Rachel
At the halfway point I've decided to throw in the towel.
The premise of this book sounds incredible, but the execution is poor. The content continuously jumps around, and the author's arguments are lacking in substance. Just when he'd be starting to prove a point, he would switch topics before making a solid argument.
I must give credit for finding such an extensive amount of fairy tale films/shows but the end result was sloppy, and dull to read. The only reason I would re-visit this book would be for the 35 page listing of all the films/shows/tv specials referenced in the book.
Twenty Two Goblins is an ancient Indian folk tale similar to One Thousand and One Nights. In this story a king is asked to retrieve a dead body from a goblin's tree. In the process, the king captures the goblin and is told a series of stories. Each story end in a riddle, which the king must answer correctly. The stories are similar to other ancient folk/fairy tales. There is love at first sight, magical worlds, princesses, kings, magic, etc. Some stories are light hearted while others are darker. Each corresponds to a cultural or religious belief (OF THAT TIME). The son should give his life for his father, the servant must support his king, the woman must be faithful to her lover, etc.
There are some antiquated beliefs in this story that would not be appropriate for children (speaking specifically of a story that features self sacrifice of a 7 year old). Instead I would recommend this book for a college course on ancient Indian cultures, or ancient folk tales.
The story is available via the public domain here.
This book is beneficial for two types of people:
1. A man learning war or ancient Japanese fighting techniques.
2. A business man in the corporate world or a politician who is looking to rise up the ranks.
The book can be taken literally as a way to master ancient samurai techniques, or it can be taken metaphorically on how to manage business or political deals. In summary, the weapon's (words, or literal weapons) effeciveness all depends on the scenario, the location, the opponent's numbers, the opponents skills. If you bring a bow an arrow to a swordfight you will lose. Likewise, if you're very aggressive in a more conservative setting, you will once again lose. You must know your situation, your opponent, and make the best choices to succeed.
I give this 3 stars because it could be updated.
This was a great little collection of the Disney Villains. It only goes up to Aladdin/Jafar. It is full of fascinating sketches from the creative process. The images alone are worth a flip through. I'd like to see a newer version of this with the more modern villians. For it's time it's a nice little afternoon read/flip.
A lost city. A missing explorer. This book screams for instant success.
Instead I'm shelving it at the 100 page mark. The premise is interesting, but the execution was surprisingly poor. It kept alternating between nonfiction and fiction style writing. True enough, the author did an incredible amount of research for the Faucet portion. It was the author's own chapters of his adventure that bored me. I would have enjoyed this much more if the story of faucet had been at the beginning and the author's story followed suit. Jumping between the two timelines was confusing and made it difficult to get into. I am still intrigued by faucet's journey and would love to see a movie based upon it. Sadly this book just needed to be shelved.
My review is broken down by topic:
Writing style: * - Not bad. It's early 1900's style writing. I have read two other books by H.G. Wells and enjoyed them. Started off slow, but still readable. Characters: ** - Under developed, but unsurprising for the time. I wanted to punch the main character. He could speak their language in less than 3 days? and found a love interest? and do all these other fantastical things? Yes, I get it, it's sci-fi, but what an infuriating man and completely illogical character. It reminded me too much of the father in Swiss Family Robinson (another horrible “classic” book) Plot Movement: - Started at **, grew up to *** near the end. Overall a ** plot speed. Plot: ** - Could have elaborated a lot more. Personally, I prefer to have the action happen in the present. Knowing from early on that the time traveler makes it back alive took away some of the excitement from the plot. Based on the time this was written, it was probably fascinating.
Overall: the second half of the book was very fast paced. I loved the pacing. H.G. Wells can build up a plot pretty well. The main character was infuriating, and the whole concept of time travel is preposterous. Still, it greatly impacted future books, films and tv shows. I have to give it credit for it's impact on society. Overall, it was a decent read, but not a book I would re-read or give space to on my shelf. (No, I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. It was a middle of the road classic for me)
I started The Picture of Dorian Gray over a year ago. After nearly 100 pages I grew bored and shelved it. Since then it has been taunting me on Goodreads. How could a book so small be so hard to read? Was it bad? No, but like most classics you just need to be in the right mood to read it. The language is usually older, thus taking more concentration to read.
This past week I switched to an audiobook version. I'm glad I did. It was much easier to understand. Instead of tripping up over word pronunciations, I let the author's narration guide me through the unknown words. I actually really enjoyed this narration and found the voice to fit the character of Dorian. Slightly hoity, yet elegant. Bravo to the narrator for doing such an excellent portrayal.
Overall I enjoyed the story. It is at times slow, but carries a deeper message. Looks are one thing, but one's actions carry a deeper weight. I'm glad I finally finished it.
Well, that was disappointing. I've had this book on my to-read list since it was first announced. A retelling of Beauty and the Beast set in Nazi Germany? I was intrigued. It took nearly 2 years to find out a way to order it from Australia. My anticipation was high.
Unfortunately there were so many things wrong with this. First, the love at first sight was ridiculous. She loved her husband, but wouldn't trust him with anything. I understand times were tough, but some honesty would have been good for them. Many of their interactions were utterly ridiculous and to be completely frank I hated both of them. No, not fair, I tolerated Leo, but I kept wishing someone would drop a bomb on Ava and end it already.
I will give Kate Forsyth props on her research. The war was terrible, and she captured the unfair atrocities of the war. Many of the scenes were shocking, and heart wrenching. It was really the actions and personalities of the main characters (and main secondary characters) that compelled me to give this such a low rating.
Most people have heard of The Shining. If you haven't heard of the book, you've heard of (or seen) the film with Jack Nicholson and Shelly Long.
For years I've shied away from Stephen King. Some people would call his work twisted, or insane. Others would call him brilliant. I figured it was time to decide for myself.
First off, Stephen King's writing is not for everyone. I had previously read Under the Dome and parts of A Bizarre of Bad Dreams, so I had a general idea of his style. It is generally blunt and bold. For example: instead of quickly saying there is a dead body in the tub, Mr. King goes into detail about the bloated body. I will admit, it was disturbing, but the novel itself is meant to be disturbing! A great horror novel walks the line between the real and the uncomfortable. The success or failure depending on timing within the novel.
The Shining walks that line perfectly. It plays on the familiarity of a hotel and hope for something better, while playing on the fears of ghosts, isolation and possession. It is an uncomfortable read that I couldn't put down. I don't often re-read novels, but this is one I would certainly revisit when I'm in need of a good fright.
Did you ever watch Lost? If not, here's a summary: A group of people on a plane crash onto an island. There are multiple casualties. Then the remainder of the town must band together to survive. Then some people get greedy, some try to establish authority, some just want to know what's going on. They start trying really hard to get off the island, more things happen. We get small filler plotlines for various characters. We get views into their life before landing on the island. People turn on each other. Then it is all wrapped up into a pretty poor ending.
How does this tie in with Under the Dome? Well, in all honesty, it felt just like lost. It started off with an excellent first season (or first few hundred pages). There are casualties, people try to set up a structure within the town. Panic ensues. We get side stories for characters we don't really care about. They start to panic about never getting out of this dome. What about if supplies all dissapear? Lots of slow, tedius chapters in the middle (although I admit they brought some realism into the book). Then an explanation for the dome. Oh, what's that? It's supernatural? Just like Lost?? SHOCKER. Then the ending comes, it starts to build up the tension and suspense again. Then, wow, all wrapped up nice and neat in a little bow. puke
This was my first full length Stephen King novel, and I have to admit I'm disappointed. It started out so strong, dragged in the middle, then had a pretty poor ending. I don't want to say too much without giving away spoilers, but seriously?? That's the ending? The only other Stephen King works I'm familiar with are The Shining (watched the movie), IT (watched the movie), and The Bizarre of Bad Dreams (collection of short stories). The first two both ended with the good guys finally beating the bad guy or monster in the end. This one too, has survivors. The short stories don't all have “happy” endings. I always assumed, with the realism of Mr. King's writings, that there would be realistic endings. Under the Dome was realistic to a point. The ending had TONS of realistic moments, but frankly, I wish everyone had died in the dome. To me, that would have been a satisfactory ending. Instead, the fact that people survived felt too campy. Just like Lost, when everyone reunited. It just wasn't what I expected.
This book (while extremely short) was a DNF (did not finish).
It has a great message to it, especially tying in the story of the author's WWII horrors with stories of gardening. I actually wanted to like it, and skimmed for the parts about her uncle. Those were fascinating. But the writing was horrible.... Have you ever heard a hippie speak? That traditional “love the trees, god is good. I don't like complete sentences but live in another world cause i'm high outta my mind”. Well that's the voice that tells this story. Again, the story itself was good and very interesting, but the hippie speak killed it for me.
A Little Princess is the story of Sara Crew, a young girl who grew up in India, but is sent to live at a girl's boarding school while her father is away. She lives in the life of luxury, and is given anything her heart desires. Suddenly, she receives some dreadful news and her entire world turns upside down.
Despite the hardships, Sara never looses her kind nature, nor her imagination. She tells stories to the other girls at the school, and shares her meals when she has hardly any. She is a very inspiring little girl.
Prior to reading this, I had seen the 1995 film adaptation of the book. I loved the original film. The wonder, the imagination, and even the plot. The original story was equally as enjoyable. It is truly a classic that has withstood the test of time and deserves to stay a classic.
For anyone interested, the reasons Sara's father leaves her are different between the book at the movie. As such, the endings are also different. I loved both endings equally, and think they are perfect endings for their formats.
Let's face it, Carrie is an honest, funny, and usually blunt woman. She curses, and tells it like it is. It was rather short, and while I laughed multiple times, it wasn't my favorite celebrity memoir. I was actually a bit disappointed. Aside from the crass language, and blunt format, the book felt more like a “shocker” novel than a classic biography. It felt like all of her stories were being told in a format to out do one another, and to make you feel some pity for Carrie.
This is an excellent book that breaks down habits into the causes, the effects, and the abilities to change them. It provides numerous real life examples of how habits have helped people change their lives, and how habits have destroyed lives.
In addition to the causes and effects, it builds upon the message that habits can be changed. Better yet, it teaches you how to identify those habits AND how to change those habits for the better!
one example:
habit: you eat candy every day.
note: what happens right before you eat the candy?
result: you eat one every day at 10 am.
why?: it's likely you're hungry.
now what?: bring an apple to your desk. At 10 am, eat the apple. Same sugar fix, more filling and healthier option.
new habit: over time you'll stop going for the candy and start going for the apple.
This was an example from the book (summarized of course). Habits dont happen overnight. In fact, they can take months, or even years to implement. It is about sticking with those habits, analyzing the patterns from your bad habits and believing in yourself that you CAN change them!
I have not yet seen the movie, nor watched Feud. This is a suspensful, heart pounding, page turner with excellent timing. It reads like a movie. I am now excited to see the movie, and hope it lives up to the book. I think it will. While not completely 5 stars, I only had a few small critiques. They were not enough to warrant making it 4 stars.
Think and Grow Rich was originally written in 1937 and is a culmination of the studies of the time's richest people. It has some great advice for the beginner, and includes some helpful stories of how to apply the principles. Many times it tells you to circle back and reread certain chapters. Ideally, the book wants you to study itself and master the ideas in each chapter. It wants to be a textbook for your successful life. Problem is, it's now 2017. 80 years has passed. Some of the tips are still beneficial, but others are older, outdated techniques that would not work in today's environment. One could argue I'm not keeping an open mind. I would say they're being blinded by the advice of someone from 80 years ago.
This was not the easiest book to read. The writing is rich in vocabulary. It makes progression slow. I expect there to be other books that cover the same principles in modern terminology. Aside from the language, it's still a good, short book to jumpstart your mind and prepare it for higher levels of success. Even if you don't capitalize on them, you'll be able to better recognize those traits and behaviors.
Great book. One that is full of little tidbits. I listened to this in one sitting. I feel it'd be beneficial to listen to multiple times. There is so much information in a short period of time. It actually reminded me of a really good 2 hour speaker, or professional development workshop. Take the time to read or listen to this. Even if it's only 5 minutes a day.
I have been reading 1-2 chapters of this book each week for the past two years. It it full of advice for the every day woman in corporate America. I have learned many insightful tips that I have started to incorporate into my work life. There were some chapters that didn't apply to me, but many held such helpful advice that I had to give this book 5 stars. Even though I've finished every chapter, I plan to continue reading 1-2 chapters a week and working on the advice she provides. I would encourage any woman (in a regular 9-5 job) to pick up this advice. Even if only 5 chapters apply to you, they could still be the 5 chapters that change your work life.