This book was the personal experience of Booker T Washington, who fought to make something of himself after slavery. I have not read a lot of personal accounts from former slaves, and that is something that I would like to change. I have read and heard plenty about slavery in my life, but never really any first hand accounts from those who suffered the actual experience. It is truly heartbreaking to hear about the suffering inflicted upon so many people for the sake of profit. Truly inhumane. 

 I really, really enjoyed this book. I read this book while waiting for my grandmother to get treatments done at the hospital, and it was so interesting that time passed quickly. I never really knew much about nuns or what becoming one entailed. I never knew about the works that nuns did or how they helped out people and the community. I also never really realized there were so many different factions of nuns. It was really interesting to hear about why some of the ladies decided to join the sisterhood. 

 Traudl Junge became Hitler's private secretary in 1942. She was only twenty two years old when she was selected for this position. She met her husband, who was also in service to Hitler, and married him with Hitler's blessing. Her wartime experiences were very interesting on their own, but the insider point of view of Hitler's private behavior and personality was very very interesting to me. I really enjoyed this book a lot. 

 This book is the companion book to the documentary series, which I watched and found interesting. This book is a thick powerhouse, and it took me quite some time to read it. It covered all the way through President Donald Trump's first year of his presidency. The amount of information in contained was staggering. I learned quite a bit, and would suggest this book for anyone who is looking to learn more about the US. 

 This book covered an array of strange events that occured throughout the course of American history. I read this book while waiting for my kids to finish their dance classes. It was interesting. 

 I love Antonia Fraser, and I had high hopes for this book from Flora. I was not disappointed. I did not know a lot about Queen Caroline, but I learned so much. This book outlines the life of Caroline and what she endured with King George IV. I am always interested in the European nobles and royals, so this was very informative for me. What an unhappy life she must have lived, like a lot of royal wives. This was a good book. 

 This book has a lot of negative reviews, but I did not find it to be as bad of a book as some people apparently did. I thought it was interesting that her father also had struggles with mental illness. There are several people in one part of my family tree that are laden with various mental illness, so genetic links really interest me. I can see how much this author struggled with her diagnosis, and I can't imagine what that is like for so many people. It was a very interesting book. 

 The eighth book in the Scarpetta series takes place in both Ireland and Virginia. Several murders have taken place in both locations with the same mode of death. The killer in this book is particularly weird, sending bizarre photos and having strange chat room conversations. I would like to note how interesting it is to think about using chat rooms like I did as a teenager, and how far technology has advanced. I appreciate that Patricia Cornwell keeps up with the changing technology and advancements in forensics throughout her series. She is always very well researched and does go into plenty of detail about the processes. We have some interesting communications between main characters in this book, and Inspector Percy Ring who is working this case as well, is very obnoxious...more obnoxious that Marino and Lucy put together, actually. 

 I cannot express how much I enjoyed this book. I love to learn, and I certainly learned a lot about what life was like for the woman in the Victorian Era. When we watch period movies and shows, we see beautiful dresses and hair styles, magnificent homes, and romantic men. We do not see all of the layers of ridiculous and uncomfortable clothes, the questionable hygiene practices, childbirth horror stories, etc. This book really made me appreciate my indoor plumbing, the fact that I can wear pants and panites with a crotch, and that I can use tampons or pads that didn't require a garter belt. I also appreciated the writing style of this book. It was educational, sarcastic, and quirky. I laughed several times while reading this book, which is a nice addition to just simply learning something. 

 This book does a short overview of various cryptids that are native legends in each state. Some of these are pretty well known, especially all the talk about Bigfoot, Skunk Apes, etc. There were a lot that I had never heard of, and the stories surrounding them were really entertaining.

The hardcover version of this is an illustrated guide, and I wish that I would have gotten that version. I got the Audible version, however, and it was about a four hour listen. I especially liked the Tennessee Terror chapter, since I live here. I have to admit that when I worked at a nuclear plant here, I saw a very malformed deer. There are also places in the river that are known to be contaminated with runoff, leakage, and heavy metals. I cannot imagine what kind of mutant things are lurking below the surface. Stories of catfish the size of Volkswagen Beetles are well known, and divers that work on the turbines at the dam that services the nuclear plant have reported huge fish. (I have to say that I am sure the little fish that get chopped up in the turbines help these bottom feeding fish grow rather large.) Anyway, I enjoy J. W. Ocker's works and his posts on social media. I thought this was an interesting and entertaining book. I also thought it was a great compliment to the Cursed Objects book that I read before this one. I am looking forward to getting the Season of the Witch book by this author.