This book covers the events in Kuwait after the invasion by Iraqi forces in 1990. Iraqi forces stormed in, overwhelming the small Kuwaiti forces. Kuwaiti officials fled, and Kuwait was annexed by Iraq. The purpose of this was to gain control over Kuwait's oil, which equaled about 20% of the world's oil reserve at that time. Iraqi troops went on a raping campaign, which apparently is just a thing that people all over the world and across centuries think belong in their war arsenal. They attacked Kuwaiti citizens with axes and other weapons, beat them, shot them, and hung bodies and parts of bodies in the streets. They destroyed a lot of cars and buildings. Of course, during their withdrawal they famously set oil wells on fire, costing millions of dollars in damages, fire fighting efforts, and clean up.

This book provided an accurate description of what life was like for those living in this mess. I thought the book was engaging and factual. The issue is that it does cover some pretty graphic things, so if you are easily bothered by that type of stuff, you may want to steer clear. If you are interested in the Gulf War at all, this might be a good book for you to check out. I have said before that I enjoy Jean Sasson's works on the Middle East, and this one did not disappoint me. 

 Iris Chang was a great author. I have a couple of her book and learned a lot from both of them. Her personal story was tragic. This book outlines the atrocities committed against the Chinese, especially women, during the invasion by Japanese forces in World War II. This book was graphic and heart wrenching. It is almost unbelievable that people can do things like this to other people, but there have been so many examples of what human beings are truly capable of. I would strongly recommend this book. 

 This book covers the 1964 Alaska Earthquake (also known as the Good Friday Earthquake). On March 27, 1964, a 9.2 magnitude earthquake that lasted over four minutes struck near Anchorage. Something like 600 miles of fault line was involved in the rupture. This book went into great detail about how earthquakes and tsunamis occur, which was interesting but kind of got dull after pages and pages of explanation. I did learn about soil liquefaction, which I didn't know was a thing. The disturbances to the ground caused a lot of structural damage- building collapse, destroyed roads and bridges, the sewer and water lines were damaged, etc. Many areas were directly affected by the earthquake and resulting tsunami. Tsunami waves were reported in other countries, including Peru, Japan, and Mexico. Port Valdez suffered quite a bit of damage due to a landslide underwater that destroyed the docks and harbor. 32 people died here due to the event. Another nearby town, Chenega, was completely destroyed. At the time, there were 68 people living there. 23 of them died. The tsunami wave generated by the earthquake that hit Chenega was 27 feet high.

This book had a pretty concentrated focus on Crescent City, California. The tsunami finally reached the city on March 28, 1964, four hours after the initial earthquake. The first wave produced some localized flooding that residents were concerned about. The second and third waves were smaller, but the fourth wave to hit was massive. It is estimated that the wave was 21 feet high, though the measuring devices were damaged. (When I googled imaged of the damage, there were a couple of articles that came up that claim the wave was 75 feet. I think that was an exaggeration, because more than 60 blocks would have been affected.) The water in the harbor was sucked dry prior to the wave coming in. 1,000 cars were damaged, 30 city blocks were destroyed and 30 more were flooded, 289 buildings were destroyed, and many fishing boats and personal boats were destroyed. 12 people died, 100 were injured, and some people were missing and never found. The underwater geography of Crescent City had a lot to do with how much damage the tsunami caused, the location from the epicenter of the earthquake and the rivers in the city also factored into the damage. It was estimated that the damage was about $15 million dollars.

Overall, the book was engaging. I was really invested in the personal stories of the people mentioned in the books. I learned a lot about ocean geography and how earthquakes and tsunamis work, but that being at the beginning of the book was a little bit dull. I was ready to get to the meat and potatoes of the story. For that reason, I gave it a 3 star rating instead of a 4. I suppose it hadn't really crossed my mind that tsunamis happened in the United States, though I am not sure why since that whole West Coast is near fault lines and the Pacific Ocean. I guess most of the news articles I have seen or tsunamis that I have been alive for have occurred in Asian countries like Japan and Indonesia. I wasn't using my critical thinking skills. 

 I read this book as part of my February selection for the 2021 Reading Challenge. I preordered this book and was looking forward to it for months. In this twenty eighth installment of the Anita Blake saga, we learn more about the title character, Rafael. I had really high hopes for this book, because Sucker Punch was getting back on the track of mystery solving that did not revolve completely around her nine hundred poly relationships and sex issues, which really grates my nerves after a while. The book opens up with Kane throwing a little baby fit. Can't stand him. Anita briefly meets Micah and Nathaniel in the hallway and swoons over them, annoying, but less than normal when they are spending twelve chapters talking in circles back and forth about whatever relationship issue. I also wish she would stop calling people sweeties. (Insert eye roll.) Rafael has to fight for his crown in this book against Hector. I also hate Hector. He has a real attitude problem. We learn a lot from this book about how the rat kingdom operates and the rules they have for proper governing. I would love to learn more about the other were animal groups, and I hope those will be explored in forthcoming books. I am pleased at the direction the past two books have taken, because I truly miss the days when Anita was using her necromancy and they were fighting enemies and solving mysteries. I am just so over the constant relationship back and forth, and I was relieved this one didn't focus solely on that like so many of the other previous books seemed to. This book has some really important information in it, and I would not suggest skipping it. 

 This book by Ann Rule is one that covers several cases. I prefer the ones that are written about only one case, but I have nothing against this book. The facts of the cases were presented in a tasteful and factual manner, as per usual with Ann Rule. It was a decent book. 

 This book was disgusting. The way these girls were treated and overlooked was absolutely disgusting. The way that these girls were lied to was disgusting. The amount of suffering they went through from working in these unsafe conditions was horrifying. There's a movie or show just out about this and I am considering watching it, but the book was plenty to get the point across. It was very well written and detailed the history of radium and its many uses. It detailed several employees of these dial companies and what they endured, as well as the legal cases brought against the companies. This book just filled me with rage, and one would hope that workplace conditions would be better, but you just know that somewhere in the world there are people getting some similar shaft. Unreal. 

 In this book, the style of writing is a tiny bit different. It follows several different characters at once, which is a small digression of just being one person telling a story type of style. Several characters make another appearance in this book, and we also meet some new one. As the title suggests, one of the new characters that we meet is Akasha, the Queen of the Damned. Akasha has been awakened from her slumbering state by Lestat's music. (He has joined a rock band at this point.) This book goes into detail about the origins of vampires, and the familial lines between makers and made. I read this book first in the series after watching the movie, which was a mistake. I wish that I had started at the beginning of the series, but I read this one again in the proper order. It was good, but not my favorite out of the three. 

 This is a wonderfully detailed book about Queen Isabella and her life. Alison Weir has done a great job as per usual writing and engaging, yet highly factual and researched biography about one of the world's most famous medieval queens. I read this book over the course of a couple of days, because this was my car book, but I could have certainly read it in one sitting. 

 This book was of particular interest to be, as I have lived in the Bible Belt my entire life. Many of the attitudes that the author experienced are certainly ones that I have also encountered throughout my life. It is so surprising to me that there are still people who willingly get involved in these attitudes in the year 2021. It is also surprising to me how many people are still trusting in their religious elders, despite all of the instances throughout history and into modern day of abuse in the churches. This was a very interesting book, and I would suggest it to anyone interested in religions and women's issues. 

 The Ramones are a well known band. Well known for their antics, their music, and the iconic scene they came from. I just ran across this book at the used book store and decided to read it. I always love stories from band members. I think it is interesting to learn how they got into music, what happened on the road, and how they ended up in the bands that made them famous. This was a pretty great book!