While lovers of the romance genre already know the importance of books having good chemistry, our Book Challenge theme for this month, “A book with a Periodic Element in the Titl,e” argues that chemistry is for more than just romance novels and textbooks. While many of us (myself included) may only really know the Periodic Table from the oversized poster that seems to hang in just about every high school chemistry classroom, these elements can be the building blocks not just of the universe, but also of a good book (or at least a clever title). Thankfully, while the titles may bring you back to high school chemistry class, these Elemental books contain no complex formulas and no pop quizzes on Avogadro’s Number. Instead, these books are filled with iron-willed protagonists, mercurial tricksters, sulfurous villains, and plot twists sure to cause a reaction.

As always, if this Reading Challenge is a catalyst for you to go out of your element and chemis-try one of these books, don’t forget to log it on our website for a chance to win!

 

Oxygen – Carol Cassella

A tangled malpractice suit in the wake of an operating room disaster shatters the career and carefully constructed identity of anesthesiologist Marie Heaton, who also struggles with her recently blind father’s increasing dependence.

 

Copper Beech – Maeve Binchy

Maeve Binchy has set her fifth novel in contemporary Ireland, in the little midland parish village of Shancarrig. There, a magnificent copper beech tree shades the school yard, its trunk bearing the names of dozens of Shancarrig school children. Each has a story that reveals the passions and dark secrets behind seemingly ordinary lives.

 

The Radium Girls: the Dark Story of America’s Shining Women – Kate Moore

As World War I raged across the globe, hundreds of young women toiled away at the radium-dial factories, where they painted clock faces with a mysterious new substance called radium. Assured by their bosses that the luminous material was safe, the women themselves shone brightly in the dark, covered from head to toe with the glowing dust. With such a coveted job, these “shining girls” were considered the luckiest alive–until they began to fall mysteriously ill. As the fatal poison of the radium took hold, they found themselves embroiled in one of America’s biggest scandals and a groundbreaking battle for workers’ rights. The Radium Girls explores the strength of extraordinary women in the face of almost impossible circumstances and the astonishing legacy they left behind.

 

Gold – Chris Cleave

Cyclists Zoe and Kate are friends and athletic rivals of Olympic gold, while Kate and her husband Jack, also a world-class cyclist, must contend with the recurrence of their young daughter’s leukemia

 

Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo powers our lives – Siddharth Kara

An unflinching investigation reveals the human rights abuses behind the Congo’s cobalt mining operation-and the moral implications that affect us all. Cobalt Red is the searing, first-ever exposé of the immense toll taken on the people and environment of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by cobalt mining, as told through the testimonies of the Congolese people themselves. 

 

The Neon Rain – James Lee Burke

Detective Dave Robicheaux has fought too many battles: in Vietnam, with killers and hustlers, with police brass, and the bottle. Lost without his wife’s love, Robicheaux’s haunted soul mirrors the intensity and dusky mystery of New Orleans’ French Quarter — the place he calls home, and the place that nearly destroys him when he becomes involved in the case of a young prostitute whose body is found in a bayou. Thrust into the world of drug lords and arms smugglers, Robicheaux must face down a subterranean criminal world and come to terms with his own bruised heart in order to survive.

 

Sulfur Springs – William Kent Krueger

Cork O’Connor’s search for a missing man in the Arizona desert puts him at the center of a violent power struggle along the Mexican border, a struggle that might cost Cork everything and everyone he holds most dear.

 

Arsenic and Adobo – Mia Manansala 

 When Lila Macapagal moves back home to recover from a horrible breakup, her life seems to be following all the typical rom-com tropes. But when a notoriously nasty food critic (who happens to be her ex-boyfriend) drops dead moments after a confrontation with Lila, her life quickly swerves from a Nora Ephron romp to an Agatha Christie case. With the cops treating her like she’s the one and only suspect, and the shady landlord looking to finally kick the Macapagal family out and resell the storefront, Lila’s left with no choice but to conduct her own investigation.

 

Magnesium: a lifestyle guide to Epsom salts, magnesium oil, and nature’s relaxation mineral – Gretchen Lidicker

Often called the miracle macro-mineral, magnesium has been credited with healing everything from headaches and insomnia to depression and heart disease. Magnesium plays a crucial part in the synthesis of serotonin and dopamine, which are the important feel-good chemicals we all want in our brains. Almost everyone can benefit from more magnesium in their life, not only for their health, but also for relaxation, anti-anxiety, and quality sleep. Thirty appealing recipes offer ideas to bring magnesium into your self-care routine, from foot rubs to indulgent Epsom salt baths to smoothies, for improved mood, better sleep and digestion, and optimized health.

 

Silver Thaw – Catherine Anderson 

After years of living in fear of her husband, Amanda Banning has left him and moved to Mystic Creek, Oregon, for a fresh start. But she is having a tough time providing for herself and her daughter. Writing her secret yearnings on slips of paper and sending them into the wind helps her cling to the hope that things will get better and that she can find happiness again. Jeb Sterling has no idea that the handwritten messages he finds scattered across his land are the first hints that his life is about to change. Nor does he understand why he feels so compelled to help Amanda Banning and her daughter when a cold snap leaves them temporarily homeless. Maybe he is inspired by her courage or perhaps by her beautiful brown eyes. Either way, the man who once renounced love suddenly finds himself willing to do anything for the pair. Amanda seems to have given up on her dreams, but Jeb refuses to quit until he makes her every wish come true.