Welcome to Litsy!

My December pick wasn‘t strong enough to hold off The Appeal. #topread2023 #2023readingbracket

Playing edible Jenga while reading a book on poison or really procrastinating cleaning the house. 🧹

😱 🥃 #WondrousWednesday

The Poisoner‘s Handbook is harder in places and more uplifting in others than I expected. It was also fascinating! The two men that this book was really about, Norris and Gettler, made forensic science what it is today in America.

“If I won my 250,000, mightn‘t I have lots of roses?” Said by Katherine Schaub, one of the radium girls during their lawsuit against the U.S. Radium Corporation, in the hopes of flowers for her funeral.
Of all the horrific crimes reported on in The Poisoner‘s Handbook, this one is the first to make me sob.

“Until the early 19th century a few tools existed to detect a toxic substance in a corpse.”

History of science makes me so happy! #FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

Book sale day 1 is done! My coworker and I manned the brat tent. I‘m going to take some ibuprofen and snuggle up with the Poisoner‘s Handbook. I promise I‘m not looking for ideas!

My May #12Challenge book was The Poisoner‘s Handbook. It‘s nonfiction about toxic substances through modern history that have been used in murders and accidental deaths.

I felt there was too much chemical breakdown for my head to absorb, I guess a lighter version might have been better for me. Still, it was interesting, and touched on such things as arsenic, lead, radium, and Ethel and Methol alcohols.

This book looks at two scientists in Jazz Age NYC who helped establish the medical examiners office based in science and did groundbreaking work in detecting poisons, often used then for murder. Not just a super interesting book, but having it around can make your family a little nervous (as it did for my husband). 😬

It‘s February so it‘s officially time for me to finish putting the tree away. It‘s a great book holder tho 😂 #Poison #ScaryFebruary

Well this is compulsively readable! I thoroughly enjoyed this history of NYC‘s first medical examiner and toxicologist team in the 1920‘s. The book is really as good as everyone says! 😃 🍺

@Beatlefan129 this box was a total home run for me! The tagged book has been on my TBR for a while and I‘m *dying* to read it! ☠️🧪 I expect to stay up all night reading the other two, because how can I not? And I‘ll have Reese‘s to keep me company! 😉 Thank you so much for this box of perfection!

@MaleficentBookDragon thanks for hosting this wonderful, spooky swap! #AllHallowsReadSwap is now one of my favorite swaps ever!! Happy Halloween! 👻🎃

The second part of the Start Here news podcast on Friday dealt with the ongoing work to identify remains from 9/11 at WTC. Not only are the workers in the ME‘s office using new identification techniques from worldwide experts, but also they‘re helping to invent new techniques with their tireless work. https://overcast.fm/+d8ClMreDs

In the same way, nearly 100 years ago, the doctors who first set up the NYC ME office invented new methods & skills.

Omg @KaylaD you are insane!! 👻 I kept pulling books out of your box like a magician pulling out hankies!! The Eek blanket is so soft and is going to be living on my couch for the foreseeable future. I can‘t smell right now because of covid, but Champagne Toast is one of my favorite BBW scents and I can‘t wait to enjoy it. Thank you so much for your generous package. Happy Halloween! #HauntedHollowSwap #HHS 🎩🪄📚

#scarathlon #photochallenge #poison @Linsy

Murder, inventing forensic medicine, Jazz age? Yes please.

A little dry in places but fascinating.

Evening reading.

At my parents and everyone is napping, so I just grabbed a book. Pretty sure this is actually my copy!

This book was so fascinating! Blum covered the usual poisons (arsenic, cyanide, chloroform, radium, etc) but also covered more common things that were killers (lead, flammable gas, wood alcohol, and nicotine, etc). She also covered the beginnings of forensic toxicology and the men who fought for its legitimacy in sensationalized court cases.

Pitched to her editor as "I could poison my husband, but won't," this book explores the history of poison through the development of toxicology and forensic medicine in New York City. An array of poisons from methyl alcohol to arsenic are explored through the eyes of medical examiner Charles Norris and toxicologist Alexander Gettler. Fascinating and not infrequently horrifying and exactly my cup of tea.

1. The Poisoner's Handbook, These Violent Delights, and Party of Two

2. Taproot

3. Chai latte 🥰

#WeekendReads

"Until the early nineteenth century few tools existed to detect a toxic substance in a corpse."

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

Reading and petting, two of my favorite things

Yay! I know I should set my goal higher because I beat it early every year but I just like the confetti 😋🥳

My #7booksin7days for yesterday! 🧪☠️💜

Fascinating, suspenseful and a little gross. Took me a while to finish this one but I did enjoy it. It has been on my bookshelf forever, happy to get it off my #MountTBR

Loving this! So fun to read in a hotel whose heyday was the same time period! #adolphushoteldallas #travellingreader

Finally diving into this book at the airport. It‘s been on my #tbr forever! #MountTBR #travelingreader

Here‘s my #weeklyforecast - All library books that I just picked up. All historical fiction/mystery and 1 nonfiction.

Plus not shown, my current audio listen The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie

This is one of my favorite books. Highly recommended! ☠️
#teamstoker #scarathlon #chillingphotochallenge

#Poison #ScreamathonPhotoChallenge @4thhouseontheleft

The last 2 chapters are unnecessary I think but overall a good book.
I new a lot about poisons from studying them so nothing new but it was nice to read the affects of certain ones in detail.

I got this in a book swap from @Itchyfeetreader thank you 💖

#readingmyownbook #poisonershandbook #reading #books

Were having a moment 😍 while binge watching #Lucifer #prime 🐈🐾

#bondingtime #lucifer #books #reading #catsoflitsy

I really liked this book, it was a great overview of some of the worst poisoners in the US and those who helped to bring them to justice. #audiobooks

This book was fascinating! If you have interest in forensic medicine or prohibition New York, you will enjoy this. Of course, the murders and deaths were real people and the stories are tragic. The evolution of forensic medicine is compelling. Highly recommended.

As much as I love reading manuscripts and working, I took a break this weekend to recharge my brain and creativity. I love kids books so much, but took a night away, binged an adult apocalypse novel, and now I‘m diving into this non-fiction audiobook. Tomorrow it‘s back to the kids projects feeling renewed and enthusiastic 💕

Finally my working day is over and I can open my #summersantagoespostal package from @Itchyfeetreader 😍 I love it.
Icelandic murders, Russia controversy and feminism oh let's not forget the poison! 😆🕵️‍♀️😏
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@BookishMarginalia I forgot the tag 🤦 thank you 🌸

I really enjoyed this book! It tells the story of a few men who made enormous strides in forensic medicine and toxicology. There is just enough detail to be fascinating and not enough to be confusing to me as a layperson, and it doesn‘t get too gruesome.

Charles Norris would be so proud of todays CSI's! He worked in the face of political, economic & cultural opposition to bring to light the dangers behind the 'wonder' discoveries of the early twentieth century. He brought professionalism, respect & scientific credibility to the world of forensic medicine. Told with just the right amount of fact, science, context and human interest I was pulled along and learnt so much as I went!

I‘m a real mood reader - I can never choose my books too far in advance ..... Tonight I‘m ready for some chemical stories. It‘s been that kinda day! 🤣

Both entertaining and fact-filled, this tells the story of two scientists - chief medical examiner Charles Norris & toxicologist Alexander Gettler - in the early 20th century New York, who laid the groundwork for forensic medicine which was pivotal for both forensic science & future generations.

Rating: 5🌟

Full review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2820212802

#MayMadness #NewToYouAuthor
@Clwojick @RadicalReader @TheReadingMermaid

This is a fantastic read. Forever burned into my memory will be the countless Americans who died from methyl alcohol poisoning before and during Prohibition.

"No, I did not eat the plant. I promise. Now, pet me."

#culprit #catsoflitsy

This remnant of mostly denuded stems is the reason I spent $60 to consult with a 24-hour pet poisoning hotline. The verdict? Not poisonous to cats.

Specifically, this plant, commercially marketed as 'shamrock', is Trifolium repens, white clover, a common yard plant.

Also commercially marketed as 'shamrock' is Oxalis montana, wood sorrel, which can be poisonous to cats.

Figuring out which was which took some doing. #catsoflitsy

Started this gem this morning. It's for one of my book clubs. 100% right up my alley 🙄

#SeptemberDanes I can‘t remember which Litten recommended this book to me, but it sounds fascinating. A NF that apparently reads like fiction mixing Jazz Age, NYC early/mid 1900‘s and the beginnings of forensic discovery. “A fascinating Jazz Age tale of chemistry and detection, #poison and murder, The Poisoner's Handbook is a page-turning account of a forgotten era.” (From publisher) 🔬🚬☠️

Happy Wednesday! 🐪

I‘m pretty jazzed (yea, yea... I‘ll see myself out 😉) to start this on audio. 🎼🎷🎺