Music Monday (235): Lizzo & SZA, Luther Vandross

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 

Breana: Lizzo released another version of her song, Special, from her most recent album (also the same name). I already loved the original, but I really like the collaboration with SZA. The vocals work so well together, and I love it!

Andrea: Hi all! This week, I'm listening to an oldie, Never Too Much by Luther Vandross! Enjoy and have an amazing week!

What are you listening to this week?

I Listened to A Reckoning by Kimbra

During the last couple of years, I feel like I’ve mentioned how I’ve waited for another Kimbra album far too often, but I really was anticipating it for the longest time. 2018’s Primal Heart contains some of my favorite music by this particular artist. Well, after three singles—Save Me, Replay!, and Foolish Thinking featuring Ryan Lott—released across as many months, on January twenty-seventh Kimbra’s A Reckoning finally arrived!

I like this album, a lot actually. It was energetic and loud (Replay!, The Way We Are, Gun, New Habit, and etc), which I not only appreciated but also enjoyed. Mainly, it made the album seem quick to listen to, even though it’s over forty minutes long. That isn’t to say that there wasn’t a mixture of sounds, because there was. Tossed in were some tracks with softer melodies, where Kimbra’s vocals were front and center, like the intro Save Me as well as the closing song I Don’t Want To Fight.

On another note, I’m always satisfied when the collaborations turn out good, especially when the other artists give verses that mesh well with the flow of the song. And, even though A Reckoning only had three tracks with features—Ryan Lott on Foolish Thinking, GTL featuring Erick The Architect, and La Type with Tommy Raps and Pink Siifu—they were excellent choices.

So, for the first major 2023 release on my radar, A Reckoning left a positive impression.

The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan

Title: The Death and Life of the Great Lakes
Series: n/a
Author: Dan Egan
Source/Format: Won; Paperback
More Details: Nonfiction; Science
Publisher/Publication Date: W. W. Norton Company; March 7, 2017

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble  

Synopsis from Goodreads...

The Great Lakes—Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and Superior—hold 20 percent of the world’s supply of surface fresh water and provide sustenance, work, and recreation for tens of millions of Americans. But they are under threat as never before, and their problems are spreading across the continent. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes is prize-winning reporter Dan Egan’s compulsively readable portrait of an ecological catastrophe happening right before our eyes, blending the epic story of the lakes with an examination of the perils they face and the ways we can restore and preserve them for generations to come.

Years ago, I won a paperback copy of Dan Egan’s The Death and Life of the Great Lakes. And, for years, it languished unread on my shelf. At the end of January and beginning of February, I was in need of a palate cleanser, and this book fit the bill. It’s nonfiction about science and history, which is one of my favorite combinations for this genre. And, from the introduction onward, I was hooked (no pun intended).

“The first day of June 1988 was sunny, hot and mostly calm—perfect weather for the three young researches from the University of Windsor who were hunting for critters crawling across the bottom of Lake St. Clair.”—pg. 108

The Death and Life of the Great Lakes was fantastic, fascinating, and a gripping account of the history of the Great Lakes. It reminded me of a different nonfiction book I read last year, which was called Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall. One of the points that book made was the architectural detail put into the malls and the specific clientele they were meant to attract and serve, ultimately created something of a boom-and-bust cycle—when the tourism and novelty wore off. The same kind of concept was present here too. However, the consequences weren’t a mall emptying of stores but an ecological disaster that had—as the book laid out—far reaching (nationwide) consequences for rivers, lakes, and watersheds. This was especially when invasive and destructive species, disruptions in the food web, and toxic (basically annual) algae blooms threatened key bodies of water.

The author laid out how many of the decisions that caused the issues seemed almost innocuous, simple, and even well meaning. One of my main takeaways was: if it sounds too good to be true, then it likely is. And the narrative had this steady build up—with the chapters on the construction on the canals and seaway as well as the conversion of the Great Black Swamp to farmland—before doing a deep dive into the consequences, the proposed solutions, and the actions taken.

I really have to applaud Dan Egan. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes was a well-researched book!

Music Monday (234): Aberdeen & The NYChillharmonic

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 

Breana: A while ago, Spotify recommended I've Lost It by Aberdeen and The NYChillharmonic to me. I love this song so much!

 

What are you listening to this week?

The Friday 56 (230) & Book Beginnings: The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan

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 Great Lakes—Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and Superior—hold 20 percent of the world’s supply of surface fresh water and provide sustenance, work, and recreation for tens of millions of Americans. But they are under threat as never before, and their problems are spreading across the continent. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes is prize-winning reporter Dan Egan’s compulsively readable portrait of an ecological catastrophe happening right before our eyes, blending the epic story of the lakes with an examination of the perils they face and the ways we can restore and preserve them for generations to come.

Beginning: "There are few views that can draw noses to airplane windows like those of the Great Lakes."

56: "Applegate learned that spawning lamprey preferred streams with bottoms peppered with gravel that had a diameter no smaller than three-eighths of an inch and no bigger than two inches, and they typically did no migrate up those streams until early spring, when the water temperature rose above 40 degrees."

Comments: I finally read Dan Egan's The Death and Life of the Great Lakes. I loved this book! It was such a fascinating look at the Great Lakes. What are you reading this week?