Rachel

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 I'd like to see a newer version of this with the more modern villians.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.

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.

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.

Nothing really extraordinary happened in this issue. The princess must escape the guards and she decides which sister to rescue. setting up for the next issue.

Well, tried to give it a chance, but this book is ridiculous and a waste of time. Terrible grammar.... curses in every other sentence (to be expected)... drugs in every other sentence.... (not surprising).... “Aliens have drained you....”.... yup... aliens.... Steven clearly lives in an alternate reality. He should stick to music, not book writing.

I would give this 3.5 stars.

Fairytale in the ancient world is a scholarly nonfiction book that looks at the the connections between modern fairy tales and ancient folk tales/mythology. Broken down, it's fascinating to see how stories like Cinderella, Snow White, and rapunzel all have ties to more ancient stories. The locations may differ but key parts of the story remain the same (Cinderella stories always center around someone who was wronged or downcast, they recieve help from a mythial creature/friend, they attend a ball of some fashion, and they get a happy ending. Sometimes they also get revenge on the people who originally wronged them.)

So why only 3.5 stars? The book is very scholarly. It's well researched, but at times was drab and hard to read. Many of the names started blending together. I often found myself saying “Who are they talking about now?” I'm not as well versed in folk tales as I thought I was. Many segments ended up going over my head. I had no point of reference. Additionally, the language is very scholarly, which makes it harder to read. Between the names and the grammar, it grew to be more of a challenge than an enjoyment.

Regardless, I found the original subject fascinating, and was surprised to see the connections between some classic fairy tales and ancient myths. It goes to show that we really don't know much about the topic at all. I'd love to see more research done on this, but written in a slightly easier to read format.

This was an unpleasant reminder that the actor and the character are two separate people.

I grew up with Boy Meets World. I loved Mr. Feeney. I'd you're looking for stories about his days on set, look elsewhere. It is such a small part of this book. This book focuses on William Daniels ENTIRE life.

I was surprised to find out He was a child actor. Trained to sing and dance as a child, he was constantly paraded from school to performances. He did not have a normal childhood. Most of his life was abnormal. How he continued to succeed is beyond me.

How he succeeded to find, marry and stay with his wife is beyond me.

How people hired him with his negative attitude and gruff demeanor is beyond me. Maybe that's what made him stand out, he was willing to say no. Based on this book, I'd say his success came from riding the coattails of his successful wife. I honestly think he held her back many times in life. She should be the well known name. It's her book I should be reading.


Despite my now altered opinion on the actor and author, the book was alright. It was full of details. The first chapters were rather interesting. Around the middle it finally started to drag. I had hoped Mr. Daniels grew humble with his later life. Instead i felt he still had this elitest attitude. Still, the chapters were well written for a celebrity autobiography. Knowing what I now know of the author, I'd say read the chapters of his childhood, then donate the book when you get to his teen years.

A wonderful collection of tales from Europe, the middle east, and Asia. These aren't the traditional “disney” fairy tales that have become so popular. Yes, many have happy endings, but these are traditional fairy tales that contain a point. Help the needy, don't betray your family, have patience, etc. Almost all the stories contain a note of origin, which enhanced their authenticity.

This is a top notch coffee table book. Whether you're looking for a solid read on animation, or solely interested in the images, there's plenty of both.

I really enjoyed the behind the scenes images from Disney Studio as well as the various storyboards. The art and styling is a delight. Even though they're rough sketches, you can feel the character's movement. They nearly jump off the page. The imagery itself gets 5 stars.

The story (wording) was a little bogged down. Text parts of this book delve through individual biographies and paint Disney studios on this golden pedestal. Yes, they are a renowned company and have made a drastic impact on both films, stories, and every day life. But they are not the only storyboard studio, nor the only animation studio. I took most of the wording with a grain of salt. Eventually I gave up on the wording (something it appears many other readers also did), and focused solely on the imagery. The imagery is the real selling point, but there's enough wording to keep a person occupied while they're waiting for something.

marking DNF and not giving a star rating. It's essentially a dictionary but all the words are put into sentences. Great for understanding concepts and how words relate (specifically in finance), but just don't have time for this right now.

This book summarizes all the things you need to do in order to start a real estate business. You still need to do a lot of research and work to be successful. This is just a nice overview

This version combines multiple tellings of Aladdin and Sinbad. I liked that they included the genie of the ring. It was a key point of the story excluded from the famous Disney film. I found the story itself to be jumpy and underdeveloped. The imagery was well done but a bit dark for my taste. I thought it didn't mesh with the story of Aladdin. It reminded me more of The Prince of Persia or Assassin's Creed.

I would have liked to see more character development or a longer story. There was room to improve.

What a cute collection of stories.

The Light Princess is about a princess who is light as a feather and has no worries or troubles. If she's not held down, she will fly away. She finds solace in the lake where she swims each night.

The Giant's Heart is about two siblings who wander into giantland. Similar to Jack and the Beanstalk, the female giant is kind while the man is mean. He eats little children as snacks. The siblings devise a plan to find the giant's heart and save the other children.

The Golden Key features two children that wander into fairyland. The boy finds a golden key. Along the way they meet a variety of creatures searching for where the key belongs.

DNF at 38% (ebook)

For such a short book (just over 200 pages), I found this book to be incredibly long.

The book starts off with a young girl outside the fort who happens upon a native american girl. What will happen? Will the become friends? Will they get caught? This seems like it's going to be an good story! Well, who knows what happens to these two because then it switches to other characters and life at the fort. We're given some backstory on fort life, the landscape, army rotations (were they considered army then? There's a corporal so I assume so). The descriptions were excellent. I was instantly whisked away into Arizona fort living in the 1800s. For that I give it 5 stars.

So why the DNF?
Simply, the story jumped around too much. Yes, I was instantly transported to that time period, but the story was too jumbled. I had a hard time following the timeline and what was happening. I felt like I had experienced fort life by the 20% mark and wouldn't get too much more out of it by continuing the book.

I was expecting the characters to at least act a little like themselves. They all act like hyper, over excited teenagers. These are more sarcastic looks into the daily lives of the princesses. Some are short 3 frame comics. Others take up a few pages. Overall, not very engaging and not that funny. I read through 3 issues before solidifying my stance on these.


And not sure who the intended audience is. Maybe teenagers? I don't think little kids would really enjoy it. Mainly cause I don't think they'd get the jokes.

A well researched and well written account on the Ghost Festival. I began with limited knowledge about Chinese history, beliefs, and traditions yet was able to read this without difficulty. I found the evolution of Mu-lien's story rather fascinating. In the beginning he is an ordinary son who tries to atone for the sins of his mother, who has died and turned into a hungry ghost. As the decades pass, Mu-lien begins a close relationship with the buddha. He implores Buddha to help his mother and release her from her torments. Eventually Mu-lien's character journeys into hell (similar to Dante's Inferno) to rescue his mother. Along the way he sees the many levels and torments in hell.

The author explores not only the history of mu-lien, but touches on ancient Chinese society and the rise of religion in the culture. He also discusses how the festival brought the culture together, yet also kept it separate.

I was expecting the characters to at least act a little like themselves. They all act like hyper, over excited teenagers. These are more sarcastic looks into the daily lives of the princesses. Some are short 3 frame comics. Others take up a few pages. Overall, not very engaging and not that funny. I read through 3 issues before solidifying my stance on these.


And not sure who the intended audience is. Maybe teenagers? I don't think little kids would really enjoy it. Mainly cause I don't think they'd get the jokes.

The illustrations are beautiful. Absolutely 5 stars. (though some of the proportions were off on the mermaids)

The story itself was clever. I thought it could be cleaned up just a little bit. The wording seemed too advanced for preschool/early gradeschool. I would have preferred 2-3 more pages. Why is there SO MUCH sea glass? Have the mermaids cried that much? What about the mermaid who was too young to help? Could she have helped?

I was expecting the characters to at least act a little like themselves. They all act like hyper, over excited teenagers. These are more sarcastic looks into the daily lives of the princesses. Some are short 3 frame comics. Others take up a few pages. Overall, not very engaging and not that funny. I read through 3 issues before solidifying my stance on these.


And not sure who the intended audience is. Maybe teenagers? I don't think little kids would really enjoy it. Mainly cause I don't think they'd get the jokes.

Princess of the Wild Swans is loosely based on the tale The Wild Swans by Hans Christen Anderson.

There were some nice original parts to this version, but it also had many problems.

Highlights:
- the princess stays in her kingdom during quest to break the spell and save her brothers/father/people.
- fun cast of characters
- not too long. Good for an afternoon read and fun for kids.

Lowlights:
- The princess is 12 yet some of her thoughts/actions/responses are more in line with an older teenager. It almost felt like she started this for an older audience then was told to take it down a few levels.
- The spell only lasted a few weeks. (in the original tale it took 7 years)
- The princess had help gathering the nettles (again, in the original tale she had to do it all herself)
- The princess could speak telepathically to others (again, cheap cop out.)
- Lots of extra plotlines that were never resolved (more information about faerie would have been nice. And a reuinion with the guard would have been good too).

Overall, it was a cute fun read, but it really missed the mark on the original tale. This book is a fluffier, friendlier version of the original tale. What I loved about the original was the girl's dedication to her brothers. For 7 years she had to stay silent. 7 years of plucking needles, spinning thread, making shirts. And at the end she's nearly burned at the stake. It's such a powerful story of devotion. This story had very little of that. Yes, she loved her brothers, but it just wasn't the same.

Fish Girl is about a seaside attraction ran by Neptune, god of the sea. He owns a 3 floor house with an aquarium that runs the height of the house. Inside it is a mermaid. One day a girl spots the mermaid, and they become friends. That is when the mermaid starts to piece everything together. Maybe people aren't who they claim to be and maybe there is more to the world than her little tank.

I thought this was a perfect little read. It only took about an hour and is full of delightful illustrations. For a graphic novel, I thought they writing was fine. If you're accustomed to regular novels, then yes, this might be disappointing. Having already read a number of disappointing graphic novels, I found this one rather complete.

Well that was a dud. I thought it had been written in the early 2000s when everyone was fascinated with dual timelines, old letters and lost loves. Then I could have forgiven it. Instead it was written in 2015. That means it had over a decade to read all the other identical stories before being written. If you like the premise, just watch Letters to Juliet with Amanda Seyfried. It's a very similar plot and you can finish it in just under 2 hours.

I'm amazed how many fairy tales/folk tales/wonder stories there are in this world.

First of all, the description of this book gives the wrong impression. Bee: The Princess of the Dwarves is the tale of two children. They grow up together as brother and sister. One day, they sneak away from their guards/nannies/whatever you want to call them. George is abducted by some water sprites, while Bee is “rescued”/abducted by the Dwarves. The story mainly focuses on Bee, but also circles back to George. Even without seeing each other for 6-7 years, they develop this unrivaled desire/passion/love for the other. Considering they grew up as siblings, it's a bit bizare. Plus, the passion seems to come out of nowhere.

I did find the story original and cute. It's a fast read. The style reminded me of The Princess and the Goblin and The Princess and Curdie by George Macdonald.

This is NOT a bad book, but it's not as easy as others make it out to be.

Most people will pick up a “fairy tale” book because they have kids or want an easy read. Most kids will be bored by this book. Just being honest. The stories are long winded and can take awhile to get to the point. That doesn't mean they are bad. They're actually really enjoyable stories. You just have to be prepared to spend some time reading them.

Now to the point... Wonder Tales is a collection of “fairy” tales told in the french court. They called them “wonder tales” in france because not all stories involved fairies. I actually liked this aspect. I've read numerous “fairy tales” and find the label quit limiting. Folk tales, tall tales, wonder tales, fables.. You get the picture. The labels just depend on the region.

These wonder tales are a blend of famous fairy tale tropes. Enchantments, hidden identities, strange bridegrooms/bedfellows, curses, etc. Each carries out a little aspect of french society. It's easy to imagine a group of people spending the afternoon together reciting one of these stories. The stories would be enjoyable to both fairy tale enthusiasts and history buffs. But again, I do think children will be bored by these stories. There are also some elements that parents may not want their children exposed to. For those reasons, I would recommend the book to anyone 14+.

I enjoyed this book. I've been reading (at least attempting) multiple other investing books. They start off good, but quickly become too technical. This book is much simpler. It's like having a handy Q & A book on what to do. It wont tell you everything, but it is a nice introduction to investing. It gives you a sense of the concepts and the whys behind each action.

If you're looking for a serious and thorough how-to guide, this isn't it. If you're clueless about investing and need a place to start, then this is a good book for you.

I do recommend taking the book slowly. This way you have time to absorb each of the chapters. And keep it handy for reference. There are some concepts that kept going over my head. I'm already planning to re-read this to fully understand the concepts.