Solubility table

This is a table my husband constructed out of some solubility rules I had to memorize. The format makes it much easier to remember than other formats, so I'm posting it here in case it would be useful to anyone else. As usual on this blog, a creative commons, copy-left license applies. Blogger only allows me to upload the file as an image; if you want/need a spreadsheet or PDF, please let me know in the comments. Because of formatting trouble, the copyright notice is below; it refers to the table. The attribution for the table is A.T. Wilson. Cheers!

Miss Mary Reporting: The True Story of Sportswriter Mary Garber

This is the story of a woman who loved sports, and loved writing about them - and did a very good job at it, at a time when a woman in reporting was expected to be only interested in the society pages. Extraordinarily well written and beautifully illustrated, I recommend this book to anyone.

Saints, by Gene Leung Yang

BTW: at the National book Festival a couple of weeks ago, I found out that Gene Leung Lang a) is a Middle School teacher, and b) just got a MacArthur Prize! Cool!

All of Gene Leung Yang's books that I have read so far are complicated, a little confusing, and in the end-- for me-- utterly uplifting. His American Born Chinese got a Printz award, and is also pretty amazing, so go check that out, too. Saints focuses on a fictional heroine living in China at the time of the Boxer Rebellion, who begins seeing visions of Joan of Arc, eventually converts to Christianity, and in the end gets caught between the warring factions in her region. There are no easy heroes in this story, but there are utterly real characters who make me want to be a better Christian myself-- without (I think) being didactic or preachy or manipulative. Read it yourself, and tell me what you think.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, by J.K. Rowling

This book was lovely. All the stuff I had felt frustrated about with Harry Potter, especially in the later books-- all addressed.

Not everyone will love it. That's OK. I will say that it's the kind of book I would like to write. As in, not necessarily spectacular, but truly lovely in its own way, well worth owning (in my opinion). Or, at the very least, putting yourself in the hold queue for.

Also, I have a new all-time favorite J.K. Rowling character, but I will wait to tell you until we see each other in person; you can ask then. (If you've read this story, you can probably figure it out.)

Bad Island, by Doug TenNapel

A story in which we get adventure AND parents get to live AND be involved? Indeed, this rare sort of book does not come along often, and I very much enjoyed the story. (I had been noticing for a while how quickly TenNapel books circulate at our middle school library, and finally decided to give his stuff a try. Glad I did.)

P.S. I also enjoyed Cardboard, by the same author. Sadly, the hero has lost one parent in that story; happily, the remaining parent still gets to be involved with the adventure, while not completely taking over it.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

 I don't know what to say about it, except that it fully deserves the praise that it has collected.  It's brilliant.  Weighty, but up-lifting.  Beautiful.  Honest.  Well worth the read.

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Atul Gawande has taken a new direction with this book; still exploring what it takes to make our lives - both as a doctor and as a patient - better, this time he looks at the end of our lives. With death both natural and inevitable, what interventions are the most useful? What merely prolongs suffering, and what makes life more worth living- what gives us better, rather than just longer lives?  What interventions actually make things worse?

Aside from the critical, end-of-life stages, what about the later years? At what point is it time to seek assistance, and when do we have to turn over autonomy? Intriguingly, do we ever have to turn over autonomy?  He shares his research about these questions and some answers to them - good answers that are surprising in both what they have in common and what they do not.

Reading this was enlightening for me: Knowing that we all die, and that we all grow old (if we're lucky) - is not the same as thinking about those facts, and knowing how to deal with them.  Thought-provoking and informative, a straightforward read with beautifully clear prose; my favorite kind of non-fiction.