The Latest

SCIENCE FICTION

MYSTERIES & THRILLERS

NONFICTION

Books about extraordinary women

Books about extraordinary women

You won’t recognize some of the names on this list of exceptional women. Most were little known even in their own time. They represent a wide range of activities, from espionage to politics to science and to running their countries. But what they have in common with the three...

read more

Popular Fiction

A brilliant novel of love, hope, and the Rwanda genocide

A brilliant novel of love, hope, and the Rwanda genocide

Today, Rwanda is one of the brightest lights in Africa. The economy is booming. Corruption is rare. Government delivers services. The streets of Kigali, the capital, are clean. It's even easy to open a business. Thirty years ago the country was in chaos, as this award-winning...

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!

 

Cover image of "Fall of Giants,"

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 impact. The "Great War,"...

1987 comes back to life in a brilliant detective novel

The Neon Rain was the first of the twenty books in James Lee Burke's award-winning Dave Robicheaux series of detective novels, and an auspicious beginning it was! Burke evokes the clammy, mist-filled atmosphere of his native Louisiana and the Cajun culture of his protagonist with great skill....
Cover image of "Ninety Percent of Everything,"

What makes globalization work?

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes Globalization is puzzling. That iPhone you may have at hand contains parts manufactured in forty-three countries on six continents—and that doesn't even count the raw materials. But how did all that stuff get to the factory in China or India that fit them together...
This book purports to be an account of the turning point in World War II.

When FDR, Churchill, and Stalin planned the Normandy invasion

In Three Days at the Brink, journalist Bret Baier and his coauthor purport to zero in on the three-day period late in 1943 when FDR met Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin at the Tehran Conference. The book does include an account of those consequential three days — days "which might have birthed...
Cover image of "Red Smoking Mirror," an alternate history of Mexico

What if Muslims had settled the New World?

Most Americans remember the date 1492 as the year Christopher Columbus "discovered" the New World. Europeans recall it for other reasons as well. Because in 1492 the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon conquered the Emirate of Granada, ending 800 years of Muslim rule on the Iberian Peninsula....
The World in a Grain explains how civiiization is built on sand.

We never think about it, but our civilization is built on sand

Who knew? We've been aware for a long time that humankind is running out of drinkable water and the rare earth elements essential to advanced communications technology. Overfishing is endangering fish populations. And arable land is also growing scarce. But sand? Really? Sand? Estimated reading...
Cover image of "The Black Calhouns," a book about the African-American experience

Living the African-American experience

Gail Lumet Buckley's The Black Calhouns isn't easy to pigeonhole. Part Black history, part genealogy, and part memoir, the connecting tissue in the book is the story of the author's extraordinary family. But, in a larger sense, it's a survey of the African-American experience. Estimated reading...
Cover image of "The Shortest History of Germany," German history in a nutshell

2,000 years of German history in 200 pages

Before the dawn of the Common Era two thousand years ago, Julius Caesar gave the land its name, Germania. But it was nineteen hundred years before the land became a country. That happened only in 1871 when the ruthless and brilliant Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck united twenty-five...
Cover image of "The African Equation," a book by one of the best known African writers

African writers aren’t all world-class

Here's a story that could have been worked into a terrific novel in the hands of a writer with a trifle of self-restraint. Unfortunately, Yasmina Khadra, reputedly one of Africa's greatest writers, displays none of that. Every one of his characters, from a German physician to a passel of Somali or...
The Address Book reveals what addresses really mean.

Who knew that street addresses meant so much?

So, it turns out that street names and house numbers are a pretty big deal. We've only got them because of the troubled and sometimes violent circumstances that brought them into being. In fact, we tend to be ignorant of what addresses really mean. And while those of us who have addresses take...

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!