Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Review: The Radium Girls by Kate Moore

31409135. sy475 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.

Monday, January 27, 2020

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.



Friday, January 24, 2020

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.

31409135. sy475 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?

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Review: The Case Study of Vanitas by Jun Mochizuki

30621341. sy475 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.

Monday, January 20, 2020

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? 


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