Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Congratulations, Lizzy!

There's always Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Kathy wrote: "Lizzy wrote: "Very off topic, but... I have a new granddaughter named Violet, and am looking for children's books with either a character named Violet or the word Violet in the title. does anyone h..."

Thanks Kathy -- I think I'll get it to add to her future library.

Congratulations Lizzy!! There is a pop up book version of Charlie and the Chocolate factory that my daughters used to love ( and destroyed lol)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Pop-Up Book

I'll have to do some exploring and see if I think of any board or picture books.

Enjoy her :-)

Tracy wrote: "Congratulations Lizzy!! There is a pop up book version of Charlie and the Chocolate factory that my daughters used to love ( and destroyed lol)

[book:Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Pop-Up Boo..."

Thank you Tracy....It's going on my list!

Congratulations Lizzy!! There are several companies out there that personalize books & stories for kids that would make your Violet part of the story. I'm a proud aunt and did this for one of my nieces, and she loved it!

A few options:
https://www.putmeinthestory.com/perso...
https://www.wonderbly.com/
https://www.iseeme.com/en-us/all-uniq...

Brooke wrote: "Congratulations Lizzy!! There are several companies out there that personalize books & stories for kids that would make your Violet part of the story. I'm a proud aunt and did this for one of my ni..."

Thanks Brooke -- i think I' ll give one of them a try!

Lizzy wrote: "Very off topic, but... I have a new granddaughter named Violet, and am looking for children's books with either a character named Violet or the word Violet in the title. does anyone have suggestion..."

Congratulations Lizzy!

How about Violet the Pilot?

There’s a bit more information about it on this site (which is also generally a brilliant source of book recommendations for children).

Thank you Bryony... I have never heard of the Violet the Pilot book... I love it. And also thank you for the link to the site.

Violet is a character in the Peanuts comics!

I’ve been doing the Marie Kondo 8 week challenge. This week was books. I went through my non-fiction last weekend and my fiction today. I donated almost 100 books. Most of them today were chunksters. It feels so good to have that space back! Between my husband and I, we still have over 400 fiction books but I have them better organized now by an assortment of methods plus a shelf dedicated to 2020 and 2021 planned reading. As the 2021 prompts are selected, I’ll update that shelf! My daughter wants to start fall decorating tomorrow. It’s a little early but we are both sick of summer and ready for cooler weather!

Hurricane Laura is heading our way, and I'm not going to lie, I'm a bit nervous. My brother had to evacuate his home in Lake Charles because the eye of the storm will be hitting right where he is, and I'm sure there will be damage to his home and property. I'm a bit further east but still projected to get wind gusts up to 90 miles and hour and torrential rains, plus may even feel the effects of the storm surge, as we are about an hour and a half from the coast.

All in all, it's quite terrifying, even as someone who has lived through hurricanes my entire life.

Asking for prayers or well wishes or good vibes as we weather the storm over the next 24 hours.

That's scary, Emily. You're in my thoughts. Stay safe!

Good luck and stay safe, Emily!

Emily - I think about you every time I see the news about the hurricane! Good luck to you and your family. Hope you all stay safe!

I have ever experienced anything remotely like that. Hope it misses you and that your brother's home only gets minimum damage. Prayers for you all.

Emily,

I hope you all stay safe and the damage is minimal.

Thank you all! It's coming in overnight tonight so I'll let y'all know how it goes.

We made it through the storm ok! I was out of electricity for about 12 and a half hours, and many of my friends still don't have it on yet. My brother is heading to his house this evening to survey the damage to his property -- the eye passed right over him so just keeping our fingers crossed that the winds had died down enough by the time it got to him.

I appreciate all of your concerns!

Yay Emily Worried all day

Emily, thank you for letting us know you are safe!

Pleased to hear you are safe.

So glad you're safe, Emily.

Stay safe Emily!

I need help with some book selections...fluff books. No brainers.
COVID has been a bear. I had a blood disease for the first part and spent some time at the cancer care center; then my puppy turned into a seizure dog; now my wife has been diagnosed with cancer. She has to go the whole radiation, chemo, surgery route. I am spending hours and hours of time sitting in my car; the clinics and hospital will not allow you inside...not even to go to the bathroom, but I have to be available. Starbucks is just two blocks away, if it was open. The library is 1/2 a mile, if it was open. So I sit and read, but I need some more uplifting, easy reads. I don't like fantasy and TRUE romance, but anything else is ok. I just finished How the Penguins Saved Veronica and it was a pleasant, fun read. So help if you can. Any suggestions?

You've had a hell of a year, Ann. Hope the rest goes better.

Love Lettering (technically a romance, but didn't read like one to me)
Aunt Dimity's Death (and the others in the series - lightweight mysteries that are a favorite reread of mine)
Miss Buncle's Book (light British story from the 1930s about a woman who publishes a book under a pseudonym and her neighbors recognize themselves in the book and are madly trying to discover who the author is)
I Was Told It Would Get Easier (mother/daughter on a college tour)

What a year, Ann. Hoping it improves!

I don't know how you feel about magical realism, but Sarah Addison Allen's books are my go-to when I need something light and happy. There are touches of magic, but they are definitely on the realer side of magical realism lol. Every book she's written has brought me joy.

yay, some new choices. Thank you

So sorry your family is going through this. My daughter, who lives 6 hours away, has been doing chemo off and on since last November. It used to be my husband or I could be with her but since March, as you say, we are forbidden. (At the moment, she is doing well.)

For lighter fare, I like the Chet and Bernie mystery series, by Spencer Quinn narrated by the dog. There are some actual murders and other crimes, but Chet the dog always sees the positive in everything and makes me laugh. They are especially good on audio. In general I find audio distracts me more than looking at a print book. My daughter has been listening to humorous podcasts while sitting through her sessions.

I woke up to a war happening, well, finally 2020 managed to do something that is horrible to me personally X____x

Entropia wrote: "I woke up to a war happening, well, finally 2020 managed to do something that is horrible to me personally X____x"

Oh, Entropia..... Just reading the news this morning. My thoughts go out to you. Stay safe, and keep us updated on how you are doing xx

Thankfully I live in capital, so unless things go really crazy I doubt the adversary would be shelling it. I'm more worried that my husband might get drafted into army and he would fare there probably even worse than I would, I can only hope things won't get so desperate that they will need to bring in people who didn't have proper training. Urgh, it's only been half a day and the stress is already killing me and it doesn't help that no information source is really 100% reliable.

Entropia, I cannot imagine how difficult and stressful it is for you. I hope that you are able to get reliable information and stay safe.

I found out that one of our friends is out there, ugh. I can't focus on reading anything other than news :/

I'm so sorry Entropia. I hope the fighting ends.

Kathy wrote: "I hope the fighting ends."
Yeah, me too, but doesn't seem likely so far. And already so many people died on both sides.

Entropia, where do you live? So much horrible stuff going on around the world...

I'm Polish and I live in Armenia, war with Azerbeijan started on 27th. Although "started" is probably wrong word to use, because technically both countries had ceasefire after first war for the same territory. Ceasefire wasn't kept very strictly though and fire exchange and bigger clashes were happening now and then, but unlike previously this is proper full-on war.

I thought it might be Armenia / Azerbeijan since I read the news. But I remembered you were Polish, so I was confused. I feel deeply for you and everyone else in the region, you've been through so much for so long. Hope you and yours are safe.

My husband is Armenian and I moved here couple of years ago, these years were the happiest of my life.

I hope peace comes soon, so you can have more happy years.

I don't think we are getting much coverage, if any, here in the US, only focus on our own country and a few others.

They just tried to attack Yerevan.

Entropia wrote: "They just tried to attack Yerevan."

Praying for peace and safety Entropia :-(

Entropia wrote: "They just tried to attack Yerevan."

Prayers for you, Entropia.

It turned out those were 4 drones (dunno what type), they were all shot down. I hope they won't try anything more. Sorry for venting here.

Entropia wrote: "It turned out those were 4 drones (dunno what type), they were all shot down. I hope they won't try anything more. Sorry for venting here."

Keep us up to date as you can, and vent away. I can't even fathom how stressful and scary it must be. Robin is right, it isn't really being broadcast, so Google and Twitter are really the only sources I'm finding here in the US. Yerevan is the Capitol where you live, right?? Your bookish family from Around the World are all thinking of you xx

Entropia.... I’m reading a book about war at the moment, and can’t imagine what it would be like in reality. Please vent here all you want. We want to support you in any way that we can.

@Tracy, Yerevan is the capital city of Armenia

There are reports that Azerbaijan has used banned cluster munitions in the shelling of Stepanakert. I hope it's not true, but even if it's not, they've been bombing it hard today and there will be probably a lot of civilian casualties :/

https://twitter.com/ArtsakhOmbuds/sta...

Some turkish politician already started hinting at invading Armenia proper. I didn't want to believe it, but we might face another genocide if things will continue to escalate.

Oh no. Turkey's involvement in Armenia is a history of disasters :/
Thinking of you