Babes with Brains Book Club

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

Comments:
• Was a lot better than expected from reading the back of the book. – Sarah
• Reads like a non-fiction book, very insightful to how severe the situation in Afghanistan was. – Lilac
• Such a good book. Loved the themes – guilt, courage and redemption. – Kerry
• A great book on many levels. Excellent story and imagery – I couldn’t put it down. – Stephanie
• Very hard to become excited about the main character. – Julie Ann

Conclusion: Recommended for book clubs. We had a lively discussion and most really enjoyed the book.

Reading Group Guide

Khaled Hosseini on NPR

6 Loved It
Liked It
Neutral
Hated It

Comments:
• I am now seeing its principles in life all the time. – danica

Conclusion: Great book, great discussion. Recommended for other book clubs that read non-fiction as well as fiction.

Reading Group Guide

 Loved It
3 Liked It
4 Neutral
Hated It

Comments:
• Didn’t like it, didn’t hate it. – Carrie
• Good, interesting read although non-fiction, I didn’t believe the ending! – Stephanie

Conclusion: Very interesting subject matter but this book was not loved – it wasn’t hated either.

Reading Group Guide

6 Loved It
3 Liked It
Neutral
Hated It

Comments:
• Very thought provoking. – Brandi
• Good discussion for that book! – Lilac
• Very easy read. – Lilac
• Good story, interestingly written, brought up good discussion. – Stephanie

Conclusion: We all really liked it and actually all finished it. We also had a really good diiscussion on ethics. Definitely recommended for book clubs.

Reading Group Guide

 Loved It
Liked It
1 Neutral
4 Hated It

Comments:
• Don’t waste your time. – Carrie
• Terrible! Without substance. – Stephanie

Conclusion: Carrie is right!

1 Loved It
3 Liked It
1 Neutral
Hated It

Comments:
• Cute, funny and interesting. – Stephanie

Conclusion: Fun and different type of memoir.

8 Loved It
1 Liked It
Neutral
Hated It

Comments:
• Fun, fun, fun!!! – Brandi
• OMG! So… intriguing, interestiing, different. – Lilac
• Unique and well written. – Stephanie

Conclusion: A resounding love, love, loved it. Everyone actually read and finished it and loved it. Recommened for other book clubs.

Reading Group Guide

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

Comments:
• A bit far-fetched, although I liked the premise. – Brandi
• I enjoyed watching Gone With the Wind again with everyone better than reading this book. – danica
• I didn’t understand the references to the movie and found it tedious and annoying. – Stephanie

Conclusion: Pretty luke warm response.

Reading Group Guide

5 Loved It
1 Liked It
1 Neutral
Hated It

Comments:
• I am a sucker for Steinbeck, I love everything by him. – Lilac
• Chapter 2 is just an unbelievable piece of poetry. I could have put the book down then and been completely satisfied. – danica
• One of my favs. – Julie Ann
• One of my favorite books!!! – Stephanie

Conclusion: Most people like Steinbeck. We liked Steinbeck. We still like Steinbeck.

Reading Group Guide

2 Loved It
3 Liked It
Neutral
1 Hated It

Conclusion: We seemed to mostly like this one. Unfortunately it is really hard to please everyone : )

Reading Group Guide

On another note…
For those of you who missed it, the wee ones just about out-numbered the adults! Next Gen of Babe(ies) with Brains. I think they were discussing “The Very Hungry Catepiller” this month. Next month’s selection… “Goodnight Moon.”

Loved It
1 Liked It
1 Neutral
2 Hated It

Comments:
• Some chapters were better than others. – danica
• Boring. – Stephanie

Conclusion: Most of us lost interest and did not finish. I think it would have been a better idea if we read one of Cussler’s pure fiction novels.

This was the first book where we decided to implement a change on how we choose which books to read. The new scheme is as follows. One member is chosen per meeting to bring in two to three books to present for a vote. We all vote and a new book is chosen. We choose two months in advance so there are always three books in our queue.

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

Comments:
• Eh, could have done without the whole homosexual scene. – Lilac
• Weird, quirky but honest and good. – Stephanie

Conclusion: It was not widely liked.

5 Loved It
1 Liked It
1 Neutral
Hated It

Comments:
• Amazing! – Lilac
• A page turner. -Stephanie

Conclusion: Recommended. We LOVED this one and had a great dialogue about it as well.

Reading Group Guide

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

Comments:
• Didn’t finish it… just didn’t like it. – danica
• Very contrived and insincere. – Stephanie

Conclusion: We had such high hopes for this one. The premise sounds like it could be fascinating. Some of us didn’t like the writing style while others just got bored, although a few did like/love it…

2 Loved It
3 Liked It
Neutral
1 Hated It

Comments:
• I just loved it! – Stephanie

Conclusion: Again, most of us liked it, but not all of us.

Reading Group Guide

1 Loved It
1 Liked It
2 Neutral
2 Hated It

Comments:
• Hated it, and then some. – Marlo
• Weird, sick and without merit. – Stephanie

Conclusion: This is one of the rare books were we completely ran the gamut of loved to hated. There were definitely some strong opinions that came up in book club. Not necessarily recommended but it did engage us.

Reading Group Guide