The Disappearing Spoon–Sam Kean

Book: The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of Elements
Author: Sam Kean
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Kindle Format (no pages)
My Rating:


The Periodic Table is something every student is familiar with. For most of us, we accept this castle-like chart of boxes of letters without much thought, but every element has its own story of discovery. The history of the table is in and of itself a collection of fascinating stories. Sam Kean wrote this largely anecdotal book about the Periodic Table in a way that most readers can understand and every reader can enjoy.

How do I start this review off? Well, I had a terrible 2011 reading year and I even thought myself a little crazy when I decided to start this book on (of all days) New Year’s Eve. It only took a few pages to have me hooked. The book starts off with the story of Dr. Rush’s Thunderclappers. What is this, you ask? Well, it is a laxative that some guy named Dr. Rush gave Lewis and Clark to take on their expedition across the land that has now become the United States (Who wouldn’t get a little irregular on a tough journey?). What the reader finds out is that these laxatives contained Mercury in them and that subsequent efforts to find Lewis and Clark’s trail across the unknown land included the finding of mercury deposits at their campsites. You might think it’s strange that I found that interesting, but I was hooked! Laxatives with mercury?!! I read on…

The book is filled with wonderful tales of discovery as well as pranks that scientists used to play on each other. The title of the book comes from a prank that involves the element, gallium. Scientists would make gallium spoons which has a low melting point and when they sat down with colleagues for tea, well….you can see what ensued:



Are you intrigued? Kean continuously provides interesting tidbits about the periodic table. Whether it is civil war in the Congo, or scientists that try to use beer for “bubble science” (he explains the Mentos and Diet Coke reaction along with some other more serious bubble science), the periodic table has driven a lot of human behavior that I never thought about before. The book is packaged in a pretty accessible way as well. I have never taken physics—EVER. Still, I wasn’t so lost while reading this book that I couldn’t finish it. In fact, I found it so accessible that I have spent some time talking to several people with physics degrees to understand some of the concepts even better. I also have spent a little time looking up some of the things that Kean mentioned in the book which has added to the enjoyment for me (I spent several hours on YouTube looking at weird chemistry experiments after finding the above gallium spoon video).

Overall, this book was a great way to start of the New Year. In fact, I liked it so much that I would even consider reading it again (which I rarely ever do with books). The book challenged me, made me laugh out loud (who wouldn’t laugh when an author explains molecules interacting with each other “like two obese animals trying to have sex”), and caused me to have some very interesting conversations with several people. I highly recommend the book for both science and non-sciencey types because it’s an incredibly fun way to experience what most people found to be incredibly boring in their high school chemistry class.



**I am a Book Depository and IndieBound afilliate so If you purchase any of the books I have featured through the links I posted or from the banners in my left hand sidebar, I get a small commission from them. I am in no way compensated for the reviews I post of my books.

New Year’s Eve Read-a-Thon

Last night I was feeling kind of down because I didn’t have any plans for New Year’s. I got on Twitter to check out my fellow bloggers tweets and found out that Jenn from The Picky Girl was doing a New Year’s Eve Read-a-Thon with a few other fellow bloggers. I believe that Becky from One Literature Nut is hosting the event and Heidenkind from Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and Books is the other organizer.

Anyhow, I asked Jenn if I could join in and she welcomed me into the event. There are a few books that I wanted to hit on today now that I DO have New Year’s plans with these lovely people.

Here they are:
The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
--I actually finished this book earlier today. I had only 5% left to go on my Kindle and I was determined to hit ,*sigh*, 20 books read this year.








The Disappearing Spoon and other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the Periodic Table of Elements by Sam Kean
--I am currently reading this and just by the introduction know I’m going to enjoy it. It starts off talking about laxatives containing mercury! Fantastic! I’m in!







Grave Peril by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files, Book #3)
--I need to work on my TBR shelf. It sits at 237 right now and this has been sitting on my shelf for some time. The Dresden Files are fun and quick reads, and I’m definitely in need of a little fun in my reading life right now.






The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
--Oh yes, this poorly neglected book on my shelf has been sitting there for a year without me picking it up. Lydia from The Literary Lollipop started a read-a-long last year and guess what….we all put it down for an entire year. We’re trying to get back into it right now. We’ll see how it goes. It’s a fantastic book so far. I plan to pick it up at some point this evening.






In all, 2011 was an abysmal reading year for me. I didn’t like most of what I read, and felt pretty unsatisfied every time I finished a book. In fact, it sounds like a lot of people had mediocre reading years and a mediocre 2011, too.

My favorite book of the year was probably On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan. He is simply an amazing author. My least favorite books of the year were probably Tinkers by Paul Harding and The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. City & the City by China Mieville is probably third in this Year of Blah. Maybe I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to read these books at the time I read them. I can’t really say what it was that made me dislike them as much as I did.

As for goals for 2012? Well, I was just talking to Fiona from The Book Coop and I decided that I would try to finish some other poor, neglected books that I started and haven’t finished:

• Finding Chief Kamiakin by Richard D. Scheuerman – I was enjoying this book when my life very suddenly and drastically changed. I put it down and never picked it back up.
• People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks – I was also enjoying this book and all of a sudden didn’t feel like reading it anymore so I put it down.
• North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell – OK…I don’t know why I put this book down. I was enjoying it immensely. Mr. Thornton, I love you. I actually think I put it down because I was ruining my copy in my bag that I carry on the train. I can’t stand books that don’t look pristine!
• The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis – I’ve read two of the books. I felt “meh” about them, but I want to finish the series to see if they get better. Maybe I’ll just try for one or two of the books in 2012.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful 2012. This past year has seemed to be a challenging one for a lot of people. I feel your pain if this has been a challenging year for you. It’s definitely been one for me, but I am better for it and happier. I still have days where I struggle, but overall I think my life has changed for the better and brighter days are ahead. I hope that all of you feel that way too. Without struggle, we don’t grow so I hope to keep that in mind for the upcoming year.

I also hope that everyone has a fantastic 2012 reading year! Good luck and keep me updated on what you’re reading! I love to know about new (and old) books!

Being Bookish…

During the last year, I’m not sure I could say that I’ve actually been bookish, but I’ve been realizing over the past few weeks how much I enjoy my bookish friends. There are several bloggers I’ve kept in touch with since I’ve more or less put blogging on the back burner, and it’s these people that keep me going.

Let’s face it. New Mexico is not a book-loving state. There are a few bookish people I know here, but the fact that the state capital has only a few small independent bookstores reinforces that people in this state don’t really read. So what has kept me going? For one, my blogging friends that I keep in touch with either over email, Google+, or Google Talk. None of them act like I’m crazy for loving books and wanting to delve into a story or character. It’s been my outlet during a rather abysmal year of reading for me. I’ve been through some really big life changes this year (new job, moving back to the state where I grew up, etc.), and in the process I lost the book club that I used to go to. I really miss it. I miss sitting around the table with my friends and talking about how filthy Jack Reacher is and how despite that, women still love him. I miss being an active blogger where I made many bookish friends and no longer can keep up with them.

However, things have not been all bad. I still talk to some of my blogging friends like I’ve mentioned above, but I’ve also made some new bookish friends at work. My work, *gasp*, even has a book club! It has been a life saver. They are the only people I talk face to face with about books and without them I think my life would be less full. I like that we can complain about some of the books we’ve read together and laugh about some of the situations characters we’ve read about have been in. I like the deep discussions we’ve gotten in about some of the books we’ve read, and I like ribbing them for ruining my TBR list (just today my coworker from the UK introduced me to the Folio Society—I am still shaking my fist at him for mentioning those beautiful books).

Even though I don’t have as much time to read now, I still have friends that view me as bookish and don’t make me feel bad about how little I’ve read this year (I don’t even think I’m going to break 21 books for the year). I feel so thankful for these people who understand a part of me that most people don’t understand. It makes me feel a little bit normal and a lot bit loved. I love all these people’s passion for reading and books, and I hope that I continue to find people that are that passionate about reading but without being book snobs (just today my coworker told me he bought Cicero and I told him I wanted to get back to The Dresden Files. He didn’t blink an eye. I loved that).

I am thankful for all my bookish friends and I just wanted everyone to know that even though this has been a year of ups and downs, you all have made it so much easier to get through with our little escapist conversations about kava juice drinking, Mr. Thornton (*sigh*), and book sniffing. I love you all, and I hope to continue to keep in touch with the blogging community (and get back to blogging). Thank you all so much for sending me cards and little presents over this year to show me that you have thought about me. You guys are all amazing and I feel lucky to have all these great bookish friends.

Soulless–Gail Carriger

Book: Soulless
Author: Gail Carriger
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Kindle Format (no pages)
My Rating:


Alexia Tarabotti is a preternatural—that is, she is soulless and has the effect of taking away supernatural powers from beings like vampires and werewolves. When a newly turned vampire attacks her, Alexia accidentally kills him with her silver tipped parasol. The newly turned vampire turns out to be part of a trend, and Alexia decides to figure out just why new werewolves and vampires have been running rampant throughout the city and turning up dead shortly thereafter.

Somehow, I got the itch to start blogging again while reading Soulless. It’s been about six months since I posted my last review, but here I am posting about a book I felt lukewarm about. Soulless is definitely a fun read, but there is not much to it. I purchased it as a Kindle Deal of the Day and while I think it was worth the $1.99, I wasn’t wowed by it. Alexia is an extremely likeable character which made the book worth reading, but it took about 2/3 of the way through the book for me to really begin enjoy reading it.

The beginning of the book focused too much on the obvious love interest between Alexia and Lord Maccon. There was a huge buildup between them and I felt like a lot of the scenes in the book focused on the two of them interacting. It wasn’t until about halfway through the book that the plot really started to get interesting when more information was given about the disappearances of some vampires and werewolves. I especially enjoyed the older vampire, Lord Akeldama, whose appearance in the book got the plot moving. It wasn’t until Alexia went to visit him after several strange occurrences in London that I was hooked on what was happening in the book.

I have to admit that I’m not a huge fan of romance so I think the relationship between Alexia and Lord Maccon was overdone. I was more interested in the main plot of the book and how the disappearances unfolded. I also really liked that Gail Carriger wrote Alexia to be a strong woman that was smart and capable despite her interest in Lord Maccon.

Overall, I enjoyed the book as a something I could read on the commuter train I take to work. It was a simple enough read that I could read through the distraction of my fellow commuters conversations and not miss any of what I was reading (I typically need absolute quiet to read with any efficiency). However, I think the book is also kind of typical of my “blah” reading year. I felt lukewarm about this one. It is definitely a fun book, but not necessarily a series that I will run out and read the next one right away. If you are looking for something quick and escapist and enjoy a little supernatural steampunk, this could definitely be the book for you. If you prefer more heady fare, you might save this book for a time when you are needing something quick and easy.

A Game of Thrones–George R.R. Martin

Book: A Game of Thrones
Author: George R.R. Martin
Publisher:  Bantam
720 pages
My Rating:


Winter is coming. Those foreboding words are something the Stark family lives by. As Lord of Winterfell, Ned Stark rules over much of the north and the cold is very much a part of their blood. When King Robert Baratheon comes to Winterfell and enlists Ned to become the King’s Hand after the previous Hand dies mysteriously, Ned feels obligated to accept his old friend’s offer. After arriving in King’s Landing, Ned finds out just how complicated the job of the Hand is and how corrupt men can be. Numerous families are vying for power, among them the Lannisters who are a force to be reckoned with. The Targaryens are also making a play for power and trying to reclaim the throne by joining with the nomadic warrior Dothrakis. The story that unfolds is nuanced and a true page turner.

This is the second time I’ve read A Game of Thrones. I desperately wanted to finish it before the HBO series came out, but I ended up finishing it about five episodes in to the series. I still loved the book the second time around. The story is so rich with nuanced characters. Almost all of them are neither truly good or evil. Most of them have traits that make you alternately like them and hate them. For instance, Tyrion Lannister is the brother of Cersei and Jamie Lannister. He is not necessarily a likeable person at first. He’s brash, arrogant, and seems to be completely out for himself. However, the reader finds out that his life is difficult because he was born a dwarf and therefore is less desirable to his family so a lot of his behavior is shaped by his life experiences of being treated poorly. There are also characters that in my mind were truly just good or evil. A few favorites of mine included some of the Stark children—Jon Snow and Arya Stark among them. Jon Snow is the bastard son of Ned Stark, but exhibits great character and courage despite growing up with no hope of land of title to inherit. Arya is a fiery young girl who wants nothing more than be able to play and fight like a boy which is very atypical of the time. Both characters were among my favorites and I found them to be in essence, good.

The story itself is also quite complicated. Because there are numerous families vying for power, strategy plays a major part in the book. To me, it was reminiscent of Shogun by James Clavell—there is so much plot and the characters can be so cunning that it leaves the reader guessing what is going to happen most of the time.  Despite the large number of characters/major players in the novel, I didn’t find it difficult to keep them straight. I think this is something that George R.R. Martin does quite well. He makes each character unique enough that you don’t really get confused. The story is also written so well that each story blends fairly seamlessly. There is a lot of history in the books and I do admit to kind of glazing over those parts. I know it’s important to some degree, but I just didn’t take the time to learn the family history of each character. To me, it was enough to know the immediate family members of each of the families and not worry about the lords and ladies of yesteryear.

What I may like most about the book is the world building. Each area has a unique setting, whether it’s King’s Landing, Winterfell, or Vaes Dothrak, the story is written with such detail that I felt immersed in the world and could imagine pretty much everything that I read. The one part of the book I found a little shocking the second time I read it was the way women were portrayed. There are a few strong women—Catelyn and Arya Stark are among these females. For the most part though, women were “furniture” in the book. There were numerous scenes where their only purpose was to be brutalized, fondled, or were for the express pleasure of men. I think I didn’t notice this the first time because I enjoyed the strong females that were in the book. The time period of the book while fantasy, also had a sort of Middle Ages feel to it and women of that time did not have much standing in society. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it misogynistic, but I definitely felt the book was a little lacking in the case of female characters.

Overall, I think the book was fantastic. Even though it’s a brick, I would read it again. Martin weaves an amazing story in with characters that have true depth which has become more rare in recent years. I will continue to reread the series in preparation for the July release of A Dance with Dragons, the fifth book in the series. I also will continue to watch the HBO series which just got renewed for a second season. I highly recommend this book to any reader that enjoys epic fantasy or just likes a really in depth, well-thought out, and well-written story.



A Game of Thrones – HBO series

When I heard that HBO was making a series out of A Game of Thrones, I was ecstatic. I think that only HBO could pull off such an epic series (they did after all produce Band of Brothers and The Pacific which I have gushed over on my blog before). So far, five episodes have aired and they have been fantastic. The casting is perfect for the most part. The only issues that I have with it are that Jon Snow and Robb Stark are both far older than they were in the book as is Danaerys Targaryen. I understand why they did this though. There are some themes in the book that are far too adult in nature for them to cast teenagers to play the characters so I am forgiving on this point.

The cinematography and sets are also top notch. The Wall was simply amazing looking. It was far more impressive on the show than it was even in my head. King’s Landing also looked incredible as did the Eyrie where Lysa Arryn lived. I wondered what the Eyrie would look like because it was one of the more rugged and scary places in the book. The episode that takes place there still hasn’t aired, but they did show a far off view of it, and it was very cool!

The show itself has gotten better and better with each episode. I admit that it started out slower, but as some of the supporting characters like Littlefinger and Varys have come out, I’ve begun to enjoy the show more. I will admit that for people who haven’t read the books, it might be a little frustrating to follow the story at times. There are a lot of characters in the books and it doesn’t always necessarily translate well to the television. Still, I have several friends that are watching the show and they seem to be able to follow it. Two of my friends are loving the show and neither of them have read the series.

I will definitely be buying the series when it comes out on DVD. It’s something that I know I would enjoy watching again and would probably be even better watching them as a marathon. It’s definitely something that will become a staple in my collection. It has also been renewed for a second season which I am definitely looking forward to!

The Girl Who Played With Fire–Stieg Larsson

Book: The Girl Who Played with Fire
Author: Stieg Larsson
Publisher: Vintage Crime
630 pages (Trade Paperback)
My Rating:



Lisbeth Salander has vanished into thin air leaving Mikael Blomkvist wondering what happened in The Girl Who Played with Fire, the second installment of The Millennium Trilogy. Blomkvist has returned to his position at Millennium and is working on a new story involving human trafficking with researchers Dag Svensson and Mia Johanssen. The sex trade is an insidious but thriving business in Sweden and the researchers are about to blow it wide open and name key players in the trade. When Svensson and Johanssen are found murdered, Lisbeth Salander is the prime suspect. Not believing that Lisbeth would commit murder, Blomkvist decides to investigate what happened to his friends and try to clear Lisbeth’s name.

It’s been quite awhile since I picked up the Millennium Trilogy partially because I have sort of been waiting for The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest to come out in trade paperback so my set will be complete (yes, I am one of those people that doesn’t like mismatched books). I broke down because several people I knew were reading The Girl Who Played with Fire and I thought it would be fun to talk with them about it. It turned out to be a good book for discussion as we talked about Mikael and Lisbeth as characters as well as some of the supporting characters in the book. There is definitely a need to suspend disbelief in this book just as there was in the first book. One of the main issues people have had with books that I’ve spoken to don’t believe that Lisbeth has Asperger’s Syndrome. I think The Girl Who Played with Fire explores Lisbeth’s behavior much more and makes her less of an enigma than she was in the first book.

The sex trafficking was also a really interesting topic for Larsson to write about since it is such a taboo subject but is so pervasive in society. While it was written in a fictional/thriller style, I think it did bring light to a very serious topic that needs to receive more attention. The book reminded me a little of certain scenes from the movie Taken starring Liam Neeson. I also like how he wove the story together to bring Lisbeth and Mikael onto the investigation together despite Lisbeth being pursued by the authorities. The book also kept with the theme of “men hating women” which makes the books fit together like a puzzle and continually sheds new light on Lisbeth.

I should also note that Lisbeth’s guardian, Bjurman, makes an appearance in The Girl Who Played with Fire. I was hoping that Larsson wouldn’t let that story go by the wayside since it was one of the most memorable storylines in the The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. A mild spoiler alert here: I thought the storyline between Lisbeth and Bjurman came to a really satisfying conclusion in this book.

The only problem I had with the book was the end. One of the final scenes left me scratching my head. For the sake of not spoiling the book for those of you that haven’t read it, I will withhold the specifics, but I will say that I found the end really unbelievable and had to really suspend disbelief to not completely groan at the end. Even with this part, I really enjoyed the book overall and definitely recommend it to those of you that enjoy thrillers.

After I read this book, I watched the Swedish film of the same name. While I didn’t like it quite as much as the first film, it was still really well done. Mikael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace are amazing actors, and I still can’t quite wrap my finger around the idea of an American film. For one, the books are SO Swedish that I really enjoy listening to the Swedish language in the film even if I can’t understand more than a few words of Swedish! I also think the actors embodied the characters so well in the film that there was no need to make a new version of the film. Yes, it does give Sweden more publicity which I am happy about because for the few days I visited Stockholm some years ago, I fell in love with the city. I would love to go back someday and see more of Sweden. Hopefully a blockbuster American film will show people that Sweden has some excellent writers and amazing culture and beauty. Other than that, I recommend that people see the Swedish version of the film. It’s good to branch out and see how other countries make their films. They usually have such different flavor that I tend to really enjoy them. The major complaint I have about the film in general is that while the book tied Mikael and Lisbeth together quite well, it definitely worked better on paper than it did in the movie. There was a disconnect between Lisbeth and Mikael because they had almost no scenes together in the entire film—the book ties  them together through written word much more effectively than a film ever could. Other than that, it was really well done and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I highly recommend The Girl Who Played with Fire as a great read and a good movie.

1 / 5 books. 20% done!
This is my first book for Zee’s Nordic Challenge


**I am a Book Depository and IndieBound afilliate so If you purchase any of the books I have featured through the links I posted or from the banners in my left hand sidebar, I get a small commission from them. I am in no way compensated for the reviews I post of my books.

Friday Coffee Chat (23)–To Blog or Not to Blog?

To Blog or Not to Blog?

This week on Friday Coffee Chat, I’m going personal, and I’m going to talk about blogging which I had never planned to do. I like that all of the chats I’ve hosted before are reader based rather than blogger based. I have friends that read my blog that are not bloggers, and I like them to be able to feel like they can chime in on any chat. I hope that they will feel like they can comment on this chat as well.

Some of you may know that I am looking for a job. It’s been a frantic search because I find myself in a situation where I need a job and sooner than later is almost a requirement for me. In the last few weeks I felt like I would have to give up blogging for fear of a company that I applied to Google searching my name and finding my blog. I don’t think that I post anything objectionable on my blog, but that is in the eye of the beholder. I do review some books in the fantasy genre that some people may find objectionable just because they are fantasy books.

I did read someone’s blog who posted about her sister moving to New York and needing to find a job. This was one of the instances where blogging was an asset to a person who was looking for work. It seems like it’s the exception to the rule though. In the last week, I read several articles about people getting fired for the content on their personal blogs. I want to give myself the best chance possible to find a job, and with all these stories coming out I feel conflicted about whether or not to continue blogging.

My search has roughly gone on for two months. I set an internal goal for myself to apply for ten jobs per week. So far, I have applied for 91 jobs since starting to keep track on my nifty spreadsheet. Of those, I have definitively been turned down by roughly a third the companies. I still have faith that by remaining optimistic and showing that if I continue to plug away, search, and apply for jobs my tenaciousness will pay off and an employer will take a chance on me. I just need that one chance.

On one hand, I feel like my blog is an asset. It shows that I have taken the initiative to do something for the last year and a half that I enjoy immensely and requires some thought and work. On the other hand, I don’t tell most of the employers that I apply for jobs with that I have a blog. It’s up to their HR department to find me through web searches. I am hesitant because someone may look at my choices of books to read and decide that I am not the person they are looking to hire. Maybe this is just me overreacting and feeling overstressed to find a job, but in reality I feel like this does happen to people who run personal blogs.

I am not in a position where I can stay unemployed for very long. I feel that I have a lot to offer a prospective employer if given the chance. For so many years I have settled in my life, and now I feel uncompromising about what I want in life. I have these goals and I am pursuing them like The Goonies pursued One Eyed Willie’s booty (yes, that is one of my favorite movies of all-time)! My question is, will blogging hurt my pursuit of my dream job?

I love blogging. I love the community. I miss posting reviews. I miss talking to people about books. I miss having regular Friday Coffee Chats. It is hurting my blog and me to not be as active in posting as I once was. Not as many people are commenting on my posts, and not as many people answer my Tweets on Twitter when I talk bookish things. I know that I am taking a risk even posting about my job search and my questioning whether or not I should continue blogging, but here it is. Life is all about taking a few risks here and there. I want to know what you all think about blogging while job hunting.

• Do you think there is a risk of being turned down for a job interview if you have a blog?
• Thinking with your head and not your heart, what would you do if you were faced with the absolute need to have a job? Would you continue blogging?
• Do you think that blogging can be an asset even if you are not searching for work in marketing or the publishing industry?