I read another book by Edward Ball, called Life of a Klansman: A Family History in White Supremacy. This book was mentioned in that book, so I ordered it from Thriftbooks for about five dollars. I really enjoy the writing of Edward Ball, who is an interesting person himself. I love a historian in general, because they are simply kindred spirits to me. He came from a family who had a very complex past, several generations were slave owners in South Carolina, and then there was the Klansman from the other book. A lot of people probably have similar pasts, but I haven't read many books that confront that part of their ancestor's doings. I really enjoyed the effort he put in to finding and speaking with descendants of former slaves that were owned by his family. I also learned a lot of things about the institution of slavery itself that I was previously unaware of. I really enjoyed this book, and would recommend it. 

 This book is about a baseball player who develops anorexia. Typically, anorexia is thought to affect only females. This book is a good reminder that males also struggle with eating disorders and body image issues. I appreciated finding a book about this subject that was from the male perspective. I think more people should read books like this to get an understanding of what people that have eating disorders really go through, and that it is both a male and female issue. 

 Thomas Jones was born in Maryland in 1955. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Basic Sciences from the United States Air Force Academy in 1977. After that, he received a Doctorate in Planetary Science from the University of Arizona in 1988. He joined the United States Air Force, where he served as an officer for six years. After his career in the Air Force, he held some pretty interesting jobs before being selected by NASA in 1990, officially becoming an astronaut in 1991. He flew missions on Space Shuttles Endeavor, Columbia, and Atlantis. He left NASA in 2001, and has since had a great career as an author, speaker, and consultant in space operations.

I have read a few astronaut biographies at this point, and this one was certainly one of the more interesting ones. I enjoyed learning about his life and how he decided to apply for the astronaut program. A lot of kids say that want to be an astronaut when they grow up, but very few actually keep that interest and determination to work toward that goal. I loved the personal account of spaceflight and missions that the author was able to work on. Overall, this was a really neat book. 

 Thank all the gods that there is an actual plot in this book! I am so shocked and pleased, I can hardly contain myself. In this seventeenth book, Anita is mailed the head of a police officer, sending her on the trail of a vampire serial killer. We meet up with Edward (hooray!), Olaf, and Bernardo again, which was a nice return to normalcy. Anita, of course, has relationship things going on and gains a couple of more werefolks for her stable of boys, but overall this was a much better book than the last several. 

 This book was about a girl named Caroline who felt lonely and alienated from everyone. I have felt that way for a good portion of my life, and still do sometimes. It was easy for me to empathize with her for several reasons. I appreciate her honesty about the reasons she started cutting and her struggles with that. I haven't really found very many books about cutting. In fact, I think this may be the only one I have been able to find. It drives me up the wall when people say that people cut for attention or something to that effect. A lot of people make no effort to understand where people who are hurting are coming from. The title of this book struck me as odd though. It really seems like it should be the title of some type of erotic book. 

 As the title clearly suggests, this book is about the wild rollercoaster love life of Henry VIII. Each of his wives are featured in detail in this historical account of their relationships with Henry. I could not imagine being married to this man, especially in his later years. This book features excerpts from letters and and diplomatic reports, which I loved. While the book itself was a historical account, it did include a lot of rumors and gossip, which I find to be very important. Without the rumor and gossip of court and all of the shady doings going on with Henry's friends and advisors, the fates of these women may have been entirely different. People seem to forget that being a fairly sheltered royal person that relied on the advice and opinions of others to a decent extent would be immune to intrigues and nonsense. I am sure that Henry's actions were his own, but I am also sure that he was manipulated into believing certain things about people. I also believe that he was very much addicted to control and power, especially over the lives of those close to him. I really liked this book.

I really enjoy Alison Weir's books, and this one was no different. I am working on downsizing my personal library, as I am planning on moving across the country. I wanted to make sure I was reading all of my unread books before deciding to keep or let go of, and I could not believe I had not read this one when I was looking on my library app. If you have not tried any books by this author, I suggest doing so. 

 As the title suggests, this book was about Mary of France and Margaret of Scotland. I thought it was very informative and well written. I enjoyed learning about the women, who seem to always be overshadowed by Henry VIII and his string of spousal mishaps. 

 This book is about Susan Smith, who murdered her children by strapping them into their car seats and sending them into the water to drown. She made up a bizarre story, which nobody believed for very long. It is always shocking when a parent murders their child, and this was no exception. I felt terrible for the father of these boys. The facts of this case were presented and well written. It was easy to follow and certainly kept my interest. 

 Salvatore "Crazy Sal" Polisi was introduced into organized crime via an Uncle before he even hit double digits. He began getting into mischief in school, before joining the United States Marine Corps. He received medical discharge for faking mental illness, and was able to fake out many psychologists that he was forced to talk to over the years. He became an associate of the Colombo crime family, were he was an enforcer. He eventually switched over to the Gambino crime family, were he was linked with John Gotti. He managed a night club, called The Sinatra Club, which was a wiseguy hangout. (Some notable names other than the Gotti's that frequented the club are Tommy DeSimone, Henry Hill, and Jimmy Burke- the men who Goodfelllas was based on.) The descriptions of other wiseguys, the crimes that were committed, and some other activities he had knowledge of were certainly interesting to read about, especially if you like a mob book as much as me. One thing about this book that took me aback was the mention of the JFK assassination as being a mafia hit. That has been a conspiracy for as long as I can recall reading about mobs and Kennedys. Honestly, it does hold some weight as the Kennedy family had some seedy connections, but hearing this story was actually not what I was expecting to read about. The only part that I found slightly dull was when Polisi was on the stand after having turned witness. I would be interested in reading more from him, as I am sure he had more stories to tell than the ones mentioned in this book. Overall, it was a good read. 

 This was a really interesting book. I learned a lot about the Everleigh Club, the most famous brothel in America at this time. So many well known men entered this establishment to be serviced by the ladies. It also included those who fought against the sexual revolution and those who worked in the industry. Though this book was short, it was amazing.