Babes with Brains Book Club

0 Loved It
1 Liked It
1 Neutral
0 Disliked It
1 Hated It

Comments:
• Don’t waste your time. Just read The Tempest directly. – Sarah
• It was great, not perfect, but I enjoyed it. I love theater, so the play within a play element was great for me. I loved the concept more than the execution. – Chelsea
• There were parts were I was super engaged, especially in the beginning but by the time the whole plot was coming to an apex, I just didn’t care anymore. I like the concept of this series, this one was just a little too obvious and beating you over the head with The Tempest story. – Danica

0 Loved It
3 Liked It
0 Neutral
0 Disliked It
0 Hated It

Comments:
• It was an interesting look at that time of history from a very specific point of view. – Sarah
• I understand why the structure was how it was, but it didn’t have great flow. Glad of certain stories, but didn’t need some of them. – Chelsea
• I have always been fascinated by Jackie. I was very engaged and interested in the conversations about the events and people that I had previously known and had context, others where I had no reference, I wasn’t. I wish there was more about her feelings and events in her life, not just her trying to remember bits about Jack. It really shined a light on women’s roles and how they have changed since the 60’s. -Danica

0 Loved It
4 Liked It
1 Neutral
0 Disliked It
0 Hated It

Comments:
• This book was a window into a different world. It was a devastating story but I’m glad I read it. – Steph
• I enjoyed this book for the things it made me contemplate although it was hard emotionally to go back to it daily. – Danica
• I was slow to set into it, but I really am glad that I waited it out and got to see how it ended. Ot ultimately left me sad at the outcome and how inevitable the tragedy of life seems. – Chelsea
• It was a difficult book to read at the beginning because of the subject matter. – Sarah
• It was an interesting view into how terrorism affects a non-western culture. Interesting to watch the evolution of a “terrorist.” – Carrie

0 Loved It
1 Liked It
4 Neutral
0 Disliked It
0 Hated It

Comments:
• It was OK. It was a fast read and an interesting look at her life. – Sarah
• I thought this book was interesting, and touched on lots of interesting topics and issues like women’s roles and war, etc. – Steph
• There were parts I was super engaged and parts that I could care less about. I was very interested in her story but I feel like I didn’t really get the full picture of Mata Hari’s life. – Danica
• It was an interesting perspective and an easy read. Felt like parts were well developed and parts were rushed. – Carrie
• I was surprised at her story and vulnerabilities but ultimately I thought she was subject to the efforts to stifle women’s power in a patriarchal society. – Kerry

0 Loved It
5 Liked It
2 Neutral
0 Disliked It
0 Hated It

Comments:
• Cute story. A nice reminder that it’s worth it to dig a little deeper to get to know someone. –
• I am not finished. Picked it up again today and read a lot. Plan to finish it. Definitely enjoying it. – Tami
• Sweet feel good story. Love ornery old men! – Carrie
• I was slow to set into it, but I ended up feeling warm and sweet at the ending and enjoyed the writing. – Chelsea
• I enjoyed the story and characters. I am glad I read this book and would recommend it. – Steph
• I didn’t dislike the story but I kept comparing it to Out of Sorts by Aurelie Valognes, I enjoyed the satire and humor in that one much more. If I hadn’t so recently read Out of Sorts, I think I would have come to this fresher and probably would have been more excited about it. The writing is great, the story structure is well done and the characters are well formed and distinct. – Danica

0 Loved It
2 Liked It
0 Neutral
2 Disliked It
1 Hated It

Comments:
• I couldn’t get through it, so I don’t know if it got better, but I found the author annoyingly opinionated and biased and unorganized. I felt like I kept re-reading the same thing. – Steph
• While the subject matter is very interesting and important to be written about, I found her tone very militant. I feel like the evolution of feminism has been freeing up the ability for women to chose many paths. It’s this ability to chose that is the prize of the all the hard fought battles of our predecessors, allowing many choices instead of one militant counter. The tone felt exclusive instead of inclusive and that really upset me. – Danica
• Very comprehensive, covers history, sociology, all classes and situations. I thought she presented a good description of changing demographics in today’s society. – Kerry
• The book was self indulgent and was clearly not written to forward a feminist agenda or seriously discuss single women. This book, can only appeal to people who think the same way as her. – Sarah
• I enjoyed the overview of history and current events and some of the points. For me, personally I really enjoyed the idea of studying and exploring this concept of women without the shaping of men. – Chelsea

3 Loved It
3 Liked It
1 Neutral
0 Disliked It
0 Hated It

Comments:
• Still reading the book, half way through and enjoying it. – Vicki
• I started the book and plan to finish it. I saw the movie and really enjoyed it. – Tami
• I couldn’t get into it. I didn’t really like Mark’s voice. – Steph
• Love it and love the voice on Mark, just the right amount of science, pop culture and heat. – Chelsea
• Enjoyed the book, glossed over some of the science. Very quick read. – Carrie
• I really liked the book. The only part that is a far reach was the ending. The science part of the book is really fun. – Sarah
• I loved this book. My suspension of disbelief was there throughout because of the wins and losses in getting off the planet. I liked the character and his coping mechanisms. It made me think about exploration, isolation and the spirit of humanity in a crisis situation. – Danica

0 Loved It
3 Liked It
2 Neutral
1 Disliked It
0 Hated It

Comments:
• The book was very easy to read, finished it in 2 days. However, not sure how I felt about it. Didn’t really stay with me. – Carrie
• I enjoyed the story and characters. I especially enjoyed how women lived in the time period. – Kerry
• I enjoyed the time period, as Kerry said. I learned some things about the historical time that it takes place in & I liked the tone that she sets. That being said, not special. – Chelsea
• It was boring and I just did not care. – Sarah
• I really liked the main character and her story and all of the issues that the book touched on like history, religion, women’s rights, challenges and health. I was sad when it ended. – Steph
• With my expectations being really high because I loved The Red Tent so much, I was greatly disappointed. I felt like we were  hitting the highlights of the 20th century, going from one historical event to another without really caring about or engaged in the characters lives. Because of this it felt disingenuous. – Danica