The Friday 56 (171) & Book Beginnings: Dragon's Bait by Vivian Vande Velde

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Fifteen-year-old Alys is not a witch. But that doesn't matter--the villagers think she is and have staked her out on a hillside as a sacrifice to the local dragon. It's late, it's cold, and it's raining, and Alys can think of only one thing--revenge. But first she's got to escape, and even if she does, how can one girl possibly take on an entire town alone? Then the dragon arrives--a dragon that could quite possibly be the perfect ally. . . 

Beginning: "The day Alys was accused of being a witch started out like any other."

56: "Again he didn't answer."

Comments: I liked Dragon's Bait. What are you reading this week?

Review: The Radium Girls by Kate Moore

Title: The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women
Series: n/a
Author: Kate Moore
Source/Format: Purchased; Paperback
More Details: History; Nonfiction
Publisher/Publication Date: Sourcebooks; May 2, 2017

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

The incredible true story of the women who fought America's Undark danger...

The Curies' newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty, and wonder drug of the medical community. From body lotion to tonic water, the popular new element shines bright in the otherwise dark years of the First World War. Meanwhile, hundreds of girls toil amidst the glowing dust of the radium-dial factories. The glittering chemical covers their bodies from head to toe; they light up the night like industrious fireflies. With such a coveted job, these "shining girls" are the luckiest alive — until they begin to fall mysteriously ill. But the factories that once offered golden opportunities are now ignoring all claims of the gruesome side effects, and the women's cries of corruption. And as the fatal poison of the radium takes hold, the brave shining girls find themselves embroiled in one of the biggest scandals of America's early 20th century, and in a groundbreaking battle for workers' rights that will echo for centuries to come. Written with a sparkling voice and breakneck pace, The Radium Girls fully illuminates the inspiring young women exposed to the "wonder" substance of radium, and their awe-inspiring strength in the face of almost impossible circumstances. Their courage and tenacity led to life-changing regulations, research into nuclear bombing, and ultimately saved hundreds of thousands of lives...

One of the books I read in December was The Radium Girls by Kate Moore. It was sitting on my shelf for a while, and I decided it was time to finally read it.

The Radium Girls is probably one of the most poignant, haunting, and sobering reads I’ve read in a while. The Radium Girls is nonfiction, and it tells the history of the women who worked in radium dial-painting factories around the 1920s. It was also about who knew about the dangers of radium, and those who were willing to ignore it in favor of monetary gain.

Sold on the premise of what first appeared to be a glamourous and high-paying job, it turned out to be a slowly unfolding nightmare with significant effects that lasted for years. The women, as documented in The Radium Girls, suffered from incurable (and fatal) health issues directly resulting from their work with the radium paint used to give the dials their luminous glow—more specifically the method used on the factory floor to fix brush ends, which led to the ingestion of radium paint: the “lip-dip-paint routine.” There were other factors as well, like all the details about how the paint got on skin and clothes, and how workers would eat in areas near the paint. The effects of the radium were, for lack of better words, gruesome. It was chilling to read about the women’s condition and how many people were willing to just brush the issue aside despite all the evidence. It was gross negligence and downright insidious at times.

The Radium Girls is a hard and at times an infuriating book to read. Nevertheless it’s an important history that’s worth reading about.

Music Monday (101): Retro Week with music by The S.O.S. Band and a-ha

   Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

This week, our Music Monday is retro themed. So tell us about all your favorite classic songs in the comments down below!

Breana: My pick for this week is Take On Me by a-ha. I really love the sound and the music video for this song, especially how all the animated portions complimented the rest of the video. The overall aesthetic is one of my favorites.

Adri: Lately, I found that I couldn't get the beat of Just Be Good To Me by The S.O.S Band out of my head. So, as you can imagine, I have been playing it over and over again, and I still can't get enough of it.

The Friday 56 (170) & Book Beginnings: The Radium Girls by Kate Moore

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

The incredible true story of the women who fought America's Undark danger...

The Curies' newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty, and wonder drug of the medical community. From body lotion to tonic water, the popular new element shines bright in the otherwise dark years of the First World War. Meanwhile, hundreds of girls toil amidst the glowing dust of the radium-dial factories. The glittering chemical covers their bodies from head to toe; they light up the night like industrious fireflies. With such a coveted job, these "shining girls" are the luckiest alive — until they begin to fall mysteriously ill. But the factories that once offered golden opportunities are now ignoring all claims of the gruesome side effects, and the women's cries of corruption. And as the fatal poison of the radium takes hold, the brave shining girls find themselves embroiled in one of the biggest scandals of America's early 20th century, and in a groundbreaking battle for workers' rights that will echo for centuries to come. Written with a sparkling voice and breakneck pace, The Radium Girls fully illuminates the inspiring young women exposed to the "wonder" substance of radium, and their awe-inspiring strength in the face of almost impossible circumstances. Their courage and tenacity led to life-changing regulations, research into nuclear bombing, and ultimately saved hundreds of thousands of lives...

Beginning: "The scientist had forgotten all about the radium. It was tucked discreetly within the folds of his waistcoat pocket, enclosed in a slim glass tube in such a small quantity that he could not feel its weight."

56: "Peg held the dials in her hand as she carefully traced the numbers with the greenish-white paint, lipping and dipping her camel-hair brush as she had been taught."

Comments: The Radium Girls is my first nonfiction read for 2020, and it was a thought provoking book. What are you reading this week?

Review: The Case Study of Vanitas by Jun Mochizuki

Title: The Case Study of Vanitas
Series: The Case Study of Vanitas Volume #1
Author: Jun Mochizuki
Source/Format: Gift; Paperback
More Details: Manga, Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: Yen Press; December 20, 2016 (First published April 22, 2016)

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

Step once more into the imagination of Jun Mochizuki, creator of New York Times-bestselling PandoraHearts! A tale of vampires and curses set in a whimsical and dark steampunk Paris unfolds! On the streets, rumors abound of a clockwork grimoire said to sow curses among the vampires. Now, guided by the Book of Vanitas, the gears begun to turn, and the story of two men, Noe and Vanitas, takes shape...

I haven’t kept up with manga by Jun Mochizuki for a while, but I was curious about her latest series, The Case Study of Vanitas. The story so far seems fun and quirky, but there are also a number of hints and vague statements that are already strongly alluding to the tragedy that is going to take place in this series. Even so, I liked the first volume of this manga. It does a lot of heavy-lifting by introducing the main cast of characters, the alternative and steampunk version of Paris, as well as some of the history, lore, technology, and the magic system present in this world. There were several points that were particularly fascinating to me, such as some of the abilities that the vampires + others displayed throughout volume one—particularly the titular character (Vanitas) as well as the book of Vanitas (I really want to know what’s going on with that). The vampires here are interesting. It doesn’t appear that they’re affected by sunlight—although there could be a reason for that explained in later volumes, we’ll see—although they do have some of the more usual traits such as strength, quick healing, immortality, red eyes, etc.. It also seems that moons + astrology have some significance in the story, and I want to know more about it. Volume one also mostly wrapped up what appears to be the first arc of the series, and there were many hints of what’s to come. So I’m interested, and I want to see what goes on in volume 2.

Music Monday (100): Epic Music Edition

   Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

To ring in the New Year, we're starting with an epic music edition of Music Monday. It's also our 100th Music Monday post...

Breana: During my break from blogging, I finally watched King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017). I loved the movie, and I've been listening to the soundtrack. This is one of my favorite songs....

Adri: Of all the 163 hours of Horizon Zero Dawn I've played, the thing that hooked me the most was the soundtrack. Each track does exceptionally well for setting the various feelings/environments presented throughout the game. For example, when there are no machines present, the music sounds like all is calm but not yet out of danger. Other times it just sounds straight up like danger is on the horizon, which you'll hear in the song I selected for today. As much as I like all of the 103 songs (including the soundtrack for the DLC), I boiled it down to one: The Future By Its Throat by The Flight

Andrea: Okay, so we're talking about epic/theatrical music this week, and only one song came to mind--Chariots of Fire by Vangelis. Whenever I listen to this song, I feel that I am going to achieve something great like my exercise and reading goals for 2020. Enjoy!

What epic/theatrical music do you like or have listened to? 

I'm Back + Some 2019 Thoughts, Blogging Goals, & 2020 Book Books I'm Looking Forward To

It’s been a while, but I’m finally ready to get back to blogging. I have quite a list of things I need to cover today including: some of my thoughts from 2019, my blogging goals for the year, and a list of the 2020 releases and other books that I’m looking forward to reading.

A lesson from 2019

I had originally wanted to post this before 2019 was over, I, however, never got around to finishing it. By the time I did, it was already January, and what I had to say was easily edited down to about an incredibly short paragraph. So it goes: one of the main things I learned and accepted about last year was that plans fall through. No matter how good the plan is, how well thought-out it was, there’s always some variable that’s waiting to throw the proverbial monkeys-wrench into it. It happens. It does. On another similar note, I also realized it’s also okay if my priorities weren’t on the blog. I know in November and December of 2019, my priorities weren’t on Our Thoughts Precisely. I had other more important things to worry about, and as a result, a lot of the posts I thought I would write are still sitting unwritten. It happens, and that’s okay.

2020 Goals

I want to read The Hobbit and the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. That’s it. I don’t have any other blogging goal besides getting those books off my TBR list before 2020 is over.

2020 Books I’m Looking Forward To

• Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire (January 7, 2020): in the latter half of 2019, I really got into the Wayward Children series, and I ended up reading all four books in preparation for Come Tumbling Down. The book is already out, and I hope to read it sometime soon.
• The Last Emperox by John Scalzi (April 14, 2020): The Interdependency is one of the science fiction series I’m currently reading. After the end of The Consuming Fire, I’m really looking forward to seeing what Scalzi does with the series in the third book.
• A Murderous Relation by Deanna Raybourn (March 10, 2020): I’ve a read a couple of books from this series, and I’ve liked them. The synopsis for A Murderous Relation seems exciting, so I’m looking forward to it.
• The Secret Chapter by Genevieve Cogman (January 7, 2020): The Secret Chapter is another book that’s already been released. I’m looking forward to it, and I hope to read it soon.
• Flyaway by Kathleen Jennings (July 28, 2020): This is one of the novellas I’m looking forward to. I mean, the synopsis on Goodreads says “gothic delights,” which pretty much sold the story to me.
• A Crown So Cursed by L.L. McKinney (sometime in 2020?): A Dream So Dark was one of my favorite sequels released in 2019, and I’m really looking forward to the third book in The Nightmare-Verse series.
• The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home by Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor (March 24, 2020): So far I have enjoyed the Welcome to Night Vale books, and I’m looking forward to the third one in the series.
• Prosper’s Demon by K.J. Parker (January 28, 2020): Prosper’s Demon has an intriguing cover and synopsis, and I’m really looking forward to it.
• The Memory of Babel by Christelle Dabos (May 12, 2020): I have enjoyed the series so far, so The Memory of Babel is one of the 2020 book releases I’m most excited about.
• Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (June 30, 2020): I finally read Gods of Jade and Shadow, and I loved it as much as I thought it would. So I'm looking forward to Moreno-Garcia's next novel, Mexican Gothic. 
• Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis (July 21, 2020): The synopsis is interesting, so Axiom's End has to be on this list.
  

Backlist Series & Book I Want To Try

• Lord of the Rings + The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch
• Tensorate series by J.Y. Yang
• East by Edith Pattou

Comments from Andrea 

Over the past couple of years, my life has been full of unexpected evens. So my goal for 2020 is to get back into blogging. One of the books I'm looking forward to this year is The Last Odyssey by James Rollins. Cheers to new adventures!

This post is long enough as it is, so for now I’m going to leave it at that. Regular blog posts resume next week. What are some of your 2020 goals? And what are some of the 2020 new releases or backlist books you’re looking forward to?

 

Happy New Year! It's 2020...

Happy New Year! It's 2020. We're not back to blogging yet, but we will be sooner or later. We hope everyone has a great day today.