Our Shared Shelf discussion
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Introduction

My name is Constance and I'm 27 years young. I'm French, currently living outside of Boston, and moving back to France next month to take care of my badass Nazi-fighting, equality advocate grandmother (she's 97 years old and a war hero). She's writing her memoirs and I honestly can't believe how strong she was and still is.
I have a MSc. Environmental Policy with a concentration in Global Health from Sciences Po Paris and up until recently I was a teaching assistant for sustainable engineering. I'm passionate about ecology, the environment, sustainability, and health but I'm an avid reader and open to all recommendations.
I'm currently reading "To Marry an English Lord" by Gail MacColl & Carol McD. Wallace. The title does not give this book justice, as it describes the lives of American heiresses who went to England to marry impecunious English lords and the obstacles they faced and how they overcame them -- some of them actually being quite involved and more influential in politics than their Parliament husbands. It does a wonderful job of painting the picture of a late-19th century upper-class woman in America and England, how they were moulded to fit society's expectation to the point of losing their individuality. Not all were compliant though and they took on their oppressors with grace and wit. That's all I will say about this book; if you're interested in the Victorian era or like Downton Abbey, you'll enjoy it.


I always had a fascination towards feminism. Literature helped me to be a feminist when I was confused. I'm proud to say that we now have a text book which contain only Women's literature and the title of the book is “Breaking the Silence,an anthology of Women's literature”.

I am Carla, I am Brazilian (from São Paulo) , 47 y.o, journalist.
This is my first experience in a online book club and the topic is the best.
Congratulations for your leadership, Emma Watson!
Sending my love to you all!
Carla

My name is Michelle, and I'm 25 years old. I'm from a small city about an hour outside of Atlanta, Georgia. I currently own a small used bookstore, and have had it for a little over a year so far though maybe not for much longer as financial stability trumps have a cool job. But it's been an awesome experience.
I joined because I'm a big fan of Emma's, both in her movies and her humanitarianism, and since I do consider myself a feminist I thought it would be nice to actually read and share those books with others.
Constance you're grandmother sounds like one awesome lady! I hope your trip back to France goes well!

I'm so happy to be joining this group! I'm 23 years old, from Brazil and I'm studying international relations.
I always wanted to meet a group that could share this kind of reading experience and I can't wait to start this month's book.

I recently graduated from Western State Colorado University with a degree in Business Administration. I joined this book club because reading is one of my favorite activities, and feminism is one of the things I am most passionate about.
I look forward to engaging with all of you over the next year!

I'm Olga, and I'm Brazilian.
I'm a huge fan of Emma's work in UN, and I'm very happy with this project. I hope to get to know more and more people so we can all share our knowlege about this topic.
Reading is one of my many passions, and I hope I can keep up with you all.

I joined the book club because I'm always looking for the next thought-provoking read. I also find that I've been spending more and more time lately defending my feminism, but I'm not clearly articulating my feelings. I hope that the literature we read, and discussion we have, can help make me more loquacious around equality rights issues and my personal beliefs.
I've never met anyone from Brazil, Olga! I hope that I can make friends all over the world through this book club. :)

I joined this club because I am an ardent feminist working in a hypermasculine environment in a conservative suburban enclave of a liberal major American city. I'm hoping to read great works on equality and meet more people who share my ideas and values.
If anyone is in the LA/Orange County area and wants to form a local discuss group, please message me!
All the best,
Natalie

My name is Domini, I'll be 36 this year. Huge fan of Emma and inspired by all she does. So excited to be a part of the group!

I'm not going to the university yet but I'll start going this year, hopefully. I want to study Biomedicine, btw.
I joined this group because I've always been interested about feminism, and I think this group will help me a lot to get to know more about the movement and inspirational women.


I'm Bruna and I'm Portuguese. So excited to be part of this group, I will try to read all books suggested here. Emma is such an amazing person, I hope one day I meet her. She's an inspiration to women. Thanks Emma for everything, love you so much.
Guys, have fun with this <3


I have a little boy (7) who I adore and want to instill as much positivity and love into him so he can spread it into the world as he gets older. I hope that by reading some of these works, I can gain a better perpective on how to do this in my own life.
I hope this is a place for discussions and healthy debates. Remember to love each other!!!

- Ash


My name is Holly Hummel, I'm a 41, a happily married working Mom of 2 teenagers and a new Yoga teacher who lives in Manhattan, KS, USA.
I think as a woman today you have to be a feminist! Which in my opinion, in NOT hating on men but educating those men who are blind to their actions and how they affect women's rights and lifestyle.
I have a daughter and I try to teach her that she needs to be an advocate for herself.
I joined GoodReads just for the opportunity to be in this book club because I admire Emma Watson for her bravery and willingness to be a face for this topic. #HeforShe is a perfect representation of how to show men that women don't hate them or want to take anything away from them - we just want the respect and equal opportunity they take for granted.
Plus, Emma is a trained Yoga teacher herself so I feel we already have some common ground - beside both agreeing that Hermione is a total bada** and the example we want to show our girls of how to be yourself and you can accomplish your goals!
I am an avid reader - but mostly sci-fi and fiction books. This is a great opportunity for me to branch out and learn - so I welcome suggestions!
Have a great day!

Being a huge fan of Emma for her acting work, I was obviously thrilled when she began doing all of this equality campaigning. She is one of my biggest, if not my biggest, role models. If this is a chance to read and educate myself further on equality while also having a chance to maybe get some further perspective from her, I am so grateful to have it and ready to meet some like-minded fantastic individuals!

My name is Ramsha and I live in Canada. I am a student of sociology and criminology at UofT.
Two reasons to join this club: equality and Emma Watson. As a women belonging to a minority group in a White, Christian majority, equality, rights, and justice has been integral to both my personal and educational experiences. This book club seems to be the perfect opportunity to add to that and to begin thinking about how to pave paths for underrepresented voices. Oh, and I have also been a huge fan of Emma Watson- since childhood.
Happy readings everyone!
Looking forward to many fruitful discussions!
Hello, everyone!
I'm Hamza I'm 20 from Pakistan, I joined this group because I love Emma Watson, and I admire her work, also I'm a proud feminist and I like to read books.
I'm Hamza I'm 20 from Pakistan, I joined this group because I love Emma Watson, and I admire her work, also I'm a proud feminist and I like to read books.

I am Jonathan, 29, from The Netherlands.
I have always been very passionate about things like justice/righteousness (I never know which is which exactly in English :P ). I am not a very passionate person, so that is kind of special, lol.
Since my early 20's I have seen a lot of injustice around me when it comes to gender inequality, either for women, men (girls, boys), LGBT, or, in fact, disabled people.
I strive to treat all people as equals in my own personal life, and I study to become a Social Worker. I am a Feminist.
Besides that, I always loved to read, since I was a child. Add the fact that I find Emma to be very inspiring, et voilà! Perfect ingredients to be part of this Book Club about feminism :D
I hope we can all learn a lot from each other here.
Jonathan




My name is Lorie and I'm from Dallas, TX. I decided to join this group because one of my new year's resolutions is to read more! I also wanted to be part of this group in hopes to gain more knowledge about feminism in the world.
I'm looking forward to see what other books Emma has in store for us this year!

Hi Crystal!
Cant wait to start reading, well listening to my audible, to exchanges ideas with you!

My name is Sarah and I'm currently working on my Masters in Biomechanical Engineering in Texas.
I absolutely love reading and find Emma to incredibly inspiring. Aside from engineering, I'm currently writing my first novel which I hope to publish (someday). While I consider myself a feminists, I haven't read many books on feminism, so this will be a great place to start!

My name is Mara Keßler, I'm a 22-year-old German and live in Aachen, Germany.
I've recently failed my second attempt to finish school because of my psychological condition.
In spite of that I'm in a pretty good place right now and have a lot of time on my hands spend reading books for feminist book clubs :D


My name is Emily, I'm 18 and I'm from England.
I am a strong believer in gender equality and would identify myself as a feminist. Since I saw Emma's speech about feminism I have tried to learn as much as I can about it. I love reading, I read all the time and so this book club is perfect!
I can't wait to see the choice of books for the year and begin reading! I would like to thank Emma for starting this up and giving us the opportunity to get together and learn about feminism and discuss our viewpoints on it.

My name is Anna, I'm 26 years old and I'm from Louisiana.
I love to read and discuss books. I'm always looking for a new outlet to read and discuss and feminism is a topic that is very close to my heart. I already dived in a few years back, but I think being a part of a group will help motivate me to learn more and get new perspectives.
Let the fun begin :D


My name is Giovanna and I'm 20 years old. I'm from Brazil and I decided to join the group because I really wanna understand more about the theme. Sometimes people say wrong things about feminism and, once I grew up hearing bad and good things about be or not to be feminist, I thought would be better if I finally stop just accept and do something. By learning, I know I will understand better some issues, so I will spread the knowledge about this.
PS: I love to write and read and this club is a great opportunity to do what I love!


Look forward to sharing this journey with you all!
Matt

Look forward to sharing this journey with you all!
Matt

Sorry if my English is not perfect.
I joined this book club because I consider myself as a feminist and I will be really interested to learn more about it.
It will be also for me a good exercise to improve my English.
I think that I have to be one of the craziest fans of Emma in France ^^. I admire her so much for all she has done. She is my idol, my model, my inspiration, she means the world to me.
She is really a good actress but she is also a wonderful person, and I think we need more wonderful people in our society. If I join this club it is also to meet wonderful people. I think that if you joined the club you are wonderful because it means that you want a gender equality and it's beautiful.
Have a nice day wonderful people :D !


I decided to join this group not only because I LOVE reading, but also because I am a fighter for feminism, and I am especially interested in Islamic feminism. That is why I did my research paper for my last year of school about it, but my interest keeps growing since then.
Even though I am sure that I will like every book proposed, I would love if at least one of them could be related to Islamic feminism so we all can learn more about this growing movement in which we should all get involved!


I am excited to start reading and getting to know you all better!
Love,
Heike

I am joining this book club because I simply want to learn more about this community and to learn more about how I personally can help with issues in my own community. Living in South Carolina, I have certainly had my share of disccussions about equality and a lot of resistance to the idea. I feel that being as knowledgable about this subject as possible will help me to make a stronger case for equality in these discussions.

My name is Neha. I'm 18 years old and from NJ. I'm currently going through my freshman year in college. I'm a feminist and am astounded at how few people know what the term means or support a right as basic and fundamental as equality. This book club sounds amazing and I can't wait to see how it goes!

I'm a newly formed social scientist but I haven't studied about feminism so much until now and I hope this book club helps me to understand more about the different strands of feminism!
Besides, I really need to improve my english, so I'm trying to study the two things together!


My name is Beth, and I am a mom of two: a 14-year-old boy and an almost-9-year-old girl, both of whom love to read. I love to read, I love to learn, and I look forward to learning here - not only from the books, but also from the perspective of all the other amazing people here! Ms. Watson - thank you for such a wonderful opportunity :)

My name is Laïlani, I am 24 and I live in France. I recently graduated from college but I'm currently unemployed so needless to say I have a lot of free time to read now ;)
I joined this book club to learn more about feminism and debate on this topic with other advocates of this crucial cause. We all have a social responsibility when it comes to gender inequality and the many other discriminations that women have to face on a daily basis. I would like to expand my knowledge and get further insight on how I can play my part within society.
Looking forward to diving into the first book and discussing with you all :)
Books mentioned in this topic
The House of the Spirits (other topics)You Can Live Happily Married for a Lifetime: Modern Applications of Proven, Timeless Wisdom to Create a Lasting, Successful Relationship (other topics)
Dancing With Ghosts (other topics)
Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg (other topics)
Women's Work (other topics)
More...
I am humbled and proud to be part of such an amazing group. I've been on Goodreads for quite some time but have never been compelled to join a group until now!
My name is Rachel and I'm an American currently living in London (and loving it)!
I am joining this book club because I am an avid reader, averaging a little over a book a week. I've just recently been getting into the 'feminist syllabus' and consider myself an ardent feminist - with equality as a core charge in both my professional and personal life. I'm excited to share this experience with all of you.
Like Dominique from Canada, I admire Emma's contributions both as an actress and her dedication to a better world.