Introverted Bear

Let me summarize the book and spare you the misery: Millionaires tend to be entrepreneurs who save and invest money. They tend to buy "low-class" items instead of "high-class" items, i.e., Fords instead Rolls-Royce cars. Ok, done.

I don't like this book because it's very repetitive. Every chapter basically leads back to the thesis, "Millionaires live below their means!" Yep, I got that the first time. I also don't like this book because the authors seem to say, "It's so novel how millionaires live so frugally!" and worship them by erecting statues, except...maybe I exaggerated on that last part.

The authors try to point out that becoming a millionaire doesn't depend on your ethnicity, but depends more on what your parents taught you and your job choice. However, when you look at their data, most millionaires are not necessarily WASP, but they're still European, especially white and Middle Eastern. I particularly find the correlations between race and poverty to be interesting, but they don't mention that at all. They also don't compare the spending habits of a millionaire who makes $80,000+ to an average American who makes $25,000-$50,000 a year. The data may be a little outdated since it was written in 1996. I wonder if $80,000 is still enough to save and invest with.

The last few sections are interesting to me. I particularly find it interesting how siblings can act in two different ways. One sibling may never receive economic gifts and be okay with that, but the other sibling may need their parents' money to survive. Essentially, people can live in the same household yet turn out so differently.

Basically, this is a book about people who have a high-income and got the opportunity to save and invest money. If you're looking for financial advice, this is not the right book. If you want to learn about people who already have a lot of money, this is the right book.

I think I want to give this book more of a 2.5 star rating. I have mixed feelings about the book. On one hand, I loved reading this. On the other, I admit that the writing still was kind of, "Oh, well, thanks for telling me." So, let's break this down into categories.

My general reactions about reading: 4-stars
As I said before, I loved reading this book. I cannot tell you why, but something about it pulled me in and made me turn page after page. I was particularly interested in the real people that the characters were based on, so I frequently interrupted my reading to do some history research. I really like how the author included sources for readers to find more information. That was very kind of her. I may have to check out some of those books she recommended.

Daniel: 0.5-star
Here I am specifically signally out Daniel for a reason. To me, he seems whitewashed. The only reason I know he is Jewish is because he says, "I'm a Jew." I don't see any other references to Judaism or Jewish culture when Daniel is in the picture. It seems like someone who claims, "I'm Italian!" when he or she grew up in America, his or her family has been here for many generations, and the person follows more of an American culture than Italian. The person may have Italian genes, but culturally, the person is American. My point is...Daniel doesn't seem Jewish to me. Maybe that is the author's point, to make Daniel seem like any other German, but I wish there were more references to Jewish culture.

Love story: 1-star
If you like cheesy romance stories, then this love story deserves 5-stars. I do like the development of Gretchen and Daniel's relationship, but when they are actually together and actually in love...it is just too much. Their relationship starts off rocky and eventually grows a little over time, but one day she looks at him and says, "I'M TOTALLY IN LOVE WITH YOU IN EVERY WHICH WAY." Then I felt completely swallowed by a landslide of cheese. It is a very idealistic romance. It's not necessarily wrong; it's just not my preference.



Action (or things happening!): 5-stars
The plot keeps moving. Some things that happen make me think...WTF, but otherwise the scenes move pretty fast, and I like the pace.

Writing style: 1-star
I don't want to insult the author, but sometimes (by which, I mean a lot of the time) the writing does a lot of telling. This actually increases the pace of the book. However, sometimes it's nice to have a little bit more creative description of what's going on. I'm paraphrasing here, but basically a scene goes, "She turned around, and the general spun his gun in an arc. Then she ran." We hear a lot of her heartbeat. Poor heart...it must be extremely overworked. Some details are repeated frequently, and the way scenes are depicted seems limited. I realize writing is very hard to do, so I don't want to be too harsh. After all, I've never published a book, but as a reader, I expected a little bit more, especially given the ages of the characters, which reminds me.

Gretchen: 3-stars
I think Gretchen is a strong heroine because she tries her best to get involved. She may not do it in the smartest way, but I think she's also trying to find her path, which she may not exactly know at the end of the book. Well, she really doesn't know. That's why there's another book coming! Moving on, the thing that bothers me about Gretchen is that she acts young for her age. If I had to guess her age based on the book, I'd say she's around 14, but Gretchen is actually around 18-20, I believe. I get accused of acting like a kid a lot, so I can understand a character acting "young," but everything about Gretchen pretty much seems like a young teen instead of an older teen.

I don't think it's fair for me to rate this last bit, but the psychology kind of made me rolled my eyes. I know the author used the type of psychology that they used in book's historical time period, but it's definitely not the same in modern times anymore.

Overall, I'd like to say that even though I really enjoyed this book, based on the way I rated other books, I feel compelled to rate this one as a 2.5 book, mostly because of the simple writing style. However! I really am looking forward to the next book. I want to know what happens in Gretchen's future. I really hope she becomes a doctor.

I don't think this book is one of the best literary books in existence, and I'm not sure if I would recommend it to other people. However, I really did love reading this book. I read it way past my bedtime and could not put it down. "I'm just going to read for 30 minutes," I told myself. Yes, I read for 30 minutes x 4. Eh hem. However, I think there were good and not so good things about this book. Let's break it down into categories.

General Writing: 2 stars
I'm not sure how to explain why it's only 2 stars, but the writing just feels like it's 2 star writing. It's probably because of the description, and literally in two sentences back to back, the author just tells you what happens instead of dramatically building it.

Characters: 2 stars
The characters are really overdramatic and sometimes annoying. They also seem to be narrow-minded. I don't want to call them cardboard cutouts, but they could seem that way at times. Sometimes, I just wanted to slap them, especially Nefertiti.

World Building/Setting/something like that: 3 stars
I don't know much about Ancient Egypt, so the world building seems fairly decent to me. The main thing is I felt transported to another time period while reading this. Their world did not feel like my world.

Plot twist: 4 stars
I can't give away the plot twist since then you'd know the ending of the book. But it was pretty ironic to me. I enjoyed that part the most.

Feelings: 5 stars
I would give this book 5 stars because it actually made me feel. It also makes me think that I'm glad that I'm not an Egyptian queen and so glad that I was not born during that time period. I also could empathize with the characters even during long stretches of simple-mindedness.

If you want to read a random fluffy novel, this might be a good choice for you. If you want something deep and intellectually inspiring, maybe you should keep looking.

First off, I haven't read the book yet. I've only read the "manga."

Despite the characters looking too old for their ages, I do think the art is very beautiful. I think some of the action scenes are rushed. My favorite scenes are the ones with the hawks and the ones with the vet lady. Some more character development would have been nice, but that's rather hard to do with the space given to you in a manga.

I think I'd give the book more of a 2.5 rating.

I didn't like this book because it seemed to lack a focus. It was mostly written in a chronological order. However, I'm not sure what the focus was in the lives of Katherine and Juana. In the beginning, there seems to be no focus, but the book gains more of a focus as it progresses. I think it's an interesting read because it expands on two women who we've heard mentioned in school, but the way that the book explores the lives of those women is confusing.

As another Goodreads reviewer mentioned, there are sections where Fox says, "Maybe she felt this way. maybe she felt that way. We're not sure." In some paragraphs, the author completely takes back what she says previously. I know we can't be completely sure of something if it's not documented, but the way that the author writes "maybe--maybe not" frustrates me while reading. I think if the author is not sure, then he or she should mention it in passing and move on or perhaps leave it out in the first place. In the case of Katherine's virginity, which is important to the story, the "maybe--maybe not" trick is ok and even useful, but everywhere else, I think it was unnecessary.

It's a standard love story and also kinda cheesy.

I'm probably the wrong person to read and review this book since I'm not very emotional, but I did it anyway. I think this story was a nice fluffy read. I didn't particularly like Augustus. He was kind of eccentric. A lot of the story seemed too perfect. I don't think people would ever really be that nice in the Netherlands. How could everything be that perfectly coordinated?

And let's face it. If adults saw two teenagers kissing in public, they'd probably be grossed out. I don't think it's reasonable for them to clap for kids' kissing. That's the biggest issue I had. It didn't seem real.

While I do think J. K. Rowling did a great job creating Harry's world, I do find that most of the interactions and personalities of the characters come through dialog. While that isn't a bad thing, it does make the story weaker because Rowling didn't use all available resources to create her characters.

After rereading this, I realize why I didn't think it was all that great when I first read it. A lot of the story is passive, including lots of flashbacks and passive tense. Most of the plot occurs as points in time rather than continuous action. The story doesn't flow as you'd expect it to, and almost all of the sentences are simple. Even though it's written for children, I expected a bit more variety.

The only reason why I gave it a three was because despite it's flaws, Harry's story is still inspiring, as in it gives me ideas for my writing. Otherwise, I would have given it a two based on its style.

Edit: You guys can hate me for saying this, but when I read Harry Potter, the action seems fast pace and shallow. I'm not saying it's bad, but Rowling doesn't spend a lot of time on one section. She just keeps moving forward. It's probably a good pace to keep kids interested.

Edit (2018): I read this again, and I thought it was amazing and deserved five stars. Obviously, Harry Potter ages like a fine wine.

I really did like this book. I loved reading the first part, but in the second part, my brain had trouble suspending its disbelief.

This book felt like a roller coaster that had a really really high uphill ride. It's very much like, "We're going. And going. And going. And going. And going. And...are we at the top...?...Wait a minute. HOLY CRAP. WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE! AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

That being said, I usually don't like YA dystopia, but I enjoyed reading this book, and I can't wait to read the second one. Too bad I don't have it with me right now.

I think this was more of a 2.5 book. There is a lot of good information about rhetoric in this book. Leith makes tons of jokes, too, so he can keep you entertained. I just had a hard time following some of his writing though because sometimes when he inserts jokes, it interrupts the flow of the text.

I like the idea of the book. Fromm's theories about love make me think. It's a good start to thinking about relationships and how people relate to the world, but it's outdated since it was written in 1950-something.

I found it hard to follow sometimes. The words became jumbled and my mind zoned out. Otherwise, it's worth a read or at least a skimming.

It's not a bad book. It kept me entertained enough that I read it all the way through without stopping much unless I had to or got too tired. The main character, Griet, is neat and tidy most of the time, trying to keep things in order. She's quiet and well-composed, not adventure-going like most contemporary YA main characters. She seems to control and limit her feelings.

I didn't understand the characters' actions. I don't want to say the story was flat, but it was just the bare bones of Griet's life. Something was missing. That missing piece prevented me from understanding the motives of the characters.

Robert K. Massie makes Catherine the Great come to life as he traces her beginnings as the German Princess Sophia to her ending as Russian Empress Catherine II. He demonstrates their personalities through their actions as he describes their reactions to the circumstances around them.

The story itself is really long. Massie follows Catherine and her immediate family at first, mostly focusing on Catherine and her mother. Then as he expands on Catherine's life, he focuses on Empress Elizabeth and Peter, Catherine's husband. Next, he describes the personalities of Catherine's lovers and her relationships with foreign powers and her own people. He also describes how Catherine felt about herself and her policies. For the most part, Massie stays on topic and when he does stray, the tangents are mostly relevant. As the book progresses, however, the tangents seem less helpful. There are long passages of text from letters and journals, that while interesting to some people, the passages don't always add to the story of the book. The book would've been shorter if he only wrote about Catherine's life.

Catherine is depicted as a powerful woman calling the shots, and at the same time she's depicted as human. We watch her mistakes as she tries to keep what she thinks she's entitled to. It's interesting to notice that Catherine has her own ideas about how a country should be ruled but eventually falls back to the status quo. Her journey is worth a read for those who are interested in Russian history or in Court Life of royals.

There are maps and portraits of some of the countries and people that Massie mentions. All of the images are at the front of the book. It would've been nice if they were dispersed throughout the book, but that would've been more expensive for the publisher.

I really like this series for all the different dogs. I feel like I learn something new about canines in each volume.

Art-wise; I like all the dogs and each character is well-defined and different. I don't like the panty shots though. I think they're pretty unnecessary fan service.

Plot-wise: There's a few jokes here and there and Suguri is always a bit over dramatic. The reserved closed-off Minoru has been introduced, but I think his story line is a bit under-developed. I hope he comes back and we're allowed to explain his story some more. I'm tired of Suguri's innocence being sexuaized and sometimes her cutesy innocence can be annoying. I love the dogs though,so I'm going to continue the series.

I really liked this book. The main characters are pretty well-developed, but the romance between unmarried characters didn't make much sense. Although the perspective changes a lot, I feel like the changing perspectives allow you to get to know the characters better. I don't understand the point of the characters' association or relationships based on God, but it didn't really interfere with the story either. It was just there.

I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, it was easy and quick to read for me, but it does develop slowly. Most of the story is based on relationships and growing up. A young girl must find her place in a society that's filled with conspiracies. The book definitely has a postmodern feel in the sense that the society is depicted as fallen and immoral. The main character, Genevieve relies a lot on philosophy and reason.

While reading this, I seriously began to doubt society...Even though the story is set in the past, I feel like a lot of it is still true in modern times. I needed some happy feelings after reading this because the book sucked them all out of me.

There's not a definite ending to this story, and I don't think this book is suited to everyone. I think I'd only recommend it to heavy readers who like to think and who don't mind not having happy feelings everywhere. The ability to handle sadness and backstabbing is highly recommended.

Also, a side note: sometimes it's very hard to follow pronouns and what's going on the in the story, so I advise you to read carefully.