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SCIENCE FICTION

MYSTERIES & THRILLERS

The top mystery and thriller award winners

The top mystery and thriller award winners

Most citations of awards in the mystery, thriller, and suspense field mention the Edgar, Gold Dagger, Anthony, and International Thriller Writer Awards. But the categories used by these four awards don’t match. And as you’ll see, the awards themselves don’t often, either. For...

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NONFICTION

Vladimir Putin, the KGB, and the restoration of Soviet Russia

Vladimir Putin, the KGB, and the restoration of Soviet Russia

Every once in a while I'm shocked to learn anew that the American news media has missed the mark in its reporting of events around the world. Masha Gessen's portrait of third-term Russian President Vladimir Putin, The Man Without a Face, is an excellent case in point. Now, a...

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Popular Fiction

Why do some novels win literary awards?

Why do some novels win literary awards?

Let's see if we can figure out why this paper-thin work of fiction won wide recognition and a literary award for its author. Snow Hunters introduces . . . let's count them: eight characters in 226 pages: Yohan, a North Korean soldier captured by UN forces late in the Korean...

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Explore My “BEST OF the category” selections

Popular Fiction
Mysteries & Thrillers
Nonfiction
Recommendations

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!

 

Cover image of "Old Man's War," a sci-fi novel reminiscent of the pulp magazines

A sci-fi novel that harkens back to the bad old days of the pulp magazines

If you're old enough to remember those space operas (otherwise called space westerns) that crowded the pages of the pulp sci-fi magazines in the 30s, 40s, and 50s, you might have been a fan, since you were certainly young enough to enjoy them. I didn't. I thought even then that the stories were...
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Cover image of "The Covenant of Water," one of the best books about India.

Good books about India, past and present

If you’ve never been to India, you’ll find it hard to imagine what it’s like. For starters, the country’s 1.4 billion people are crowded into an area approximately one-third the size of the United States (which is home to one-third the number of people). Walk the streets in any one of India’s five...
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Cover image of "The Spy in Moscow Station," an exposé of the CIA

“The Spy in Moscow Station”

No, in spite of this book's title, it's not a story about a Russian spy in the CIA's Moscow Station. It's something much more engaging—an account of a long-running counterespionage investigation into KGB surveillance technology at the US Embassy in Moscow. An investigation that brought into focus...
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Cover image of 'The Mission," one of the best books about the CIA

Best nonfiction books about the CIA

Today, the CIA lies at the center of a vast complex of eighteen intelligence agencies. The so-called "intelligence community" boasts a combined budget of more than $100 billion annually. That's one million dollars 100,000 times over. And though the Central Intelligence Agency commands only a...
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Cover image of "Liberation Movements," a novel about life behind the Iron Curtain

Love, betrayal, and terrorism behind the Iron Curtain

A review of Liberation Movements, by Olen Steinhauer. @@@@ (4 out of 5). Mystery piles atop mystery in this fourth installment of Olen Steinhauer’s five-novel cycle of life behind the Iron Curtain in Central Europe. The book is populated by secret policemen, Armenian terrorists, and a woman with psychic powers.

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Cover image of "America's Social Arsonist," a book about community organizing

The man who trained Cesar Chavez in community organizing

When the topic of community organizing comes up, a single name comes quickly to mind: Saul Alinsky. Alinsky is often cited as the founder of the field, having made his name through a hugely successful campaign on the South Side of Chicago in the 1940s. Two books he wrote, Reveille for Radicals...
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latest detective story: Breakdown by Sara Paretsky

The latest detective story from Sara Paretsky hits home

A review of Breakdown, by Sara Paretsky. @@@@ (4 out of 5). This is no straightforward whodunit where any reasonably intelligent reader is likely to know whodunit midway through the book. Paretsky kept me guessing until the end. Breakdown is a very satisfying read.

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Water Like a Stone explores life along Cheshire's canals.

Two dead bodies, investment fraud, and the life along Cheshire’s canals

It's Christmastime in Cheshire, and the Duncan Kincaid-Gemma James household is relocating from London to visit his parents and his younger sister. 13-year-old Kit (Duncan's son) and 5-year-old Toby (hers) and the boys' two dogs are off to the countryside. There, they'll meet Hugh and Rosemary...
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Cover image of "Proto,"

How one ancient language became English, French, Swedish, Russian, and Hindi

Chances are slim that you can read or understand spoken Russian, Swedish, or Hindi. But, believe it or not, English is related to all three languages—and more than 400 others. They're all descendants of a single ancient language linguists call Proto-Indo-European. "Proto" was the language spoken...
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Cover image of "Regeneration,"

He was a conscientious objector to the “war to end all wars”

The main event at the Scottish psychiatric hospital Craiglockhart is the arrival of Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967) in the summer of 1917. The celebrated young poet had recently circulated an anti-war message attacking Britain's political leaders. He charged that "the war is being deliberately...
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My Most Popular Reviews

Weekly Reviews Delivered to You!

Mal Warwick - Book Reviews

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Mal Warwick

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