Books

⚞Finished⚟

Pixel Flesh By Ellen Atlanta

I really enjoyed this book. Ellen put a lot of effort into the research, including personal interviews, scholarly articles, books, and her own experiences. The book is about how modern technology and social media impact beauty standards and the women who are expected to conform to those standards. This is not an easy read, though. Not because of anything to complicated or "high brow" but because of the content. After a lifetime of being acutely aware of the beauty standards discussed, and then breaking away, it is difficult to read the stories and research about women who have been negatively affected by society's standards for women.

Slaughterhouse 5 By Kurt Vonnegut

This is my first read through of this book (I know, I know). Billy Pilgrim's story is ridiculous, tragic, and profound. I thought the occasional mention of the author while describing Billy's experience was pretty funny. The juxtaposition between an obviously fictional story and the idea that the author was present for certain events was interesting. The story was surprisingly easy to follow, considering how much Billy jumped around in time. There are a lot of funny moments, and lots a great quotes.

Radium Girls by Kate Moore

This is the second Kate Moore book I've read. Kate Moore tells the heart-wrenching tale of the young women (many still children) who worked in radium dial factories due to the relatively high pay and the social clout that came with the enchanting, glowing radium particles that stuck to them. Even after the dangers were confirmed, management declined to tell the girls to stop "lip-pointing" their brushes. Countless women and girls suffered horrible symptoms from radium poisoning. This led to the years long (successful) battle for radium poisoning to be considered a workplace hazard. It's truly a shame that so many young women had to die such awful deaths first.