Member Reviews
I love me a list of powerful women, so when I saw this available for request I had to immediately check it out. Loving seeing all the women of color in this book. A great gift book for girls or your mother.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read an ARC of this book.
I always like to know how other women navigate their lives. I am so glad that periodically someone like Ms. Sallis thinks to pull together information from successful women that seemingly have done well with their time and their obligations.
This book is a quick read. Some of it is fascinating and some not so much. It is organized by question rather than by theme which didn't quite work for me. But I still finished with a lot of admiration and some tips on how to apply new insights into my life.
I really enjoyed the responses to the thoughtful questions in this book, but thought that dividing the chapters by questions rather than interview subjects made the reading experience less fluid, since I was jumping from different individuals every paragraph. I also would have loved a brief bio at the beginning of each woman as I was not previously familiar with everyone who was interviewed.
I was intrigued by title as I am a secretary. Much more interesting than my job though..great read. Liked the character of Christine
A great gift and a book that can be read in one go or used as an inspirational book to dip in and out of. I loved reading about the achievements and challenges of some amazing women.
In this empowering book, 40 amazing women who have exerted an influence on others in many different ways discuss their work, their achievements, their hopes and their fears, offering women everywhere inspiration and optimism for the future through their fascinating explanations of what they have achieved.
Featuring household names and lesser known figures, this piece of inspirational literature is a must read for every sex.
Simple yet powerful! This would be a good book for a teen or for someone who’s going through a hard time. Can read all at once or slowly in bits.
I really enjoyed reading the perspectives of different, powerful women on a variety of questions. The faith chapter was particularly intriguing for me - I enjoyed reading about how a variety of these women incorporated faith and spirituality into their journeys.
Yes! We need more collections of words of wisdom from strong women and books that demonstrate the power the women have and why they are crucial members of society. This book was a breath of fresh air and should be included on every bookshelf and read by everyone. I loved how easy it is to see --with this book-- how important women are and how influential they have been.
This is a book that posses meaningful questions to the most influential female minds in our time. 40 different women come together to reflect on what these questions mean to them. Not only are these woman different in their careers but also in race, age, experience, and nationality.
Not all opinions expressed are similar some have opinions that are at odds with one another which just goes to show the diversity of the women writing.
I have scored this book low for one reason only. I have recently read Zoe Sallis's Our Stories, Our Dreams. There was no indication that this was practically the same book. The blurb did mention that it was ten years since Our Stories, Our Dreams had been published but nowhere did it lead me to think of Voices of Powerful Women as an anniversary publication. I expected it to be a reinvestigation on the changes that may have occurred since Our Stories, Our Dreams.
Though I can not say that every entry apers in both books, there were enough repeats to make me find the book boring.
I do prefer the cover art on this book but that still isn't enough to redeem it for me.
I think I would have rated this book much higher if I had not first read Our Stories, Our Dreams.
I felt Voices of Powerful Women and Our Stories, Our Dreams were one in the same. I would probably buy Voices of Powerful Women over Our Stories, Our Dreams because I like the cover more but I would see it as a waste of money to buy both.
I'm sure had I read this first my ratings would be switched and this would have got the hight rate but it was just publicised wrong.
Zoe Sallis has compiled a collection of powerful words in her new book Voices of Powerful Women. The book works by asking ten questions of 40 interviewees. Some are funny, some insightful, and some rather telling. Early experiences, great fears, sources of anger, and influences are addressed by Nobel Peace Prize winners, actors, leaders, musicians, and humanitarians in an attempt to encourage younger women.
The book features the following powerful women: Isabel Allende, Christiane Amanpour, Maya Angelou, Hanan Ashrawi, Joan Baez, Benazir Bhutto, Mary Kayitesi Blewitt, Emma Bonino, Shami Chakrabarti, Jung Chang, Kate Clinton, Marie Colvin, Marion Cotillard, Severn Cullis-Suzuki, Carla Del Ponte, Judi Dench, Shirin Ebadi, Tracey Emin, Jane Fonda, Tanni Grey-Thompson, Dagmar Havlová, Swanee Hunt, Bianca Jagger, Nataša Kandić, Kathy Kelly, Martha Lane Fox, Dame Ann Leslie, Professor Wangari Maathai, Mairead Maguire, Mary McAleese, Soledad O'Brien, Sinéad O'Connor, Yoko Ono, Mariane Pearl, Kim Phuc, Paloma Picasso, Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, Paula Rego, Louise Ridley, Mary Robinson, Jody Williams.
Voices of Powerful Women is now available from Watkins Publishing.
I’m really glad I came across this book as it was such a fascinating read.
It was so interesting to hear from the different women their perspective on topics and recommendations however the book didn’t feel a ‘heavy’ read as it asked a range of questions and the answers all completely differed. It definitely made me think and I found myself talking a lot about the book and the different opinions. I would have liked to have seen a few more sentences from some of the contributors as they gave very limited responses compared to others but overall I thought the book was great and would recommend.
A review in phrases:
Pros:
The selection of women from all over - a truly diverse set of voices compared to many other books I have seen;
Loved the concept itself
Enjoyed and appreciated the brief biographies of the included women
Cons:
The layout of the book - arranging it by question rather than the person makes the reading of the book soulless; clumping (yes, it does seem like clumping) all the answers from these inspiring women for each question together makes for disjointed reading; if the book had been arranged by the women answering each of the 8 questions asked there would have been a flow more natural and contextual. the included biographies could have been either at the beginning of the book or if layout by women, then bio followed by the complete interview of each woman would have made the book wonderful to read
so overall 3 stars
content and concept - 5 stars
layout /presentation of content - 2 stars
Disclaimer: thank you to NetGalley for the digital review copy of this book.
So so inspiring a book to read discuss share with friends would be excellent for a woman’s study class.Highly recommend will be gifting to friends. #netgalley#watkinspublishing.
This book was absolutely awe inspiring and an awesome insight from all the women who contributed. I think this would be a perfect book for a women's studies class but also just to read for just inspirational womanhood and women in general.
Voices of Powerful Women – what more explanation do anyone need? This book identifies as self-understood.
This book is as simple as the title indicates – there are 10 questions asked. Not less than 40 women answer these questions with their own answers, their own knowledge and their own beliefs. But they are no ordinary women. They are some exceptional women who fought their way in this world and also became someone recognized worldwide.
But this does not end here. These women are so diverse that you can feel every single personality trait that they bear. And at the same time, they seem to be driven by the same similarity in the way of thinking: they all believe in an equal, peaceful and resourceful world.
All those incredible women tried to make the world a better place because they understood that this world is more than themselves. In order to achieve a common goal, one must understand that there is no individualism in the world. And those selfless women understood it better than the rest of us who still struggle to comprehend.
It is a powerful book, filled with true thoughts of true women who believe in better causes.
I must admit that reading this book I had moments when my brain kept saying „Amen, sister!” because the words I was reading were so very true. But what made my hair raise on my body was, indeed, reading some short things about those forty women at the end of the book. Their achievements, pointed out in a couple of words, made me get goosebumps and I think this is fantastic. It is a target set and achieved.
I was given an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This read made me feel empowered and inspired. I liked reading about the women overcoming their challenges and working towards their achievements.
All the women were very insightful and thoughtful and I enjoyed reading each of their responses to the questions that were asked.
I think that the formatting was a bit confusing but other than that, it was an interesting read that made me think more deeply about my answers to the questions.
The women that were in the book were fascinating to read about and throughout the book, I found myself looking many of them up for more information about them.
I usually like books with a storyline but some of the things in this really resonated with me.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I just finished reading this book and I very much enjoyed hearing the different voices of many amazing women and their stance on common and complicated issues that are going on in the world. The women included in "Voices of Powerful Women" are that, in fact, powerful. I did think that it could have been organized a little better, and I believe that organizing the book by the women instead of putting them in some kind of random order would have been a lot more pleasant to read. While I did find the book enjoyable, I also found it to be put together a little messily. I think if the book was a little more organized it would have been better.
Whenever I look around I see books about powerful women, inspiration for young girls, feminism, equality etc. etc. Whilst it has been a great joy to see this development in literature in recent years, I feel there are now simply too many essay-type books and it begins to feel repetitive. Many of the books offer style over substance and not much else.
Whilst "Voices of Powerful Women" was a quick and easy read, it did not inspire me. Yes, I love Jane Fonda and respect Carla Del Ponte, but I do not care what books or music inspired Bianca Jagger... Eclectic selection of interviewees.
"Worldwide equity? I don't think so. There's too much greed."
- Mary Kayitesi Blewitt
If you are interested in thoughts of millions of strong women who took action in their own hands, I cannot recommend enough "The Unwomanly Face of War" by Svetlana Alexievich (a Nobel Prize for Literature laureate).
With thanks to NetGalley for a free copy of the book.
This is a great book to dip in and out of. I particularly enjoyed reading this at night just before going to sleep as the women interviewed had such knowledge to impart that I often fell asleep with something interesting to consider and ponder.
I did have to research who some of the interviewees were because it wasn't immediately apparent as I was making my way through the book. This activity alone made for some interesting rabbit holes to delve into and it was great to read about women I haven't heard of rather than the obvious powerful women who usually come to mind.
I would recommend this to all ages and genders. Some really fascinating insights and great to pick up at the end of a long day.