Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens" So begins one of the most famous songs from a musical movie ever. The Sound of Music debuted in theaters in 1965, and Sister Maria immediately won over fans with her focus on the beautiful and wonderful things in life. This week, you are reading a book inspired by "My Favorite Things", one of the most well-known songs from this movie.

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The Lyrics:

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels
Door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things

When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad

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Suggestions:

Some Ideas:
- Title containing a word in the song
- One of the items in the song on the cover
- A book featuring one of YOUR favorite things
- A book set during the same time frame as the movie (WWII)
- A book about families fleeing Austria
- A book with a character who is a nun

Books with Roses on the Cover
40 Books for Dog Lovers
Best Books to Read When the Snow is Falling
Books Featuring (Some) Girls in White Dresses
Books with the Moon on the Cover

ATY Group Listopia

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Optional Questions:
1. What are you reading for this category?
2. How does it connect to the song?
3. Have you seen The Sound of Music? Did you enjoy it?
4. What book would you recommend to others to read for this category?

I found thinking of this prompt a little hard and a lot of fun!

The BIO post recommended limiting to books who have one of the main words in the title, and I also wanted to use my "favorite thing" or set of things in this song, which is "brown paper packages tied up with strings".

So I'm going to read either The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories or The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag for "paper" or "strings". (Interestingly, another Flavia de Luce book fits for "copper", The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse).

It's been a long time since I saw The Sound of Music but I think I enjoyed it as a kid! Maybe worth rewatching to see how I like it as an adult.

I am going poetry - Wild Geese by Mary Oliver. The collection of that name is out of print, but Dream Work includes that poem too.

my over-planning brain made me break down the lyrics down phrase by phrase and find a book that fit each one!

but i have officially put down The Rose & the Dagger for this prompt because i need to make an effort to keep up to date with my series off next year

I'll be reading either Lost Roses by Martha Hall Kelly (raindrops on roses...), Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah or Winter Sisters by Robin Oliveira (silver white winters...).

I've seen The Sound of Music multiple times, including once on stage - love the movie and the show and the music!

For anyone who likes memoirs, years ago I read and enjoyed Forever Liesl: My 'Sound of Music' Story by Charmian Carr, the actress who played Liesl.

So it’s probably stretching things a little to claim that the Women’s Prize is one of my favourite things (things being literary prizes) so any winner would count. I think I’ll trust bookish serendipity to put a suitable book in my path next year. Failing that I’ll read a book about birds or birding since birding is one of my favourite things (besides reading).

I find it funny that my first set of books were all related to the bad things in the song (dog bites, bees stings), but I like dogs and bees more than most the other things mentioned.

If I do decide to give myself some reading out of order leeway I'll read My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Vol. 2, but I've not had good luck getting US books recently, so I might be waiting all year.

I’m pretty sure I will finally read The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin. Not only does it fit the song (crisp apple strudels) but the title also invokes some of my favorite things - autumn, visiting the orchard, coming home with baskets of apples, baking apple desserts.

I was scratching my head with this one which is a bit bad since I suggested it!

I’ve now found A Mother's Grace about Grace Kettle who has bright copper hair, at least on the book jacket. In keeping with the Sound of Music theme she is training to be a nun until she falls for an unavailable man.

I'm reading either Wife of the Gods for the white dress on the cover, or The Rose Garden.

I was going to use this elsewhere but I can't help thinking Cujo- when the dog bites

The Cat Sitter's Whiskers or another cat book.

Cujo makes me laugh because it's perfect.

I'm thinking either The Dog Stars or The Beekeeper of Aleppo.

I love The Sound of Music, one of my favorites!

If someone is in a mood for funny and insightful YA: When Mr. Dog Bites

I'm going with The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd for the bee lyric.

When the prompt was voted in, I thought it was going to be very easy to find a book that fits. But at a first glance I have 2 books on my TBR that are related to the lyrics
Apples Are from Kazakhstan: The Land That Disappeared (apple in title)
Life After Life (roses on the cover)

Well if I include a favorite thing of mine, lots more would fit, but I think I will just read one of these two, at least my decision will be easier

I have a couple of books with roses on the cover. I also have A Week in Winter but I might use that for the prompt on a book that is associated with a season. Ponies would have worked for The War That Saved My Life, which I read this year.

For bees, there is also Bee Season and The Bees and The Murmur of Bees. I wasn't thrilled with any of those myself.

There's also 'The history of bees' by Maja Lunde, I heard it's good.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...

On the non-fiction bee side, I'm currently reading The Lives of Bees: The Untold Story of the Honey Bee in the Wild and they are a really fascinating species.

I think I'm going to read Honeybee Democracy for this prompt next year.

Johanne wrote: "There's also 'The history of bees' by Maja Lunde, I heard it's good.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4..."

I'm thinking of reading The History of Bees for the past/present/future prompt, since it's got one timeline set in the mid 19th century, one in the early 2000s and one nearly in 2100! I had never heard of it before, but it was recommended to my by The Storygraph and I want to see how successful their recommendations are.

Hannah wrote: "I'm thinking of reading The History of Bees for the past/present/future prompt, since it's got one timeline set in the mid 19th century, one in the early 2000s and one nearly in 2100! I had never heard of it before, but it was recommended to my by The Storygraph and I want to see how successful their recommendations are."

The sequel - The End of the Ocean - is on the Warwick Prize list so if you enjoy The History of Bees you could use the second one for that prompt.

ETA: Actually, I'm not sure it's a sequel. Goodreads lists it as a series but the synopsis says The End of the Ocean is a standalone.

I've had the ebook of this for a long time and it fits here

The Rose Garden - Susanna Kearsley

@Dalex, as I understand it's a thematic series, so you can read them as standalones.

@Hannah, I also noticed the past, present, future :)

@Dalex: Johanne is right, it’s a thematic series (the climate quartet). It is marketed as a quartet here in Norway though, and so far 3 of the books in the series have been published. The third one (Przewalskis hest) hasn’t been translated to English yet to my knowledge. But it was out in Norway in 2019, so it might get translated during 2021.

I going with the reference to snowflakes/winter and will read The Snow Gypsy. There's also a connection to WWII in the book.

I saw that sound of music for the first time recently (in the last year or 2) and enjoyed it.

I'm considering Spring Snow, Spring Garden and Moon of the Crusted Snow here.

...or I might just swerve and read Cujo!

My first 2 choices are:
Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak- I always picture a sleigh (with sleigh bells)
White Rose, Black Forest by Eoin Dempsey

Hilde wrote: "@Dalex: Johanne is right, it’s a thematic series (the climate quartet). It is marketed as a quartet here in Norway though, and so far 3 of the books in the series have been published. The third one..."

I hope her book about Przewalski's horses gets translated! I have The History of Bees on my TBR, so it's a maybe for this one.

I'm probably going to interpret this as a cover prompt.

Girls in white dresses is the imagery I'll likely go with:


If I don't end up going that route I also have options for roses (Life After Life), moon (Holding) and dog (China Rich Girlfriend).

My top choice is Cujo. I try to read Stephen King every year, and this is one I've never read. Slam dunk choice.

Yesterday a friend was doing a quiz to fill in lyrics of popular songs and called for my help. One was "Raindrops on roses and . . " Of course I had the answer and said if they needed any more lyrics from that song, I had the whole thing at my fingertips.

I will probably go with House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas as it has a crescent moon that looks to be on the wings of a bird (though not a goose).

Amy wrote: "I will probably go with House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas as it has a crescent moon that looks to be on the wings of a bird (though not a goose)."

That is close enough because it is an excellent book!! Definitely my favorite Sarah J Maas, and I have all her books

Some "apple" books are The Cider House Rules, Commonwealth and Apple Tree Lean Down. The War That Saved My Life features a "yellowish" pony called Buttercup, not far from cream.

I think I ownA Conspiracy of Paper and A Ship Made Of Paper

1. What are you reading for this category?
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, which is a re-read (which I never do), as I first listened to it as an audiobook about 9 years ago and loved it. I recently picked up a physical book, so I want to see if I still love it as much).

2. How does it connect to the song?
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes just sums up the vibe of the book.

3. Have you seen The Sound of Music? Did you enjoy it?
Never seen it. An ex friend of mine was obsessed with it, and her fervor just turned me off. Plus, I hate most of the songs 🤣

4. What book would you recommend to others to read for this category? Wild geese makes me think of childhood fave (that stood up to a grown-up reread) The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, and girls in white dresses conjures up memories of Picnic at Hanging Rock

"Bee sting" figures prominently in the book The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn, part of the Bridgerton series.

1. What are you reading for this category? The One by Kiera Cass
2. How does it connect to the song? A girl in a white dress is on the cover
3. Have you seen The Sound of Music? Did you enjoy it? I watched as a child and enjoyed it. I haven't seen it in years; however, I have visited Austria and the garden when part of the movie was filmed.
4. What book would you recommend to others to read for this category? No recommendations since I had a hard time coming up with an approach myself.

1. What are you reading for this category?
Grumpy Cat: A Grumpy Book by Grumpy Cat

2. How does it connect to the song?
My favourite thing in this world is cat. A real one, plush toy, a meme, it doesn't metter, as long it is a cat!

3. Have you seen The Sound of Music? Did you enjoy it?
Yes, I love it! I watched it so many times when I was a kid. I used to borrow the VHS from a neighbour.

4. What book would you recommend to others to read for this category?
It is really hard to recommend anything. I would suggest you to get something you love and read about it!

I have a book called Girls in White Dresses and by all logic that should be the book I pick, but I'm not sure how much i really want to read it either.

The Sound of Music was one of my favorite musical's growing up. When I was little I especially liked the song that used the puppets, it always made me laugh. Now that I am older "Favorite Things" has moved up on my list of favorite songs from Sound of Music. It is a fun song that talks about focusing on happy thoughts when you are scared or upset. That is why I am choosing to read The Hiding Place: The Triumphant True Story of Corrie Ten Boom by Corrie Ten Boom.

I know it is kind of a weird choice, but the book is basically about having a positive outlook in the most awful of situations. Which is the main theme of "Favorite Things". It also takes place during WW II, but I actually just realized that connection.

A couple of other books that come to mind that take place in World War II are:
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

Another book that follows the theme of thinking Happy thoughts is:
The Blue Day Book: A Lesson in Cheering Yourself Up by Bradley Trevor Greive

1. A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron
2. Dogs are the BEST!
3. Only a million and one times. one of my favorite musicals.

1. What are you reading for this category?
The Other Woman
2. How does it connect to the song?
The cover is a white wedding dress, "girls in white dresses"
3. Have you seen The Sound of Music? Did you enjoy it?
I was obsessed with the movie when I was a little kid, probably because there were a lot of songs. I was quite surprised when I was old enough to realize everything that was going on cause it had such fond happy memories in my child brain.

This has been the one I struggled the most with for January, but I finally got it.

Bright copper kettles....
I’ll be reading The Darkest Bloom by P. M. Freestone as it has coppery foiling on the cover 🤩

I think I will use Don't Forget to Smile which has roses on the cover. Kathleen Gilles Seidel writes romances that have more depth to them than most, but I have to find her books at used book stores or online sites as they aren't widely available.

I loved The Sound of Music and many other musicals from the 1960's. When other girls were buying Beatles albums, I was buying LPs of musicals. I have another fondness for it because of my son and daughter-in-law. My daughter-in-law is a manager at a second-run theater that is a community institution with original decor from around 1960. They do a lot of special events (except this year, of course), and one has been the singalong Sound of Music. The words are on the screen and the audience is encouraged to sing, also to applaud or boo at appropriate moments. There is always a costume contest. My daughter in law wears a Maria costume. A few years ago, before they were married, my son surprised her by showing up in a Captain Von Trapp costume, coming onstage during the contest in front of hundreds of people, then kneeling down and saying the line from the movie where the Captain proposes. Of course, she said yes. One thing I love about it is that my son isn't one for dramatic gestures, but he did it because he knew she would love it.

I am reading A Stitch in Time I chose it because it is from one of my favorite genres (well two actually), historical fiction with some mystery thrown in. Plus a kitten is portrayed predominately in the narrative. So excited to read this book.

Robin P wrote: "I think I will use Don't Forget to Smile which has roses on the cover. Kathleen Gilles Seidel writes romances that have more depth to them than most, but I have to find her books at ..."

That's a great story! This movie is very special to me. I was very young, and my mother and I went to a premier party with her friends. It seemed very fancy. When I learned to play the piano I got a song book with all the songs from the movie. I had them all memorized and we would put on little shows in the backyard.

I might look for something set in Austria, maybe at the same time in history, or with other elements from the song (silver mountains, snowflakes, a party with girls. There are also books about Maria Von Trapp and the story the movie was based on .

The Story of the Trapp Family Singers
Maria von Trapp: Beyond The Sound of Music
My Favorite Songs: Maria Von Trapp's Childhood Folk Songs With CD (Audio)
Maria

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Optional Questions:
1. What are you reading for this category?

(“Dog bites” dog cover)

2. How does it connect to the song?
“ Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes”
Lyric from the song and it has a girl in a white dress, and girl in the title
3. Have you seen The Sound of Music? Did you enjoy it?
I have seen parts of it so long ago but should at some point watch the whole thing ha
4. What book would you recommend to others to read for this category?
There were so many books on my shelves with girls in a white dress

1. What are you reading for this category? The Snow Child
2. How does it connect to the song? Snow!!
3. Have you seen The Sound of Music? Did you enjoy it? Millions of times! Although I never saw it until after college and I loved it!
4. What book would you recommend to others to read for this category? This one?

1. What are you reading for this category?
I'll read The Railway Man
2. How does it connect to the song?
The author loves trains, especially steam trains (in italian the lyrics says "white steam clouds puffed out by trains"), and goes to II WW
3. Have you seen The Sound of Music? Did you enjoy it? Yes, tons of years ago, and I loved it.