Book Review - Web of Lies by Sarah Tate

How did I come into possession of this book?

I received this book in exchange for a review over at Jagged Edge reviews.  Usually non-fiction isn’t my first choice, but this story sounded interesting enough that I wanted to give it a try.

First Lines:
      “I am Sarah, and I was twenty nine years old when I made the decision to leave my hectic life in Berlin for a gentler way of life in Switzerland”  (Tate 1)

What is it about?

This book chronicles the true story of Sarah Tate, whom has fallen for a seemingly wealthy and successful older man.  After getting in way too deep by marrying him and having children she realizes that he is not all he appears to be on the surface and that most of his past and present that she believed about him is not true.

 
What did I think?

I wasn’t a huge fan of this book.  The story is somewhat interesting but I’m not sure if it was quite compelling enough to write a book about it.  I would possibly be more interested in a fictional book based on some true things that happened.  The writing was just ok, but whenever there was dialogue there were way too many exclamation points, and it almost made the characters seem unreal.  One thing I did enjoy was that it opened up my eyes to Narcissistic Personality Disorder, which is something I didn’t really know about.  Suddenly I was seeing narcissistic tendencies in many people I knew, even in myself. 

Who would I recommend it to?

I’d recommend this to someone who is a fan of non-fiction and doesn’t necessarily need a well rounded story with plot twist and turns.  If just the thought that this really happened to someone is enough to keep you interested and reading you’d probably enjoy this book.  Also if you’re interested in mental disorders, particularly ones that might not be obvious at first like NPD, I’d recommend this book.

Book Review - Angels Chimps and Tater Mitts by Mike Ball

How did I come into possession of this book?
I received this book in an exchange for my review over on Jagged Edge reviews (this will be my first book I got from them to review!).  I liked the synopsis and thought it sounded like a fun read (not to mention the author is form Ann Arbor, total bonus points for me!).

What is it about?
This book is a collection of what I think was at one point a newspaper column.  It’s a bunch of short snippets/stories about his life, his opinion on things, or a story he has been told.  Each chapter is short and to a point making it a very easy book to pick up, open to any chapter, and enjoy reading for a couple minutes.  Some of the stories were humorous while others were touching and then there some that were just plain interesting.

What did I think?
I enjoyed all the short quirky stories in this book, if there was one I didn’t like as much I could easily head another page or two and pick up a new one.  The only bad thing was that I was trying to finish the book quickly so I could review it, if it were up to me this would be a great book to just pick up every now and then and read a few chapters.  It’s a nice change in between long novels, and it doesn’t hurt that some of the stories were about Michigan and Ann Arbor!

Who would I recommend it to?
Someone with a short attention span and doesn’t like to get involved with long books.  Or someone who doesn’t have a lot of time to read, this is great because each chapter grabs your attention quickly and it’s over before you know it and you can get back to whatever other important things you have going on in your life.