Ashley Madison is essentially a dating site, for married people that are interested in finding people to have affairs with. The website ensured users that they could deleted their information, and information that was on the site was secure. Unfortunately, that was proven untrue in 2015 when a hacking group released the names and personal information of those using the sites. Many members of the military, government, and those in media were found to be using the site.

If you are interested in this, it is currently available on Audible Plus, and was about three hours of listening time. I am not really sure what I expected from a little three hour long book, but I suppose it was informative enough for that length of time. I didn't like the formatting or the voice over stuff. It just wasn't for me. 

 This book discusses the history of North and South Korea, and all of the stark differences between the two nations and the people residing in them. This book was a dollar at my local used book store, and I bought it simply to learn some generalized information about Korea. I bought this as well as a few other books from people who had left North Korea. I found this book to be very informative. It gave some really good historical facts, as well as good political information outlining the relationships between the two countries. 

 For anyone unfamiliar with this event, this was a steam locomotive that was stolen by Union spies during the Civil War. The engine was recovered and is now in a museum in Kennesaw, Georgia, which is on my travel list. There was a chase for the spies and the train, which was pretty dramatic to read about. I have never read a book about train theft until this one. If you are interested in Civil War history, this was a pretty good book.

My ex-fiancée is buried at the Chattanooga National Cemetery, and there is a monument to Andrew's Raiders right near the entrance on Holtzclaw Avenue. If you happen to be in the area, you may find that to be a point of interest. There are also a couple of other notable figures buried there. As far as the book goes, it was really interesting to be able to put places with parts of the story. I do encounter that pretty often when reading about the Civil War, being from the Chattanooga Area, but it is neat since I mostly read European history to be able to do that. I thought the book was well researched and well written, and I learned a lot more about this than I previously knew. 

 Harry S Truman was born in 1884 in Missouri. He was a member of the National Guard, and wound up serving in World War I. After his service, he entered the political world, becoming a Senator. Eventually, he was elected as Vice President, but soon gained the Presidency upon the death of FDR. This book holds a wealth of information about Truman's life and activities. I thoroughly enjoy the biographies written by this author and have had this one on my shelf for quite some time. I wanted to read a biography about each US President, as I am not terribly interested in US History and am lacking in knowledge about some historical figures here. I was very pleased with this book. 

 This book discusses the first horse to win the Triple Crown after decades of organizations trying. I actually did not watch the races this year, and I wish I would have. I enjoyed learning about the horse and all of the things behind the scenes that culminated in a history making race. I am pretty into pedigrees and such, as I have followed horse racing since I was about 10. I will say that it got a bit tedious reading about that, and if someone really wasn't that much of a fan, I can imagine it would be pretty boring in those parts. I also think the book could have been slightly shorter, but, overall, it was a decent book. 

This was required reading for my Renaissance and Reformation class this term. The textbook was easy to read, and featured a lot of interesting information. I appreciate when the course materials are educational AND interesting. 

 he author of this book originally wrote an article for Buzzfeed about this topic, but there was so much more to the story. Ten years of extensive research and interviews later, this book highlights the horrific abuse suffered by children who were residents at Catholic-ran orphanages across the globe. The dehumanization that these children endured is nearly unfathomable. The instances of abuse outlined in this book could honestly be classified as torture. A lot of these statements given by the former children take place at St. Joseph's in Burlington, Vermont. I looked up this Buzzfeed article, which showed an image of the orphanage. It certainly looks as though it would be a place of horrors or ghosts. Knowing what happened in the rooms gave a sinister undertone to the photos. This orphanage, and several other like it, were ran by the Catholic Diocese of Burlington. St. Joseph's was founded in The orphanage was staffed by The Sisters of Providence, who engaged in the systematic abuse of children. Priests who were involved with the orphanage also abuse children, especially males.


I have read a couple of books in this vein recently. It is shameful and disgusting that human beings can treat other human beings, especially defenseless ones, in ways such as this. Children in orphanages, people in asylums, people in boarding schools, schools or homes for wayward children, and those Indigenous who were removed to residential schools. There are thousands and thousands of people who were subjected to horrific sexual, mental, emotional, and physical abuse. There are so many documented stories and injuries, and just as many instances of cover ups and sweeping under rugs. It is horrific to think about that. I would like to say this book was shocking but having read and watched so many things like this...it wasn't...which is equally horrifying. I will say that it was eye-widening, and I certainly made a lot of faces and shook my head a lot while reading it. Out of all of the books that I have read so far this year, I would say that his has been my favorite. 

 The John Birch Society is a far-right political organization that was founded in 1958. These people were involved in some very questionable activities and took some very immature and questionable political stances. The book follows the timeline from conception to current. It is disgusting to me to see so many of these ideas still being shouted about to this very day. I listened to this book at work, and I am genuinely not sure how I managed to get any work done for rolling my eyes at the statements that were quoted in this book. Simultaneously, I kept thinking that all of the ridiculousness in this book really explains a lot about why so many of my family members are the way that they are. Vapid and rabid are two words that would describe the bulk of followers involved in this organization and these beliefs, especially once you do a quick Google search and see who supports this organization today. The book was very informative, despite being eye roll inducing, and I did learn a lot about this group and their activities over the years. 

 This book discusses the spree killings of Charles Starkweather. Starkweather was born in Nebraska in 1938. Starkweather met his girlfriend, Caril Fugate, in 1956. He was eighteen, she was thirteen. He had been in trouble prior to his killing spree, and his family was reportedly afraid of his temper. He became obsessed with having power over other people. Prior to the killing spree, he murdered a gas station attendant who refused to sell him something on credit. In January 1956, Starweather went to his girlfriend's house, where he ultimately killed her family. The two then took off, committing more murders before their apprehension. This book gives Starkweather's account of the crimes, as well as Fugate's differing version.

This book is just over 400 pages long if you are interested in reading the physical version. I purchased the Audible version with my credits, which was around 12 hours to listen to, I think. I listened to this book over two days at work and was pleased with the narration. There were plenty of facts included as well as the timeline of events. I liked that the author used quotes from several sources, including the two who perpetrated the crimes. I was pleased with this book, overall. 

 If you are interested in the physical copy of this book, it is around 400 pages. I personally purchased the Audible version of this book a while back, and finally got around to listening to it this past week at work. The narration was pleasant and took around ten hours to listen to. I have read other books by this author, so I knew what to expect from this one. I was not disappointed at all. I have seen some negative reviews about this book, but my experience with it was that the author was diligent in his research and followed the timeline of events accurately. He included personal statements from several people involved on both sides of the fence, as well as family members and other members of the media and society in general. I have no serious complaints about this book, but I do appreciate that other people disliked it.