Babes with Brains Book Club

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

Comments:
• Not as good reading it the second time around. Definitely appeals to teenagers bu doesn’t age well. – Sarah
• I didn’t finish it. :-( – Melissa
• Interesting to read the source of so many cultural references. – Shannon
• Interesting concepts but didn’t love the story. – Carrie
• I remember this one quite fondly, but after re-reading it, I must be melding a bunch of other books into it because I didn’t enjoy it as much this time around. – Danica

Conclusion: Everyone was pretty luke warm about this one. We spoke about it a bit and its cultural permeation, but the overwhelming feeling was disappointment, the second time around.

Reading Group Guide

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

Comments:
• An icreadible series! – Melissa
• Amazing! Wasn’t excited about it at all. But once I started I couldn’t stop. Read all three in a week. – Carrie
• Can’t wait to read the next 2! I was completely pulled in. The post-apocalyptic theme was compelling and I couldn’t put it down. – Brandi
• At least it was short. I hated the writing style at the beginning of the book. It got better when the games started. I didn’t like the premise at all but I don’t like fantasy. – Sarah
• Awesome book! An east to read thriller… couldn’t put it down! – Rachelle
• Great series! I really enjoyed the books, east and fun to read. – Vicki
• I loved this book. I will be finishing the series. Already reading book 2. – Tami
• I was hooked immediately, loved the first book but also loved the whole story arc that play out over the course of the three. – Danica

Conclusion: For the most part this was a book that given the genre, most were apprehensive. However the story won almost everyone over fairly quickly.

Reading Group Guide

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

Comments:
• The book was sooo good. I loved it. The story and character development is amazing. – Sarah
• I didn’t get far, but I felt the storyline was really intriguing. – Melissa
• Read years ago, new to the group, did not re-read. -Fay

Conclusion: Most of us didn’t read it, Sarah did a good job of explaining its appeal.

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

Comments:
• So far so good! Will finish it later! – Kerry
• I liked it, but it was slow. About 30% in, I initially got interested but the next day was book club! – Steph
• I finished it and enjoyed it. Slow in parts and very political. Not at all what I expected. – Carrie
• I haven’t gotten very far. I’m not loving it. – Melissa
• Even re-reading this novel, the historical perspective is still interesting. However, I did feel that there was some inconsistency in the level of description and pace of storytelling. – Marlo
• I made it only 15% through. I enjoyed it while I was reading, but had no motivation to pick it back up. – Danica

Conclusion: With much confusion over actually not remember picking this story, we mostly spoke about how it was very political, a sweeping multi-generational story that could have been weaved better and a general lack of interest.

Reading Group Guide

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

Comments:
• This is my favorite Shakespeare play. It is fun and whimsical. I can’t wait to see the play. – Carrie
• I’ve loved the whimsey and humor of this play for years! – Marlo
• I actually read it! I did not understand anything I read. Never read it before. Looking forward to the play so I can get it. – Tami
• I have a hard time with Shakespeare so I ended up reading a scene and then watching that scene of the Royal Shakespeare’s version on Netflix streaming. It really helped me understand who was speaking with whom and get more of the humor… – Danica
• I really enjoyed the play and am looking forward to seeing it acted out. – Steph
• It was not as funny as I used to think it was. While the story was good, I did not like it as much as I had in the past. – Sarah
• Eh. It’s my least favorite Shakespeare, but I didn’t hate it like I did in high school.  – Brandi

Conclusion: While we all read it, we didn’t speak much about it, but we are really excited to be seeing in live at The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum in September. I am sure there will be much more conversation during that outing.

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

Comments:
• 25% in – just started the autobiography! The intro was very academic. It would have been easier to skip if I wasn’t reading it on a Kindle. I did enjoy reading the parts with Twain’s voice. – Kerry
• I didn’t get far. – Melissa
• I chose to read The Mammoth Hunters by Jean M. Auel, instead…. – Danica

Conclusion: We all had the best intentions of reading this one, we chose it after all, but most barely started it so we didn’t have very much to talk about.

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

Comments:
• Amazing book and amazing story. – Sarah
• Fascinating read both for pleasure and professionally. Interesting to see the Freudian influence in therapy. This was a re-read for me since adolescence. I was able to see a completely different side. – Carrie
• I loved this story, devouring it voraciously. It is amazing to think of how much of this story has permeated pop culture and how much it is used in contemporary storytelling. It was written really well and even though the roots of the story were very disturbing, I thoroughly enjoyed it. – Danica
• It was a fascinating book – I couldn’t put it down. – Steph
• Disturbing, but enlightening. Fascinating. – Melissa
• Very fascinating, very well written. – Vicki

Conclusion: This one went over really well. Most read it, really enjoyed it and we had plenty to talk about with it.

Reading Group Guide

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

Comments:
• It was fun and wacky. Moved quickly and a fun, light read. – Sarah
• I liked it and hope to finish it one day. It was refreshingly different and funny. – Steph
• I enjoyed this book, as campy as it was. Totally engaging and kept me reading until the end. – Brandi
• I loved the humor. I loved the plot. I did not appreciate the ending. John didn’t die at the end – or at all for that matter. – Melissa
• Just a bunch of gratuitous gore. Stuck it out for just over a hundred pages, then decided my time was too valuable for this book. – Marlo
• I don’t know if I actually “liked” the book, but I loved the writing style, I wouldn’t put it down. A true “page turner.” – Carrie
• I really loved the prologue to this book, however I didn’t feel like it kept up the pace I expected after reading the beginning. There were parts that I loved and parts that I could have done without but overall I found it pretty funny. – Danica

Conclusion: Most liked it, we spent some time on talking about it and had a great time recalling some of the funnier parts.

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

Comments:
• I enjoyed reading this story because I had always wondered what the original text was like. On the other hand, I didn’t love the book. It rambled (as well as it should have, being a dream), so it was difficult to follow. – Melissa
• I enjoyed it because it reminded me of my childhood. But, at the same time, it was too confusing. – Dina
• I have always wanted to read this, and enjoyed the memories. However, nothing was page turning. – Carrie
• I like the first book although I couldn’t stop reading it in the voice of Disney’s Alice. By the second book, I was worn out by the surreal plot points. – Danica
• I really like the book – Alice was so cute! She cracked me up! – Steph
• I love these books. They are so whimsical and fun. – Sarah

Conclusion: We didn’t talk much about the book. Everyone was very chatty about everything else… beside the book.

Reading Group Guide