Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

What are you reading for this category?

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women

Which element did you use?

Radium (Ra)

Do you enjoy science?

No, I typically find it too abstract for my taste. Even in the book, I enjoyed the story of the women, but the explanations of how radium works were boring to me.

eleen ✨ wrote: "I just found out that 2019 is actually the International Year of the Periodic Table!!

Here are some ideas which I stole from my dad's new 2019 calendar:

~~You are a genius. I have been struggling with this prompt and as the prompt is A book related to an element...I loved your list for these reasons: Europium=Named after Europe
Francium=Named after France
Which I interpret as being able to read a book about France or Europe or California. Thank you

- What are you reading for this category?
As soon as I finish the books I'm reading, I'm checking out The Women of the Copper Country by Mary Doria Russell. I just realized that this book works for this prompt. I love her books!

- Which element did you use?
Copper (CU)

- Do you enjoy science?
Yes - some topics as long as they are not too technical.

Liz wrote: "I’m reading the second book in The Lightning Thief series with my son, & I’m having a difficult time figuring out where to tie it into the challenge. I think I might stretch this prompt to fit wate..."

Here's a stretch idea: Luke's dad is Hermes. The Roman version of Hermes is Mercury. Mercury is an element. :)

I read Salt to the Sea. I loved this book, and knew nothing about the history behind it. It was super sad though.

I am an environmental scientist so I love science but don't read about it very much!

What are you reading for this category?
I read The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements

Which element did you use?
All of them, it tells the story of how the periodic table came to be and about the elements themselves.
- Do you enjoy science?
I didn't particularly enjoy science in school but this book was very interesting. If anything, I like more of the forensic science areas as I love watching all the crime shows on tv and how DNA and other evidence is tested to determine the killer and what happened.

I read Xenon Phobia and Xenon was the character's name and the book did not really focus on science. This girl was murdered and the story takes place after she died. It was different and not very enjoyable.

Do you all think it would be too much of a stretch if I read World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War for this? I was hoping that Z was by itself on the periodic table but it's not. However I looked it up and this is what it said about Z:

The symbol for atomic number, Z, stands for "Zahl", which means number in German. Prior to 1915, the symbol Z denoted the position of an element in the periodic table. Once there was evidence that this was also the charge of the atom, Z came to be called "Atomzahl", or atomic number.

I was going to read Iron Gold but coming up on the end of the year and it's almost 600 pages. World War Z is just over 300 pages.

Opinions?

Z isn't an element on the table, so no. But if you need to take a wild card no one is going to call the reading police ;)

Last prompt of the year and I'm going to have to use a wild card. Just didn't have time to read another one and I read this earlier in the year and didn't count it for the challenge.

- What are you reading for this category? The Duchess: Camilla Parker Bowles and the Love Affair That Rocked the Crown
- Which element did you use? So I kind a stretched this one for the wild card but the author's name is Penny Junor - so I'm going with copper since pennies used to be made out of copper
- Do you enjoy science? I do but I was never good at it in school.