Our Shared Shelf discussion
Miscellaneous
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Introduction
Hello everyone! My name is Laryssa. I live in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. When I was in university, I was an English and creative writing major. I also studied publishing. I studied feminism for my thesis. Just like Florencia (above), I am a feminist. I admin a feminist Facebook page for women in my city and I organized a protest last year that had a good turn out and good media coverage. I used to be a regular volunteer at a local women's shelter, and I still volunteer in my community when I can.
I joined this book club because I set a goal of 50 books to read this year, and book clubs are a great way to ensure I stay accountable and keep reading! The book club's topic interested me, and I like that there is supplemental reading in the form of interviews Emma has done with the authors of the books we read!
Greetings to all of you! My name is Sebastian and I live in Sweden. My love for books started back when I first read Harry Potter at 8 years old and it has only grown stronger. Sadly I've read far too few books since a couple of years back, as I've been busy with studies (ironic since I studied literature and creative writing) and writing my own novel, poems, and other stuff. Now I'm getting back into reading and it feels amazing! I'm glad to have joined you all in that.
I was turned into a feminist by my wise and lovely girlfriend, and made aware of many things that had previously been hidden by my own worldview as well as not wanting to see what was not comfortable. Since then I've read lots, researched, and see everything in a new light. I feel further evolved as a person thanks to finally opening my eyes.
Emma is an inspiration to me through both her work with feminism and books, not to mention acting. Very glad to have found this book club!
Hello! My name is Narelt, I'm 25 years old and I'm from Guayaquil, Ecuador.I am a huge fan of Emma Watson, her career and her work with the UN is very inspiring and something to admire. Equality is very important and it is worth fighting for, specially in my country where unfortunately woman are seen as less.
I like to read and hopefully someday I wish to become a writer, eventough I'm studying Business Administration at my university, I do believe that people can be whatever they want to be as long as they put an effort on it.
Hopefully I can find those books here in Ecuador because the majority here are in spanish but I will do my best to stay up to date with every book. :)
Hi guys! I'm Sarah, I've been a member of this group since it started, but haven't been contributing - just observing and watching and learning. But now I think I'll make a start:I'm from Galway, Ireland and I'm 15 years old (3rd year in secondary school) . I'm a huge reader, I will read almost anything, and I'm really interested in music. I play the violin (classical and traditional Irish music) and I sing a bit.
I joined Our Shared Shelf probably for the same reason most of us joined - I wanted to learn more about feminism. I've always upheld similar values as feminists but I didn't fully understand the term. Now I most certainly identify as a feminist, and I'm looking forward to learning a lot and meeting other young feminists my age!
I've been struggling to keep up with the books - not a lot of book shops nearby as I live in the middle of nowhere! But I'll do my best, looking forward to the reading! :)
I guys , so I joined this group like yesterday so I'm going to talk a bit about be , 'cause I'm a narcissistic teen who likes to read (just kidding).Anyways , I'm from Lisbon , I'm 15 years old (10'th grade) , and I love to read specially Fantasy and Adventure books with badass teen male leas and that incorporate some kind of love story, like The Inheritance Cycle or The Riftwar Saga. I also like long books or collections.
Continuing, I would love to play piano or guitar , but I don't either so I don't, still I really like classic music, specially piano solos or piano+violin.
I also like Anime and Anime related stuff.
I join Goodreads (and also this group) in order to find books like those that I mentioned above, since most of my friends don't like to read and/or find it boring.
So my only choice is to talk with people through the web to maintain my reading hobby.
Hello everyone!My name is Matt, I'm 20 (almost 21) and I live in northern California. As of late, I find that I haven't been reading as much as I used to when I was younger. Social media took over and I had forgotten my love for books. I would like to learn more about feminism, and joining Our Shared Shelf will hopefully allow me to gain both further insight as well as revive my love of reading!
Miss Watson has been an inspiration for me and my family, ever since we were little. From her bringing to life such a beloved character of the wonderful wizarding world, to the beautiful bookworm of a small village. Not to mention everything she has done as part of the UN Women.
So far, this group is everything I could have asked for and much, much more! Each member is actively sharing their thoughts and ideas, keeping in touch with eachother and reaching out to others. I hope that I will be able to do the same! I look forward to the reading and what this year has in store!
Hi,My name is Paul and I live in Orlando, Florida. I am going to finish my Bachelors of Applied Science in Management this August. I have an Associates of Arts Degree in Social Science. I joined this book club to learn more about feminism. I love learning about philosophy and psychology. I find my major to be useful but boring. I took philosophy and psychology as much as I could for electives. Last year, I was two classes away from completing my original major in Christian Ministry. A long story short, I found out I don’t believe the way I use to. Now, I regret teaching my old fundamentalist beliefs. This is the main reason why I joined the book club. I want to learn what I can do to make the world a better place by teaching and promoting equality for everyone.
My name is Stella. I'm a 39 year old mother of two boys (ages 6 and 9) living in the Seattle area, Washington state, USA. I have a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a minor in Spanish and a Master of Theological Studies. I currently identify as a humanist and am learning to be a feminist. Participated in the March for Women and wanted something more. As an introvert and avid reader, I identify with Hermione in the Harry Potter books and with Belle in Beauty and the Beast. That and seeing Emma's UN speech awhile back led me to join this book club.
My name is Sean, and I live in Joplin, Missouri. I've been on a three odd year adventure getting back to my roots in literature and writing. It started off from a decision to better fill my mind with good information, this idea began when I started to eat better. Why not feed my mind better information? I started off in classics, and then science fiction and fantasy. As I diversified my reading I found that I was reading primarily white male literature. Horrified, I began building reading lists from various cultures and countries. I love reading diversely and voraciously, I joined this group pretty much once I heard that it was formed. Here's to learning more about ourselves and the world and to strive for equality and compassion for everyone everywhere.
My name is Estefania and I'm 27 years old. I live in Mexico City and I have a Bachelor in Interactive Design. I've been reading since age 2, books have been great friends all my life and when I discovered this shelf created by Emma I totally fell in love with this project.
In Mexico I face day after day the consequences of a machist culture, and the normalization of it made me realize that humanity needs much more equality between genders, and that I need to learn a lot more about the topic, so this book club is an amazing tool to help us achieve it.
Hello everyone! My name is Jenine. I am a teenager from Palestine.I have joined this group in order to broaden my knowledge of feminism by seeing what are people's opinions and their perspectives about it... I got more excited when I found that Emma Watson was a part of it; she's a very strong feminist, a talented actor (watched Beauty and The Beast several days ago) and a super model; that is to say: an inspiring person who works hard for rights!
Hello Everyone! My name is Stephanie Ceniceros, and I have lived my whole life in California. I joined this group about a month ago, but I have not formally introduced myself to the group!I joined this group, because I have always admired Emma, her intelligence, and the way she speaks is something I have admired in her. I have never considered myself a feminist, but I have never really looked into it, and I feel like this group will give me the opportunity to do so. One of my best friends told me about a women’s rights class she took in college, and it got me thinking about what feminism is, and what it means to me. Because I saw it as a negative thing, the way the media portrays it or at least how I feel it portrays it! As something that means destruction or negative. But it doesn’t have to be. And I want to learn, and explore, and see the different ranges of feminism, and what they mean to me, and how they can affect future generations of people, and how women and men are seen.
Because if I am in a relationship, I want to be respected, and I want my future children to feel love, and see it, and acknowledge that it’s okay to be sad, angry, heard, and bossy. That just because they are a certain gender that they have to fit into the norms of what society thinks that gender should fit. I want them to be happy!
Hai, my name is Alina and I live in Ontario, Canada. I'm a teenager who loves books of all kinds. I don't really know much in detail of what feminism is, but I know it's a negative thing that people believe in and how it means equality of both women and men. I want to learn more about this topic (Feminism) because some people I know, they say how men are better than women and blah blah blah. I chose to join this group because I personally have been told that boys/men are superior than girls/women. Also I want to learn more about this topic. I loved books since I knew English, which was back in grade 2, (I came to Canada in grade 1 and I didn't know it) and I still love it now, it has gotten me through tough times and I know I can always depend on it when I am stressed or feel like I'm gone.
Sean wrote: "My name is Sean, and I live in Joplin, Missouri. I've been on a three odd year adventure getting back to my roots in literature and writing. It started off from a decision to better fill my mind wi..."Hello Sean, I was delighted to read your comment yesterday. Your profound words have stuck with me and compelled me to let you know.
Blessings!
K
Hi. My name is Hans and I am an Indonesian living in California, US. I joined this group because of my hobby of book reading. I've been in love with books since I was a little kid. Even until now, I am in college and don't read book as much as I do when I am younger because of my busy classes. One thing that I know of this group is its spark of feminism. I am still very new to this, but I really love its idea to embark the meaning of equality. Not to show power and which are stronger but to be able to stand together and live without point of lower differences.
Anyway, nice to meet yall and hope to get along better.
Peace, Hans
ps feel free to message me to get to know each other and share stuff :)
Hello all, My name is Cheylee, and I hail from Victoria, Australia. I have always been an avid reader... and a closet feminist. Recently I have been inspired to speak out about my feminist views and grab on to equal rights by its horns, so to speak. I am incredibly excited to read about you all in your introductions, what a lovely community to be a part of.
I look forward to participating in some spirited and informed discussions about our coming reads.
Cheers!
Hi, I'm Awin, from Indonesia. I'm going to be 22 this October. I admire Emma Watson and her works since elementary school.I love reading since I can read and nowadays most of my books are about women and feminism. I love to review books (in Indonesian unfortunately) on my blog alivia-awin.blogspot.com and currently starting a booktube channel on youtube.com/tanteiwi2n. Nice to know you all!
Hi everyone,My name is Karen, I'm 25 years old and I'm Cuban-American. My parents' favorite anecdote is how I used to memorize my child's books and recite them as if I was actually reading them. My first books were Harry Potter and The Count of Monte Cristo, because why not read two at the same time lol.
I've always felt a feminist, specially coming from a Hispanic culture that tends to favor women as motherly minded and not as professionally minded. However, i have lots to thank to my father who always trained me to think that "I am enough" and "I am what I know, as no matter what happens in life, what you know helps you get ahead in life".
I'm very proud to form part of Emma's book group as she starred one my childhood's heroes: Hermione, and finally, because she grew up to be a fierce fighter of women's rights and literacy.
I wish the best to all of you, specially to Emma: you've taken advantage of your professional opportunities to bring awareness to issues that concern all women, and I think I speak for most of us when I say, we are proud of you!
Hello everyone,I am Pratiti. I am a high school junior hailing from India. I always had had feminist views but I might say that I never voiced them out loud until I heard Emma's speech and was totally moved. I admire Emma a lot ever since I knew her as Hermione Granger. I joined this group because I want to share my opinions as well as learn about what other feminists out there are thinking and so far its been a great experience.
My name is Marzieh,26 years old. an Iranian girl. Just it.
Hello OurSharedShelfers!I am Valerie from Austria, 20 years old and a vivid fan of Emma since ten years:)
She made me realize that I am a feminist when she gave her UN speech, which probably is the case for many of us here! (Sorry, I didn't read all the former entries, it's just so much!)
I consider myself to be an intersectional feminist, or postmodern feminist that's what it's called too.
Some of you have grown to be my friends and I would miss OurSharedShelf so much, would it ever close its doors.
As far as it goes for Iran, I've never been there, but as far as I know a certain issue would be easier for me to handle there than here in Austria.
Hi, I'm Wendy. I live in CA, LA. So nice to meet everyone. I love books especially those that you can expand yourself emotionally, spiritually and mentally with, such as books by Caroline Myss and Judith Orloff. To comment on Crystal's ideas, I love that woman are finally rising up. Looking forward to this group. I am an author myself
Hello! My name is Dena. I am 42 and I live in Canada and have already read a good many of the books put forward so far so I can tell I'm going to enjoy this group.I enjoy reading and discussing books so please do feel free to friend me.
Hi All!!My name is Jess, I'm from Victoria, Australia and I joined this book club because I love the idea of all of us from around the globe, reading and sharing our ideas together. I have really enjoyed my first book with the club, The Handmaids Tale, and wow it really gets you thinking!
I love reading and must say I pidgin holed myself to my favourite genres for many years so I am looking forward the most I think to expanding my horizons with
Hi. I'm Melissa from Columbia MD. I am obsessed with reading and joined this book club to see what others are reading and discussing. I used to work in a bookstore and really enjoyed talking with people about their views on various books and sometimes their thoughts of how a movie compared to the.book they read. It was quite fascinating and I think My Shared Bookshelf will bring me on a journey of exploration within the literature circles.
Melissa here again. Forgot to tell you I'm 49 years old and just realized I wrote the wrong name of the group. My Shared Shelf is a wonderful way of promoting not only feminism but literacy as well. Thank you Emma Watson for your tireless fight for both.
Ugh! Our Shared Shelf. This always happens when one.of boys interrupts me when I am reading. Thanks again.
Hi i'am from Francei am here because i find Emma Watson amazing and her last book sounds interesting
Hi everyone! My name is Brittany, I'm 25 and live in Canada. I came across this group while looking for a book club to join. I'm horrible at writing introductions. I absolutely LOVE reading and my favourite thing in school was when we had to read a book and then discuss what we learned about it. I look forward to reading with you all!
Hello everyone. My name is Will, and I'm 27 years old. I currently live in northern Indiana, but I've lived all over the United States throughout my life. I'm currently pursuing my associate's degree in MLT, and plan to get my bachelor's degree in Microbiology once I get a job in a hospital. I've got an eye towards research after that.I joined this group for a variety of reasons, one of which is my respect for Emma Watson. Another is personal development; I want to expose myself to different ideas and philosophies in order to learn, to form my own ideas, and to better myself. I look forward to conversing with everyone here.
Hi there,I totally forgot to introduce myself !
So I'm Robin From France (South of France) and I am 24.
I discovered this group approximatively in the same time that I discovered feminism. For a long long long time I grew up thinking that feminists were man haters. My Grilfriend was always talking about feminism and I was like "Hm, yeah, whatever, not involved". But then I find an interview between Emma Watson and Gloria Steinem and BOOM ! A lot of what was said in this interview helps me to understand things better. The gender problem is real and it hit both women and men. By the way, I am very grateful to these two for their work and I would love that France and French people open their minds to these problems.
And I am absolutely happy to meet you all, I already began to look on everyone favorite books to read it !
Hi everyone!My name is Everness. I'm 22 years old and from Dallas, TX. I'm currently attending Texas A&M University to complete a Master's in Taxation. Whoop!
While reading the Harry Potter series, I stumbled across this book club after reading about Emma Watson. I joined because I wanted to find a way to continuously read throughout the year. I wanted to read books that would enrich my mind, challenge my curiosities, and change/strengthen my views on the topic of feminism. It's a term that I have recently embraced for myself. I found that this book club would allow me to achieve that goal. I was also tired of being surrounded by friends who "didn't like to" or "didn't have time" to read. So I look forward to the discussions to gain different insights and perspectives.
I am open to new friends, pen pals, and smaller discussions. I look forward to catching up on the prior books, reading future books, and discussing thoughts and opinions!
Hi I am Lou,26 living in Paris, fond of books and trying to read in english as much as I can.
I love the initiative and I hope to discover many books with you.
<3
Hi,My name is Spencer. I am 25 years old, and I live in Dallas, TX. I work as a nurse. I have loved books and reading ever since I was a child. It's nice to finally find a community of fellow book-lovers!
Hi! My name is Hannah and I live in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania. I am currently a high school senior and have loved reading since I was little! I am very excited to me joking this book club- I have been thinking about it for awhile and then decided to do it over the summer.
Hi everyone, I'm Shayesteh, I'm from Iran, I believe in equity, but I'm not a feminist specifically. But I'm also very interested to know other people's ideas, in this case about feminism. Thanks to Emma, this group gives us the opportunity to do just that.
I hope its not too late to start. And frankly, I haven't read all the comments.I am Parth, a 22 year old boy living in India.
I am here to increase my knowledge on feminism.
Hi everyone, my name is Lieke. I'm 31 and I'm from the Netherlands. I'll probably "lurk" for a while before deciding whether I'm gonna engage here at Our Shared Shelf (because I have a ton of books I want to read that have little to nothing to do with feminism and I am apparently unable to stop buying more books on top of that). So, I'll follow along to see whether this place is as fun and interesting as it seems to be and then I'll either decide I simply don't have the time and drop out or go all in. I'm pretty excited about this, but let's see how it goes.
Hi! My name is Sofia, I'm 23 and from Portugal. I never considered myself a feminist because I associated that with women being more than men but I've been educating myself for a while now and joining this amazing group is going to help me grow immensly. So for now thank you for that. Let's read!
Hello to all the dear readers in here. :)My name is Arnaud Meresse, i am from Reims in France.
I am not that a big reader but as i love very much Emma and support Feminism, Gender Equality and everything related about Gender and Sexuality matter, i decided to give a try to a feminist book : I bought the Handmade's Tale (I wasn't lucky enough to find one in Paris). As i like Sci-Fi and Dystopia/Utopia books (I have read The Ice People from René Barjavel and i loved it really much) I think i can be interested.
I have read all Harry Potter books, The Lord of the Rings, The Perk of being a wallflowers too.
I love strong women.
And Voilà :) (with my best french accent ^^)
Hello, my name is Tanya and I am 23 years old.I love to read biographies and fiction novels and I joined this group tp learn more about feminism and discuss different topics and books and I love it!
If anyone would like to add me, please feel free!
Hi everyone! I'm Mina, a 22-year-old recent college graduate from Illinois. I love science, particularly psychology and medicine.I joined the group because reading is a passion of mine and I wanted to hold myself accountable when it comes to making it a priority. I'm also really interesting in feminism, so I figured being in this book club would be a great way to learn more about it.
Hi everybody! My name is Paige and I actually joined a few months ago but did not introduce myself. I'm a medical lab scientist who is also from Illinois. I read all types of books i.e. Fiction, nonfiction, mystery, classics, science, history, books on sexuality etc.. I've always considered myself to be a feminist and am glad to have joined so I can learn more about what that really means.
Hello ladies! My name is Amanda and I'm from a very small town in Mississippi where feminism is basically considered a bad word. When I tell people I'm a feminist and a liberal down here in the Bible Belt of the South...well I tend to get a lot of funny looks and hate. I recently graduated college from the University of Mississippi with a major in paralegal studies and a minor in history. I'll be honest with y'all, I don't read much. I used to read all the time when I was younger but when I entered college that came to a thrashing halt. I still read in college but it was required reading for my classes. They were good books but I wasn't doing any pleasure reading for myself anymore. Once I graduated a few months ago in May, my sister-in-law, who is a book reader extraordinaire, bought me some books as a graduation present. She knew I wanted to start reading for myself again so she got me started with a few great books. Needless to say, I ate them up and read them super quick! I forgot how much I loved to read for my own pleasure. Haha. Anyways, she told me about Goodreads so I joined. I love Emma Watson and feminism so naturally I wanted to be apart of this group. It's so good to meet all of you and to read your introductions!
Welcome to Goodreads. Hey you might be interested in recent info that Ms Magazine just put out on the 10 best feminist reads in 2017. If you google it I'm sure you will find it. Happy Reading!!
I'm Victoria, 25, from USA (I don't provide a state because I move a lot, but I am originally from South Carolina and that is where I consider home). Currently, I am going through a transition period in my life. I spent many years in school studying Oceanography but I left school three semesters into a Master's program. For several reasons, primarily my ethics and principles clashed with the practices of my former university and second I am burned out. Which has led me to decide to possibly change fields - maybe leaving research and focusing more on outreach/education or changing all together and working in a non-science oriented organization.
I joined Our Shared Shelf for several reasons (not in order of importance): (1) I find it difficult to find feminist literature that is insightful and not just manifesto-esque. (2) While, I have considered myself a feminist for quite some time I've recently decided I would like to do more research and impact on social justice issues - which have always interested me but I never had the time previously. (3) Out of the several groups I found Our Shared Shelf was the most active, diverse, inclusive, and thorough.
Crystal, have you always lived in a city? By the way, I love the Eurythmics and my mother was able to see them in concert.
~ Victoria.
Hi everybody! I just found out this post for introductions so, here I am. My name is Luna, I'm 25 years old, and I'm from Venice, Italy. I make jewels for a living, but my real ambition is to become a full time musician. As a drummer, I constantly have to fight against gender inequality, since here in Italy, girls who play drums are still few, and frequently objectified.
I found out about OSS browsing on the internet, started to read my first book out of curiosity, and then I decided to join the community, because I think it's great to have a place where discuss women's issues and gender inequality with people from all over the world, and I wanted to be able to share my opinions.
Hey, Luna! I believe I commented about your problem of gender inequality as an Italian drummer in the thread on our personal sexist experiences. On a different note, I once taught a lesson during student teaching about the sinking of Venice, and the students really connected based on our flooding experiences here in southeast Louisiana, USA. My name is Samantha, I am 29 years old as of this past June and live between Baton Rouge, LA and New Orleans. I have actually been on OSS a few months now but was lazy about doing an introduction. I am aspiring to teach either literature or social studies in middle school or high school hope and to one day publish a novel and maybe my poems.
I joined OSS after learning about it online. I have considered myself a feminist since probably high school. I believe that everyone should have the same opportunities in life as long as the work and dedication (and in some cases, talent required) is put in to earn the intended goal. No one should be taken less seriously than another based on factors such as sex, ethnicity, race, etc. I took a couple courses in college, specifically women and gender studies & gender and film, and I thoroughly enjoyed the discussions that ensued from topics which came up. I hope to open minds and hearts to different views of life through discussions about the books we read and other topics that come up. Emma Watson's speech at the UN spoke to me. I was happy that someone of influence pointed out that while LEGALLY equality is in most western countries, REALISTICALLY women and others face inequalities every day that cannot be proven. Also, many countries do not even have as much equality as others, and those citizens need their causes spoken for (books, discussions, and more) and fought for, too.
Our Shared Shelf
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 join this book club to explore different ideas about feminism and get suggestions of books on this topic.
I love to read and i considere myself a feminist.