The hopeful readers group discussion

Hi all :)

Welcome to the group. I've been thinking that I need to stay more in touch with people virtually now that almost everything is shut down, and I thought maybe you'd want to join.

Basically, I thought this would be a fun place to stay in touch, talk about issues we're having, organize buddy reads across genres, and just help each other not lose hope.

If you want to start a new topic, please feel free to do so. I've added two basic folders:

Chitchat - for everything under the sun you want to talk about. If you want to start a new topic click here and go to "new topic" in the upper right hand corner.

Buddy reads - if you want to find a reading buddy and start a buddy read, this is the place. If you want to start a new topic click here and go to "new topic" in the upper right hand corner.

Also, if you don't like the group name or have a cool idea for a masthead photo, just let me know :)

Happy reading, everyone!

So hi everyone!

I'm Andrea. I'm from Germany, where I normally teach English at a language school, which unfortunately was one of the first places that were closed because of the virus.

I love to read a wide variety of things from every genre. My favorites are romance (all kinds, contemporary, historical, lgtbq+), fantasy, and crime/thriller.

Hello!

My Name is Gio!

My husband is an Airline Pilot and will be off work for Three Months. We are currently living in our Airstream.
Full time Travel gets lonely with things like this...thanks for an outlet.

My reading depends on my moods. I prefer Romance above all but will pick up a self help or a classic and anything inbetween.

Hey!

Im Laura, I'm From England where things are still rather up in the air but slowly seem to be getting somewhere. Im a teaching assistant within a school for Semh students.

I read primarily romance bit through a variety of genres like fantasy, adventure, contemporary, lgbtq+ and anything really depending on if grabs my attention. I am often weak to pretty covers...

Hope everyone if well and look forward to reading with you all xx

Hey there!

I'm Gin and I'm from Austria which is pretty affected right now. I work at an NGO so I'm still busy as hell, trying to manage my kid and work from home.

I enjoy almost every genre but it's undeniable that I've a special fondness for YA, fantasy and LGBTQ+ books. *lol*

Hi guys, I'm Rosie!

I'm a psychology undergrad in the UK, and so I've been sent back home as classes are now online for the foreseeable future...so obviously I'm just reading 24/7 instead lol

My favourite genre is fantasy, but I also love classics, and am willing to read from pretty much any genre!

Feel free to add me and drop me a message if you want to chat about any books or just want some virtual company if you are on lockdown <3

Stay safe, y'all!

Hi all :)

Thanks for joining the group! I look forward to chatting with you <3

Hello!!! I'm Mei and I'm from Italy.
Rught now I'm very worried about the spreading virus. The online shopping for food doesn't work any more and the queues at supermarkes are very, very long and, on top of that, you don't know what you'll find when you manage to enter!
Just to add to the problems, you cannot go out if it not an emergency!
The hospitals are on the brik of collapse... there're not enough doctors, nurses, beds and equipment...
The number of infected people is increasing and also the number of dead...
It's like a dystopian, apocaliptic novel! Thank God we don't have people killing each other!

Mei wrote: "Hello!!! I'm Mei and I'm from Italy.
Rught now I'm very worried about the spreading virus. The online shopping for food doesn't work any more and the queues at supermarkes are very, very long and, ..."

I'm so so sorry to hear that, Mei! I can't even imagine getting up every day to that and not lose all hope. I hope you find a way to stay safe and strong <3

I hate that people over here look at what's happening in Italy and still ignore all the government warnings. They are discussing a lockdown for Germany, too, at the moment, because people everywhere are still being selfish and going out in groups (especially teenagers and parents with young children), claiming how they are young and won't be affected to badly. Like it's really so hard to understand that this is about slowing the spread so it doesn't get as bad as it is elsewhere in the world.

Hi, everyone! I’m Paula and I am in the southern US. Things are just beginning to really ramp up here and will get much worse before it gets better. Many younger folks aren’t heeding the warnings for social distancing which will lead to spreading the virus to our more vulnerable population quickly, food is already scarce, and I am extremely concerned for those in the service industry who aren’t working and barely made a living wage when they were working. The economic impact alone will lead to many deaths here in our vulnerable population due to hunger, and those won’t be counted in the deaths from the virus.

As far as reading goes, I read a bit of everything. I love classics but also have been reading a lot of new releases lately!

MEI,

We were just in your beautiful country last year. I am so very sorry you all have to go through this. My heart is broken for you and the world.

Hi all :)

My name's Jen, and I'm from the Channel Islands,
First off - thank you to Andrea for setting up this group, it's lovely to have a place to talk to you all.
Secondly, really sorry to hear about the situation in your country Mei, and for the other countries where this is hitting hardest - the world is keeping you in its thoughts.

I love all kinds of books - but fantasy has a special place in my heart. Reading's always been a massive comfort, and it'll be a godsend over the next few weeks.

As for daily life in these strange times:
We're isolated here on this small island, so we have a relatively low number of confirmed cases. It has also meant however that response has been slow - and it is likely that there are many cases unconfirmed.
The shop I work for closed yesterday, we're hoping to reopen in a few months when this is over. There's no official quarantine here - although social distancing was formally advised on Thursday night - and thankfully now some responsible non-essential businesses are choosing to close.
My partner works for an IT firm that was irresponsible and uncaring even before this crisis hit, so I'm obviously worried that they'll be in danger.
My parents are high risk (one is having chemo, the other has only 1 functioning lung), and I'm ringing them every day trying to persuade them to isolate.
Hoping this place will catch up with proper procedures before it's too late.

Hi all :)

Thank you all for joining and sharing your stories. I know it's hard, but I really hope that we can get through this together <3

Thank you for this lovely group, Andrea :) I hope we'll all have a good time reading and discussing books ♥

Btw, I'm Lacey, currently very much scared of what's happening but still hoping we'll rise above this together :)

I like reading romance books, mystery, a little bit of horror (not too much) but I'm open to any genre I haven't tried :) I'm slowly getting back to reading after a huge reading slump and what better time to do it than now?

Hi Andrea and everyone, Ruth (aka Wealie) from the UK here. I love the sentiment of this group, for introverted book addicts living alone like myself (well except for my pooch Dexter, but his conversational skills are severely lacking and he's not really into reading) GoodReads is a bit of a lifeline and suddenly my never ending stockpile of purchased books on my kindle and audible now seem prescient rather than obsessive!

I'm a voracious reader, I usually read between 30 and 60 books a month, depending on how busy I am. My favourite sub-genres are PNR, Urban Fantasy and Romance Suspense. But I enjoy a bit of Contemporary and Chicklit and the odd historical now and then. I do a lot of challenges so I often find myself reading new authors to finish challenges as I'm a wee bit OCD.

I started reading at 3 years old thanks to my Uncle who bought me books instead of sweets. My first book was a pop up version of Soldier, Soldier Won't you Marry Me that my younger sister destroyed :O( I had my first library card at 4 thanks to my Nan, devoured all the Enid Blyton books by the time I was 7, read every Roald Dahl as soon as it was released (yes I'm that old) and practically all the Nancy Drew by about 8 or 9, then I discovered Agatha Christie, true crime, ghost stories and P.G. Wodehouse at 10! As you can probably guess Matilda by Roald Dahl is my favourite children's book as I related to it so much.

I began reading romance in my thirties when I began to get a bit disenchanted with the horror of Stephen King and Dean Koontz and found myself gravitating more to the personal stories in the Kay Scarapetta and Temperance Brennan series. I got an amazon account, discovered the sub-genre of PNR and Urban Fantasy that was barely represented in my bookstore and never looked back. Before that I was an avid reader of horror, cozy mysteries, classics, crime and suspense and I still enjoy romance genres that cross over here best. My favourite read of all time is still Jane Austen's Persuasion. I fall deeper in love with Anne and Wentworth every time I read it, which is at least once a year

I love to buddy read, but be aware you'll likely get a detailed breakdown on my thoughts if we buddy read together, especially when things annoy me :O). Just drop me a message if you fancy a read of anything on my Buddy/Challenge TBR List - I have all the books already purchased and I'm looking to read them in the next 1-3 months.

My TBR has a life of it's own and even though I regularly read or listen to a few hundred books a year it is constantly growing, damn you Audible, Amazon and my Kindle! When I'm not reading for pleasure I'm editing and proofing technical financial papers and training people how to write for business at work. In my other free time I'm playing with my pooch Dexter, creating art or attempting to write my first PNR - I'm 20,000 words in, but the temptation to read someone else's work is a constant struggle in my free time.

Welcome to the group, Ruth!

A fellow PG Wodehouse lover!!!! Awesome. I only discovered him a few years ago when one of my professors at University introduced us to Jeeves and Wooster (needless to say, I went and asked her to be my supervisor for my BA thesis about Stephen Fry and travel literature)

Persuasion is also my favorite Jane Austen, although I do prefer Henry Tilney from Northanger a tiny little but over Frederick. He's just less brooding :D

Andrea wrote: "Welcome to the group, Ruth!

A fellow PG Wodehouse lover!!!! Awesome. I only discovered him a few years ago when one of my professors at University introduced us to Jeeves and Wooster (needless to..."

Lol Andrea perhaps we'll have to organise a Bertie Wooster buddy read, nothing quite like Jeeves and Bertie to take your mind off everything going on.

Sounds like you had a very interesting thesis. I did my university dissertation many, many moons ago on Science Fiction and how it had changed from the 1950s and 1990s through the lens of post-modernism and linguistic theory. I got to watch a lot of the twilight zone, Babylon 5, Star Trek and The X-Files!

Uh, I like that idea. It's been too long since I read the books. I watch the TV show more often because I just love watching Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie have fun. I have all the books at home, so I'm up for a re-read!

Wealie wrote: "Hi Andrea and everyone, Ruth (aka Wealie) from the UK here. I love the sentiment of this group, for introverted book addicts living alone like myself (well except for my pooch Dexter, but his conve..."

Woohoo! P.G. Wodehouse is my fav.

Nice to meet you Ruth!

Hi, I am Heike, and I am addicted to books ... (I feel like at an AA meeting ;) ).
I've never done buddy reads - may give it a try. May forces me to actually *gulp* buy a book for a normal price, usually I am a used book/swap/free e-book and kindle unlimited type of cheap chit.

I am from Germany but live in Wyoming for about 20 years now.
While I follow the COVID-19 developments avidly it does change very little in my life. My lifestyle is social distanced anyway. With next neighbors 10 miles away and a community that is 100 years backwards when it comes to the position of a woman in society (kitchen, children, church ...) it is fairly easy to stay clear. I consider myself "semi-retired", the income I have can not be disrupted due to being home office work or ranch work, nothing that could be cut, ever.

All this said: I feel for everyone in a less lucky situation than I am! Stay well!!!

Heike wrote: "Hi, I am Heike, and I am addicted to books ... (I feel like at an AA meeting ;) ).
I've never done buddy reads - may give it a try. May forces me to actually *gulp* buy a book for a normal price, u..."

Hello Heike,

Welcome!

HI everyone.
I'm Emily, from Georgia-US.
Though I'm an introvert and a lover of reading books, the world is weird to me and I miss the normal life-working from home and homeschooling children is NOT for me!
I think technology and social media is what keeps us going right now, we have to connect somehow, right?

:)

Emily Just Emily*~* wrote: "HI everyone.
I'm Emily, from Georgia-US.
Though I'm an introvert and a lover of reading books, the world is weird to me and I miss the normal life-working from home and homeschooling children is N..."

Welcome to the group!
And I agree, I never thought I'd say this, but I *gulps* miss people- That is so strange…

Emily Just Emily*~* wrote: "HI everyone.
I'm Emily, from Georgia-US.
Though I'm an introvert and a lover of reading books, the world is weird to me and I miss the normal life-working from home and homeschooling children is N..."

Welcome!

Hii! I am Selma, I have recently discovered my love for reading.
I haven't been to many groups, I would like to know more friends and discuss books with them.
I like to read everything, every genre except fantasy but I have no problem trying to read it as long as its good.
Hope you all are well and safe. ❤️

Hi Selma, welcome to the group :) I hope you find some fun reading buddies in this group! We're pretty eclectic :D

Thank you❤️❤️