Once I’ve read and reviewed a number of books that cluster around a particular topic or author, I write what I call a grouped review. Usually, I list each book by title and author, with a link to my review. In many cases, I attach a capsule review, often one paragraph from the full review.
Over the past decade, I’ve written 100 such grouped reviews to date. So it seems time to prepare a guide to them all. This is particularly the case because these grouped reviews invariably prove to be the most popular posts on this site. Here’s hoping this will be useful to you!
Grouped reviews about nonfiction
Grouped reviews about history
13 good books about the Holocaust, including both fiction and nonfiction
5 top nonfiction books about World War II (plus many runners-up)
20 top nonfiction books about history plus more than 80 other good ones
Top 20 popular books for understanding American history
10 great books on Big History: New perspectives on world history
My 10 favorite books about business history (plus dozens of others)
Good books about the French Resistance
Grouped reviews about world affairs
Gaining a global perspective on the world around us
20 top books about Africa, including both fiction and nonfiction
17 good books about India, past and present
Good books about Vladimir Putin, modern Russia and the Russian oligarchy
12 insightful books about China reviewed on this site
10 good books about North Korea
Third World poverty and economic development: a reading list
18 eye-opening books about terrorism
13 good recent books about American foreign policy
Narrowing global inequities: a reading list
A resource list on social enterprise
The top 10 books on the economics of poverty
20 good nonfiction books about espionage
Grouped reviews about politics and domestic affairs
The top 5 books about Donald Trump and his impact on American democracy
5 top nonfiction books about national security reviewed here
Good books about racism reviewed on this site
7 insightful books that explain what caused the Great Recession
10 enlightening books about poverty in America
Top 10 nonfiction books about politics (plus dozens of runners-up)
5 books that explore our broken criminal justice system
Grouped reviews about science and technology
20 good nonfiction books about the future (plus lots of science fiction)
Two dozen good books about artificial intelligence reviewed here
Science explained in 10 excellent popular books (plus dozens of others)
10 best books about innovation
5 best books about Silicon Valley
Good books about space travel, including both nonfiction and fiction
Grouped reviews about other topics
Good books by Berkeley writers reviewed on this site
17 excellent memoirs reviewed here
Great biographies I’ve reviewed: my 10 favorites
More than 25 worthy books about Jewish topics
Grouped reviews about fiction
The decade’s top 10 historical novels, mysteries & thrillers, and science fiction
Grouped reviews about mysteries and thrillers
Top 10 mystery and thriller series
20 excellent standalone mysteries and thrillers
5 top novels about private detectives
Two dozen outstanding detective series from around the world
Top 20 suspenseful detective novels (plus 200 more)
Top 10 historical mysteries and thrillers reviewed here (plus 100 others)
The 10 top espionage novels reviewed on this site
Top 10 mystery and thriller series
Mysteries and thrillers set in Scotland
5 top Los Angeles mysteries and thrillers (plus lots of runners-up)
The best Nordic noir series from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland
Famous people as detectives in fact and fiction
17 fascinating courtroom dramas reviewed
Grouped reviews about science fiction
The ultimate guide to the all-time best science fiction novels
Great sci-fi novels reviewed: my top 10 (plus dozens of runners-up)
The top 10 dystopian novels reviewed here (plus dozens of others)
10 best alternate history novels reviewed here
Grouped reviews about trade fiction
20 most enlightening historical novels (plus dozens of runners-up)
Top 10 great popular novels reviewed on this site
The 10 best novels about World War II (plus 20 runners-up)
My 10 favorite funny novels (plus dozens of runners-up)
Grouped reviews about my favorite authors
Jussi-Adler Olsen’s captivating Department Q thrillers
5 thrilling science fiction novels by Paolo Bacigalupi (and 3 novelettes)
The 12 novels of Alex Berenson’s thrilling John Wells spy series
The Quirke series of Dublin crime novels from Benjamin Black
The outstanding historical fiction of Geraldine Brooks
Christopher Buckley writes satirical novels that are very, very funny
The pleasures of reading the complete Vorkosigan Saga
Charles Cumming’s first-rate spy thrillers
Reviewing the Dublin Murder Squad novels by Tana French
The evocative Night Soldiers series from Alan Furst
Top-notch spy novels from Alex Gerlis
Timothy Hallinan’s Junior Bender series of comic crime novels
The spellbinding thrillers of Robert Harris
Following Mick Herron’s clever British spies at Slough House
Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther novels
The Fjällbacka series of Swedish thrillers from Camilla Läckberg
The magical Lisbeth Salander novels
The outstanding Harry Hole thrillers from Jo Nesbo
Dame Stella Rimington’s Liz Carlyle series of top-notch espionage novels
J. K. Rowling’s thrilling Cormoran Strike detective series
John Sandford’s excellent Virgil Flowers novels
Karin Slaughter’s well-crafted series of Grant County thrillers
Olen Steinhauer’s brilliant Yalta Boulevard cycle set in Eastern Europe
Reviewing Ross Thomas – thrillers that stand the test of time
The Maisie Dobbs novels from Jacqueline Winspear
And you can always find my most popular reviews, and the most recent ones, plus a guide to this whole site, on the Home Page.
