Let's Chat! - 2014 to 2017 Showing 801-850 of 1,335

[Cassandra]

I hadn't heard that, Laura. It's always sad when someone who has affected so many people through their work passes away. I read To Kill a Mockingbird in high school and re-read it last year. I appreciated it much more as an adult.

[Imbunche]

I just read To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time at the beginning of February. So sad to hear she passed away.

[Maria]

So sad to hear about Laura as well. I read To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time a couple of years ago. Loved the book!

[Caro]

Is quite sad to listen that, but in the other hand I also listen that in the last two years she was quite sick... To Kill a Mockingbird is an amazing book, let's just ignore the prequel....

[Laura]

Caro wrote: "Is quite sad to listen that, but in the other hand I also listen that in the last two years she was quite sick... To Kill a Mockingbird is an amazing book, let's just ignore the prequel..."

Yes heard bad things about it so won't be reading. She sure did live to a ripe long age

[Caro]

Hello all! Not only Harper Lee died... Also Umberto Eco is a really sad weekend for literature... He had such an amazing works and he provide so much more to the world such a prolific writer...

[Zara's Corner]

HI all. I had heard about Harper Lee passing away. I read 'To Kill a Mockingbird' years ago and loved it.

This weekend (Friday and Saturday - it's Sunday here now) have been very exhausting and busy. I did my only exam on Friday and was so exhausted afterwards my stomach was reacting with nausea - never had that experience before. Yesterday I, my husband and daughter, all helped my/our son move home for the first time into a place of his own. I'm so exhausted my eyes feel puffy and I don't seem to be able to get enough sleep at the moment. I'm also grieving my first born's moving out of home. At times like this I wish my mum was still alive so I could get some mummy cuddles (a term my daughter coined). I think I'll be on an emotional roller coaster ride for a while.

[Marina]

A big hug to you, Zara! I have no children, but I bet the first moving out of home of one of them must be really demanding in terms of emotional stress...

[Zara's Corner]

Marina wrote: "A big hug to you, Zara! I have no children, but I bet the first moving out of home of one of them must be really demanding in terms of emotional stress..."

Thanks Marina.

[Lee]

Zara wrote: "HI all. I had heard about Harper Lee passing away. I read 'To Kill a Mockingbird' years ago and loved it.

This weekend (Friday and Saturday - it's Sunday here now) have been very exhausting and bu..."

Zara wrote: "HI all. I had heard about Harper Lee passing away. I read 'To Kill a Mockingbird' years ago and loved it.

This weekend (Friday and Saturday - it's Sunday here now) have been very exhausting and bu..."

Hugs to you Zara! It IS emotional to help your first born move out. But be strong! It is a testament to YOUR upbringing that you are putting out a terrific human being out there on his own. You are proud, I am sure. I feel you. My middle child moved out 4 months ago. My firstborn is still home and although I am SO proud of my daughter who moved out, I miss her. I am sure I went through a period of depression although I fought against it. You had me when you said you wanted your mother. OMG. I SO want my mom sometimes. I don't think we ever get over missing our moms. Hang in there. We are but a post away. Lee

[Zara's Corner]

Lee wrote: "Zara wrote: "HI all. I had heard about Harper Lee passing away. I read 'To Kill a Mockingbird' years ago and loved it.

This weekend (Friday and Saturday - it's Sunday here now) have been very exha..."

Thanks Lee. This has been really helpful.

[Bobbi]

Zara wrote: "HI all. I had heard about Harper Lee passing away. I read 'To Kill a Mockingbird' years ago and loved it.

This weekend (Friday and Saturday - it's Sunday here now) have been very exhausting and bu..."

Big hugs to you, Zara. I'm sure it's tough. I'm only 12 years younger than my uncle and we have always lived with my grandparents (unconventional, yes, but it worked for us) so my parental grandmother was still raising him as my mom was raising me and she became more like a mother to me than a grandmother. When it came time to pick colleges, she absolutely forbid me from going out of state. She reluctantly agreed to a dorm, but I had to stay in state so I could come home on the weekends. While I'm not a mom, as Lee said, we're all just a post away and I'm a good listener.

In other news, my grandpa had surgery today to put in a feeding tube since he's doing so poorly. There's also a family meeting regarding whether or not we should start palliative care at this point and I'm stuck at home instead of at the hospital where I really should be. School was cancelled for my little brother and quite honestly, no one feels that is a conversation that is appropriate for an 8 year old to be privy to, especially one that has trouble identifying his own emotions to convey them to us so we can help him through them. That means a lot of texts are flying back and forth.

The surgery's done and over with and went well but if any of you believe in this sort of thing, would you mind keeping him in your thoughts? We know we're fighting a losing battle, but we're going to keep fighting it until he says he's done and not a second before that.

[Cassandra]

I'm sorry, Bobbi. I'm sure that's very difficult to go through, but I will absolutely keep your grandfather and the rest of your family in my thoughts!

[Bobbi]

Thank you, Cassandra.

[Zara's Corner]

Bobbi wrote: "Zara wrote: "HI all. I had heard about Harper Lee passing away. I read 'To Kill a Mockingbird' years ago and loved it.

This weekend (Friday and Saturday - it's Sunday here now) have been very exha..."

Bobbi, I'm sorry about this situation for me. You and your family are in my thoughts.

[Kate]

Bobbi wrote: "Zara wrote: "HI all. I had heard about Harper Lee passing away. I read 'To Kill a Mockingbird' years ago and loved it.

This weekend (Friday and Saturday - it's Sunday here now) have been very exha..."

Thoughts going your way Bobbi!

[Kadijah Michelle]

Warm thoughts and prayers going to all of you. Life has so many ups and downs, and I love that this group is such a supportive place for us to share them with each other.

[Bobbi]

Thanks everyone. I'm really glad I found this group because it's filled with amazing people.

We're getting together later today to put anything and everything we've been told by his doctors into something coherent so we can explain his options to him to the best of our abilities. He has COPD and his body just isn't fighting off the carbon dioxide build up like it should. The poor man has had a tough go of it for the last couple of years. The sad part is that he's only in his early 70s, but then again, my grandmother (his wife) was only 61 when she died.

[Rachael]

Happy World Book Day!

[Kate]

Woohoo! Happy World Book Day to you!

[Winter, Group Reads]

Bobbi wrote: "Zara wrote: "HI all. I had heard about Harper Lee passing away. I read 'To Kill a Mockingbird' years ago and loved it.

This weekend (Friday and Saturday - it's Sunday here now) have been very exha..."

I'm so sorry Bobbi! I didn't see this before now. Thoughts going out to you and your family, I will pray for you also. Even when there's nothing to do we just want to hold on to those we love a little bit longer..

[Cassandra]

I didn't know World Book Day was a thing, but I'll celebrate. :)

[Catherine]

Cassandra wrote: "I didn't know World Book Day was a thing, but I'll celebrate. :)"

I feel like I celebrate this every day! :)

[Winter, Group Reads]

Cassandra wrote: "I didn't know World Book Day was a thing, but I'll celebrate. :)"

Every day is a World Book Day here ^^ But I'm all in for every reason to celebrate reading :-D

[Janine]

World Book Day is a huge thing in schools here in the UK - celebrated it every year as a child dressing up as a book character, bringing in your favourite book of the year and listening to readings by local authors/poets. And then started celebrating it again as a primary/elementary school teacher, although my costumes as a teacher are a little more simple!

[Christine]

Hey everyone

[Bella]

Cassandra wrote: "I didn't know World Book Day was a thing, but I'll celebrate. :)"

I think, in the UK, they have people on the street giving away free books. (Some people in other groups mentioned that they were handing out books.) I wish it were a thing in America- I'd love to walk around, collect some free books, then go to a book store and buy more books.

[Catherine]

That sounds like the best day ever, Bella!

[Cassandra]

That sounds way cool! The free books and the dressing up that Janine mentioned. I agree, we should have a books-related holiday here in America.

[Christine]

I agree with you Cassandra

[Catherine]

I did a volunteer thing yesterday for Dr. Seuss's birthday. I got to go to a school and read to a classroom of first graders. It was really fun! Then I gave them all bookmarks. They were excited.

[Kara]

Catherine, that sounds awesome! I'd love to do something like that.

[Catherine]

I don't know who had more fun, me or the kids!

[Paul Emily]

I'm not sure what I could add to what Janine said, and I'm a bit late to this, but I'm a little bit surprised and sad too that World Book Day isn't a big or bigger thing in some other countries like the US. Here in Ireland I feel like it's always pretty big - when I was in primary (elementary) school we'd all get vouchers for a pound off any book so we could go into a shop and get one of the special books made for the day for free (they were pretty short admittedly, about the length of a fairly long short story or a novelette) or get a different book if we wanted. I remember it fondly. :)

At the same time I get the sense that it was bigger than it's been for a long time this year and that it's been quiet in the margins for a while. It could just be because I'm on the Internet more now, but for example they had the special books on the Kindle storefront this year, and I don't recall ever seeing them there last year. Which is great. (Edit: And there's a new [I think?] Rainbow Rowell story there too, which even though I'm reluctant to read her work still feels like a genuinely big and surprising deal to me, plus it's a really cool thing as well I feel.) They were also pushing the Quick Reads initiative more as well, which is like a way I think to get people into reading more by offering new short books by already well-known authors, or abridged versions of already popular books. I saw an abridged I Am Malala for example, which was a nice coincidence and surprise. :)

[Winter, Group Reads]

Christine wrote: "Hey everyone"

Hi Christine! :)

[Karin]

Paul wrote: "I'm not sure what I could add to what Janine said, and I'm a bit late to this, but I'm a little bit surprised and sad too that World Book Day isn't a big or bigger thing in some other countries lik..."

I thin the US focuses more on National Family Literacy Day, etc than on World Book Day, since I've heard of the former but not the latter and have been living in the states for a bit more than twenty years.

[Bobbi]

Karin wrote: "Paul wrote: "I'm not sure what I could add to what Janine said, and I'm a bit late to this, but I'm a little bit surprised and sad too that World Book Day isn't a big or bigger thing in some other ..."

The US does focus on National Family Literacy Day but it depends in the area you're from how much is actually done with it. The school district I live in used to - 20 odd years ago - do activities like Read-a-thons where you would pledge a certain number of books to read in a month for like $1 per person who signed the sheet. It raised a tiny bit of money that went directly to the school library and the child who read the most was given a gift certificate to buy a new book at Barnes and Noble.

Now most things are done through our libraries. I don't think the school district has done anything to promote reading or literacy, beyond learning to read obviously, since my brother started school.

[Christine]

How are you doing winter?

[Catherine]

Does anyone else subscribe to the daily e-mails from BookBub?

[Ashley]

Yes I do.

[Janine]

Catherine wrote: "Does anyone else subscribe to the daily e-mails from BookBub?"

I do :) I find I have to be careful, though, otherwise my kindle can soon fill up with too many free books! I've had some good picks through that, but also a few pretty terrible books that I can understand why they were made free/super cheap. I tend to look carefully into books I'm considering from BookBub daily emails now, checking their goodreads rating out and reading at least a few reviews, so I don't end up with a bunch of duds.

[Catherine]

I usually check the Amazon reviews before I purchase or download anything from BookBub. I have bought a lot of Kindle books through these e-mails and I'm buying way more than I'm able to read, so I don't have any idea if the books are good or not because I haven't gotten to them yet. My Kindle is really filling up too. The ones I have gotten to, some have been good and some have been duds.

[Karin]

Bobbi wrote: "Karin wrote: "Paul wrote: "I'm not sure what I could add to what Janine said, and I'm a bit late to this, but I'm a little bit surprised and sad too that World Book Day isn't a big or bigger thing ..."

That sounds about right. I grew up in Canada, and don't remember what we focused on since I was either a child (and we didn't have any big days for that back then) or I didn't have kids. I'm not sure what is focused on, and I'm guessing it would depend on where in Canada someone is.

[Elizabeth]

Janine wrote: "Catherine wrote: "Does anyone else subscribe to the daily e-mails from BookBub?"

I do :) I find I have to be careful, though, otherwise my kindle can soon fill up with too many free books! I've ha..."

I do but I mostly go to this website for free and half price kindle books, I walked away with 2 books that if they wasn't free the day I got them I would have had to pay $ 9 and something for them, the other one was a $7 and some thing book that was free . the link is http://www.ereaderiq.com/
they up date their books every 24 hours, and their only that price for a short time.

[Janine]

Elizabeth - That looks like a great website, I like the idea of tracking a particular book to see if it drops in price. I'd love to do that for the books on my TBR that aren't in the library.

Oh! I was all disappointed because that site looked US only and I can't buy from amazon.com, but I just found they have a UK site too. Thanks, Elizabeth.

[Elizabeth]

Janine wrote: "Elizabeth - That looks like a great website, I like the idea of tracking a particular book to see if it drops in price. I'd love to do that for the books on my TBR that aren't in the library.

Oh! ..."

your welcoming , its now my favorite one to go to and see what they have, some time I go there just for one book and end up getting more than one from there free kindle ones. and I love their .99 ones as well , they even have some for .87 cents sometimes. its also how I ended up with over 400 and some kindle books on my app that's on my iPad.

[Paul Emily]

People here might be interested in a just-recently released SFF anthology - it came out a week ago, but I only found about it today. It's a fairly humungous thing, with about 230 works from 120 authors, all of whom are eligible for this year's John W. Campbell Award. Even better, it's free until the end of the month! Completely! So if you're trying to work out who to nominate, or if you're just in the mood for some new names to look out for, then hopefully it'll be of interest to you. :)

http://www.badmenagerie.com/up-and-co...

(I should note that I am not affiliated with this in any way, I'm just an interested guy who saw this and thought I should share. :))

[Fr. Andrew]

Thanks for that link Paul! I'll be downloading it tonight. I think it may take me a few years to actually read it, but that's okay!

[Traci]

Catherine wrote: "Does anyone else subscribe to the daily e-mails from BookBub?"

Yes, I do. I have gotten a few free ones from them.

[Paul Emily]

Haha, yes, a few years does sound about right, doesn't it? ^^ I haven't even begun to figure out when or how I'm going to read it yet. Right now I'm thinking one piece/story a day until I'm done starting in April, or possibly save it til the summer and use my free mornings on it. Or maybe both...