When I travel, I always find time to get a bit of reading time in. Car trips, flights, and relaxing by a pool or on a beach afford ample time to read fantastic books. Here is my Cleveland, Ohio Reading List, which covers the two books that I read during my week in Cleveland and Norwalk, Ohio.
Books Finished:
The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women
This book is written in a journalistic style focusing on the women of World War I into the 1930s who were dial painters and were exposed to Radium. Radium paint was used to make luminous watches, clocks and gauges during World War I and even into World War II. But the women who painted them, used brushes which they would put into their mouths in order to make a sharp enough point to paint with. Not surprisingly to modern folks, they became extremely ill from the radiation from the Radium. They suffered horrifically from radiation poisoning, and then suffered further when the Radium companies fought compensation of them for the poisoning. Making the book especially compelling is the inclusion of the women’s thoughts, feelings, and stories in their own words, which still exist due to their testimony in court and administrative proceedings and interviews with journalists.
The Heart Goes Last
I read and enjoyed immensely The Handmaid’s Tale. In fact I really want to renew my Hulu subscription for a month to see their adaptation of the story (Have you seen it? What did you think?). So I was looking forward to reading more by Margaret Atwood. I didn’t know anything about this book prior to reading it, which perhaps made it an even more exciting and disturbing ride through the story. I don’t want to say anything about the plot, because I really do think that it’s best that way. But if you liked The Handmaid’s Tale, I’m confident that you’ll like this one as well. And if you’ve not heard of or read either, check them both out!
Books Abandoned:
None.
