This book is about all of the daughters of Queen Victoria. Victoria, Alice, Louise, Beatrice, and Helena were all born into a life of privilege. They all had very unique personalities. They all had very unique lives. I found this book to be very interesting and informative. I did not know much about these women, aside from Alice. I learned a great deal from this book, and would recommend it.

 Vera Yevseyevna Slonim was born in Saint Petersburg in 1902. She was born to a Jewish family. Her father was a lawyer, and also had several successful side businesses. The family had moved to Moscow, but, during the Russian Revolution, they escaped to Berlin, Germany. Once in Germany, her father started up a publishing firm, where she worked. This is how she met her future husband, Vladimir Nabokov. Nabokov was taken with Vera, and even though he was a Russian aristocrat and she was from a Jewish family, he saw no issue with it and married her despite the fact that such a thing simply wasn't done. In fact, Nabokov was pretty vocal about his hate of anti-semitism. Vera was a rabid supporter of her husband and his writing work. They lived a long life together and she had a lot of adventures, especially when she got to the United States. They are buried together in Switzerland, which is kind of romantic, really.

I had never heard of this woman before, so this book was very informative to me. I also really like Stacy Schiff, so I was glad to find another one of her books. Check out her work! 

 This book was great! I got it on Audible, but it was well written and entertaining. The story that is being told here is about Hot Springs, Arkansas and is told from several perspectives. I really enjoyed learning about the different figures that were presented in this book, including the ones that I had already heard of. Lucky Luciano and Owney Madden were some big ticket names. I have heard of Hot Springs, for healing purposes and relaxation. I didn't realize it had a seedy underbelly, so that was really cool to learn about. I really enjoyed this book. 

 This is the story of the search for the men who went missing when their bomber crashed somewhere in in the islands of Palau. This was such an emotional book, and the determination of these people to find the men who have been missing for so long was equally moving. I wish that everyone who was missing from any war in service to this country could be recovered and sent home, or at least find out what actually happened to them. In a lot of cases there may not be anything to recover. I can't recommend this book enough. 

 This book is about the famous Vanderbilt family. The book is written by Anderson Cooper, who is a member of the Vanderbilt family. If you get the Audible version, he also narrates it. I knew a decent amount of information about Cornelius Vanderbilt prior to reading this, but I learned a lot more about his sons and grandsons from this book. There were some details about various family members that didn't really add much to the story, but if you take each person in the dynasty as a cog in the machine, it makes sense. I have seen reviews that called this book boring, and I think they must have been bored during the places were there wasn't some scandal being discussed. I really enjoyed the way the book was written, and learning about the members of the family from the perspective of one who is truly in the know. I would like to learn more about Gloria Vanderbilt, and will have to pick up a different book about her.

I bought this book because I am on a famous family dynasty reading kick, and also because the Gilded Age is interesting to me. I have been lucky enough to visit Biltmore mansion in North Carolina, and I have read other books about the house and some members of the family. (Some advice: Do not visit Biltmore in the summer. They have no air, it is exceptionally hot, and it is a long walk from the parking area when you are sweltering in July. I also went when there was a mask mandate, and the suffocation...) This was well worth the time and energy to read. I learned a lot about several members of the family, especially Consuelo and Gloria Vanderbilt, about which I had not learned much prior to reading this book. 

 As the title suggests, this book focuses on the life of Lestat prior to being turned into a vampire by his maker, Magnus. Magnus leaves Lestat with a vast fortune, which he begins to disperse and flaunt immediately. He also makes sure to enjoy the finer things that he missed out on during his human life. He also runs into the Children of Darkness, a coven of old school vampires. We also learn more about Armand, a member of the Children of Darkness, and Lestat becomes obessed with the idea of finding Armand's maker, Marius, and getting to know him. I really liked this second book in the series. The story telling and writing style was just as good as the first, in my opinion. I liked meeting all of the new characters, and learning more about the ones I already met in the first book. 

 In the sixth book of the Vampire Chronicles, we learn about the life of Armand. Armand began life as an icon painter in a monastery. He is snatched by slave traders and put to work in a brothel in Italy. Armand meets Marius and becomes and apprentice to him, as Marius loves his painting. He develops a more intimate relationship with Marius over the course of the internship, and Marius ultimately ends up turning him into a vampire. Armand's life just seems so tragic to me. I really like the character, and was pleased to be able to learn more about his earlier life and the reasons behind his personality. I love the books that go into the backstory of specific characters, especially ones other than Lestat, because he can be a little much sometimes. 

 This is another great book by Nathaniel Philbrick. He always puts in a lot of research and a lot of effort in telling engaging historical tales. This was a very dramatic telling of a well known event. It keeps your interest even though it is a story that we learned about several times during school here in the States. I really enjoyed this book. 

 This was an incendiary account of Joseph Valachi, a member of the Genovese crime family. He was displeased with the way things were going, and turned informant for the federal government. He was the first person who broke the code of silence for the Mafia, giving a detailed account of the hierarchy of the crime families in New York. He provided names, positions, nicknames, and phone numbers. All of this information led to some indictments and improved policing against organized crime families. The book itself was okay, though I found it to be slightly boring. 

 I really enjoyed this book. I got in on Audible, and the reader's voice was tolerable. The story of J B West was really entertaining. It gave you a detailed experience into the life of a chief usher and other house staff of the White House. I also really appreciated getting to know a more private side of several First Ladies. This was a great read.