The Latest

SCIENCE FICTION

MYSTERIES & THRILLERS

NONFICTION

Popular Fiction

Ken Follett’s monumental saga of the First World War

Ken Follett’s monumental saga of the First World War

No one is still alive with any adult memory of World War I, which ended a century ago. So when we think of the events that have shaped the world we live in today it's likely World War II looms large. But its antecedent three decades earlier may have had greater long-term...

read more

Explore My “BEST OF the category” selections

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE BOOK?

When people ask me that question, I never know what to say. In a lifetime of reading, I’ve read many thousands of books. And I’ve reviewed well over 2,000 of them on this site. Picking just one as a “favorite,” or even a handful of them, makes no sense to me.

The problem is, I read for many different reasons. Perhaps you do, too. And I read many different sorts of books. Mysteries and thrillers. Popular fiction, especially historical fiction. Science fiction.

And nonfiction, history in particular. You’ll find hundreds of reviews in every one of those categories on this site.

Look to the right for a rotating random selection culled from throughout this site.

Happy reading!

 

sci-fi novel: Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Another exceptionally good sci-fi novel from an emerging master

A review of Ship Breaker, by Paolo Bacigalupi. @@@@ (4 out of 5). Set in the 22nd Century after a disastrous shift in climate, the story of a teenage boy, employed in salvaging metals from derelict oil tankers on the Gulf Coast, who flees a homicidal father and sets out with three companions on a cross-country adventure in search of a secure new life.

Cover image of "Just One Damned Thing After Another"

Historians blunder around in the past in this time travel story

You think you know what you're in for after the first 29 words in the book. First, the author writes, "I made all this up. Historians and physicists—please do not spit on me in the street." Then she quotes Arnold Toynbee, who was not the first to express the sentiment (and didn't actually mean...
Cover image of "Hillbilly Elegy," a book about hillbilly culture

Hillbilly? Redneck? White trash?

Two recent books set out to paint a picture of working-class culture. One is White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America, by Nancy Isenberg. I found the book to be too densely written and couldn't finish reading it. The other is far more accessible. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a...
Cover image of "The Boy in the Suitcase," a novel that reveals something's rotten in denmark

Something’s rotten in Denmark

I've been wondering something about all this Nordic crime fiction that keeps creeping onto bestseller lists around the world. Since Scandinavia has one of the lowest rates of crime of anywhere in the world, do all those murder mysteries and thrillers from the region tell more stories about crime...
Cover image of "The Ice Princess," a crime novel set in a small Swedish town

Murder on ice in a small Swedish town

The gruesome murder of a young woman named Alexandra Wijkner has scandalized the small Swedish town of Fjallbacka and given its incompetent police superintendent an opportunity to regain his position in the big city of Goteborg, or so he thinks. In fact, Patrik Hedstrøm, a young detective, is...
Guns, Germs, and Steel helps in gaining a global perspective

Gaining a global perspective on the world around us

I’m sure you’ve found this, too: It’s damnably hard to get a handle on things. Every day, we’re inundated by thousands of bits and pieces of information—online, by mail, on our phones and laptops, and everywhere we walk on the streets of a city or the aisles of a grocery store. How does all this...
Cover image of "The China Mirage," a book that answers the question, Who lost China?

“Who lost China?” Nobody.

One of the conspiracy theories popular on the Far Right is that Franklin D. Roosevelt engineered the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor to ensnare the US in World War II. Like so many Right-Wing fantasies, this story is nearly 180 degrees distant from the truth. (OK, many Left-Wing fantasies are,...
Groucho Marx and the Broadway Murders, in which the comedian solves two murders

Groucho Marx solves two baffling murders

For most Americans who recognize the name, Groucho Marx was one of the three Marx Brothers who headlined a series of 1930s Hollywood comedies, most famously Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, Duck Soup, and A Night at the Opera. Yet to me he was the hilarious host of the radio and, later, television...
Cover image of "The Constable's Tale," a detective novel set in Colonial America

A clever detective novel set in Colonial America

For most Americans, the history of our country's early years revolves around a set of iconic images learned in elementary school, most of which are at best misleading: the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock (they didn't); witches burning at the stake in Salem (not true); Washington chopping down...
Cover image of "March," a Civil War novel

This Civil War novel brings hidden truths to light

Skim the list of past Pulitzer and National Book Award-winners. You won't find there many that appear familiar years after their publication. But March, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2006, seems destined to be read far into the future. Like Geraldine Brooks' other works of historical...

My Most Popular Reviews

Weekly Reviews Delivered to You!

Mal Warwick - Book Reviews

Weekly book reviews to match your taste!

Love mysteries and thrillers? Historical fiction fan? Prefer to read nonfiction? Or, like me, you just love reading? Take your pick of my three weekly newsletters. Just click the Yes! button, and you’re on your way.

Here you can take your pick of the three newsletters I publish each week. They’re all free of ads, and I never share subscribers’ email addresses with anyone. Just make your newsletter selections below.

Feel free to subscribe to any or all of these newsletters. Remember, they’re ad-free, and I won’t share your contact information with anyone.

Enjoy reading!

Mal Warwick

The latest mystery
& thriller book
reviews every Tuesday.

…includes my latest mystery and thriller book reviews, with links to other content in the genre.

The latest nonfiction book reviews every Wednesday.

…includes my latest nonfiction book review, with links to other nonfiction content.

My latest
book reviews,
every Thursday.

…includes summaries and links to all the previous week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in any of the other newsletters.

The Latest Book Reviews of the Week

...includes summaries and links to all of the week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in the other newsletters.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

The Latest Mystery & Thriller Book
Reviews Every Week

Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review,
with links to other science fiction content.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

The Latest Nonfiction Book
Reviews Every Week

Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review,
with links to other nonfiction content.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

The Latest Book Reviews of the Week

The Weekly includes summaries and links to all the previous week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in any of the other newsletters.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Tuesday's Newsletter

Tuesday's Newsletter

Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review, with links to other science fiction content.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Wednesday's Newsletter

Wednesday's Newsletter

Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review, with links to other nonfiction content.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

The Weekly Newsletter

Thursday's Newsletter

The Weekly includes summaries and links to all the previous week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in any of the other newsletters.

You have Successfully Subscribed!