People have the right to make their own choices about their likes/dislikes and what to do with their bodies. I am proud of this girl for having the courage to live her truth. I picked this book up for .75, so it was certainly well worth the price I paid for it. 

 This book was on the reading list for The Last Podcast on the Left. I learned quite a bit about Rodney Alcala from that episode, but this book was exceptionally informative. Until recently, I didn't know a lot about Alcala, other than he appeared on a dating game show and the girl did not end up going out with him. It's nice to see someone that pays attention to their red flag radar. This guy was a real piece of work. He had been in trouble several times, and somehow managed to slip around and get up to shenanagins unhindered. It is amazing to me how people slip through the cracks and manage to wreck so many people's lives. This guy had some real audacity. At the time of this writing, he was still alive on Death Row, but has since died. No great loss there. 

 John Keats was born in London in 1795. He was sent to boarding school, attending John Clarke's in Enfield. Though the school was small, it had a fairly progressive and modern curriculum. It was here that Keats developed an interest in classics, history, and literature. He did an apprenticeship with an apothecary before registering as a medical student at Guy's Hospital. Though he seemed quite capable in the medical field, his true love was writing. It is suspected that Keats contracted tuberculosis sometime around 1817, possibly while taking care of his brother, who also had tuberculosis. During this time, he published several works, which I am a personal fan of. In 1820, he went to Rome. While there, he began coughing up blood. His condition deteriorated quite rapidly, and he was bled (why they thought that might help, I will never understand), as well as placed on a starvation diet. He begged for some opium, but was denied so he suffered in absolute agony. Keats died in Rome on 23 February 1821. His body was buried in the city's Protestant Cemetery. Before burial, an autopsy was done that showed his lungs had nearly disintegrated from the disease. He was 25 years old.

I didn't really know much about the life or death of John Keats before I read this book. The research was good, and I was very interested in what the author had to say the whole time I was reading. It was also a fairly short book, so I finished it quickly. I feel terrible that he suffered so much with no type of pain relief. I really enjoyed his work, and it is such a shame that his life was cut so short and the final months were utterly miserable. If you are a fan of Keats, you should check this book out. 

 The first thing I would like to say about this book is that it had a little map in the front, which I loved. I flipped back to it several times for reference when certain locations were mentioned. I love when books include maps, even if they are just basic line drawn maps. I loved that there were snippets from the daily lives of people from various walks of life- firemen, workers, tavern owners... It really gave you a sense of what life was like in Boston during this time period for people in various positions. (I found this context important for the aftermath of the disaster, as the poorer working class were treated in a disheartening way.) This book also gave a glimpse of other events going on during this time period, which, as a historian, I loved for the context of the time period. I have seen other reviews complain that the focus of the book wasn't solely telling the story of the flood, but I was quite pleased with it. I learned about several suspicious fires and bombings of places that supplied goods and services to the war effort, which I was unware of. (I always feel bad that I know virtually nothing about United States history, as my education focused on European History and World War II.)

To speak specifically on the flood itself, a large containment tank was built to house molasses. The tank itself was 50 feet tall, and held 2.3 million gallons of molasses at the time of the event. Molasses was used for the manufacture of alcohol and munitions. The tank collapsed, releasing a 15 feet tall deluge that rushed the town at around 35 miles per hour. The affected area in comparison with the size of modern day Boston seems so small, but looking at images of the event it seems like such a huge area. A lot of people were swept out into Boston Harbor and not recovered for several months. Many were consumed by molasses and hard to identify. The cleanup effort was tremendous. People claimed to still be able to smell it during the summer, and, incidentally, I had a friend who served on the USS Constitution, and she said that you could smell it. I would love to add this area to my historical tour of Boston I wish to take one of these days.

I happened to run across this book at the used book store here in the city, and it cost me seventy five cents. I thought it was a good price, and I had vaguely heard of this incident. I learned a lot from this book, so it was certainly worth the time I spent reading it and the dollar I paid for it. I really learned a lot and enjoyed it. 

 Gosh. I was extremely annoyed by this book. I started this series, and I intend to finish it, but my disappointment is staggering. This is by far my least favorite book out of the 14 up to this point. I am so cross about it, I really do not even know where to begin. Instead of a return to crime mystery, there is nothing. Anita's job with the Marshal Service, nor her job as a necromancer are involved in this book. Instead, Anita has a pregnancy scare, and how could she not with as much unprotected sex as she has. Of course, there could be a slew of potential fathers: Richard (ew), Jean-Claude, Nathaniel, Asher, Damien... There are tons of back and forth arguments about what to do and who is doing what and all of the possible problems that can arise from this particular issue. Her powers continue to increase. There are, shocker, more vampire political problems. And a lot of blow jobs. So many blow jobs. I am just not pleased at all with this book. 

 The serial killer that this book is centered around is Keith Jesperson, also known as The Happy Face Killer. He was active in the early 1990s, traveling in various parts of Canada and the United States for work. He was a driver for a trucking company, which enabled him to find victims in many locations. He got his nickname from drawing smiley faces on letters he wrote to the media and police. He has claimed to have killed a great number of people, then recant that as a ploy for attention. It has been confirmed that he murdered at least eight women, most of which were sex workers. He received a life sentence, without the possibility of parole for his crimes. The author of this book interviewed him several times about his crimes and to get his perspective on a true crime show that he was doing about people who kill.

I had two hours left in the Audible version of this book, so I finished it up right quick. (Finishing all of my half read stuff today has really given me a jump start on my reading challenge this year.) I like this book for a couple of reasons. The first is that I learned more about the crimes of Keith Jesperson and his personality. I read the book his daughter wrote a couple of years ago, but I didn't know a lot about him beyond that. He is as cold as ice, and so manipulative. The second reason that I liked this book was that it talked about the personal relationship between the author and Jesperson. A lot of true crime books do not feature that, and I thought it added a nice dynamic to the book. 

 This book focuses on sex workers in Pakistan. Specifically, those working in Heera Mandi, or the Diamond District, which is located inside the walled city of Lahore. This area is known as a red light district, which I had only heard used to describe Amsterdam's infamous area. This area is just south of the Badshahi Mosque, which seems like an odd place to have a red light district. The market where the red light district is was known for beautiful girls and concubines, which is where the diamond part comes in. It isn't actually a district for the cutting of diamonds as one might think. The market was originally opened by the Mughals, who brought in beautiful girls from Afghanistan and other locations, to dance and provide entertainment for men. Prostitution came naturally, and was really cemented in the area during the British colonial period. The market operates as a regular market, and brothels above the shops open at night for entertainment. Girls and transgender people are most often those participating in sex work. The book focuses on one particular sex worker, who had her virginity sold to the Sultan of Dubai when she was fourteen. She was classically trained in dance and service, and was a beautiful girl. She eventually had daughters, and because they were born to a prostitute mother, they were also going to be prostitutes and never leave that business. That is gross to me. It is very like the caste system I learned about in India, and by their religious law they are unclean and that's essentially the only thing they will ever be good for. I cannot wrap my mind around that, even though I can logically see the reasoning. I cannot imagine having my daughters be prostitutes or selling their virginity to some old man at that age simply because I was a sex worker. That's insane to me.

I feel extremely obtuse after reading this book, because it legitimately never occurred to me that there were sex workers in Pakistan. I have no idea why I have never thought about that before, because sex work has been around for a multitude of years and is not just confined to one area. I did learn when I was googling the location of this, (I like looking at maps), that it is very Bollywood. That is the best way to describe the dancing that these girls do. When I was reading, my mind went to stripping, but that isn't exactly the case here. Sex work of this nature has seen a decline due to crack downs, online escorts, and free internet porn. I have no problem with sex workers, and certainly no problem with it being made legal. The only issue that I have with this is when people are having sex with underage girls. If you choose to be a sex worker, awesome, but don't sell your children into it. That was gross to me. I found this book to be very interesting and educational. I certainly learned more than I ever expected to from it. I would recommend. 

 I just wasn't really excited about this short story. Who just walks into a family or work event and talks about their sex lives? I have also never met anyone to interrogated someone about their sexual practices. I've met some people who were curious about other people's sexual habits, but never have I ever seen someone interrogate them over a hot dog. It was annoying to me.