Fiction Book Reviews

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

4.8

First published in 1964 by Harper & Row, Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree is a children's picture book that has spent six decades generating both fierce devotion and fierce debate — one of the most talked-about titles in American children's literature, and one of its most genuinely unresolved.

Feb 13, 2026

Hemingway Boxed Set by Ernest Hemingway

4.7

Published by Simon & Schuster in 2021 and timed to coincide with Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's PBS documentary, the Hemingway Boxed Set gathers four of Ernest Hemingway's most celebrated novels — The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man and the Sea — into a single trade paperback collection, offering both longtime admirers and new readers a definitive entry point into the work of a Nobel Prize–winning author whose spare, economical prose reshaped the course of American literature.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Stephen Chbosky's debut young adult novel, originally published in 1999, follows fifteen-year-old Charlie through his freshman year of high school in a Pittsburgh suburb, told entirely through letters he addresses to an anonymous "Dear Friend." The novel covers Charlie's friendships with seniors Patrick and Sam, his grief over the suicide of his only middle-school friend and the death of his aunt Helen, and his navigation of sexuality, mental health, substance abuse, and first love — all filtered through an introspective, philosophically inclined voice. The book reached the New York Times Best Seller list following the release of Chbosky's own 2012 film adaptation, and has become one of the most discussed and frequently challenged young adult novels in American schools.

An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley

An Inspector Calls is a three-act modern morality play by J.B. Priestley, considered one of the classics of mid-20th century English theatre, in which Inspector Goole's interrogation of the prosperous Birling family lays bare their collective responsibility for the suicide of a working-class woman named Eva Smith — a drama whose political charge has only sharpened with time.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

First published in 1999, Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak is a National Book Award Finalist and Michael L. Printz Honor Book that has sold more than 3.5 million copies and been translated into 35 languages — a genuine modern classic of young adult literature, and one of the most decorated and widely taught novels in its genre.

Feb 17, 2026

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Originally published on January 10, 2012, and later reissued in a Penguin Books paperback edition, The Fault in Our Stars is John Green's fourth solo novel — a young adult love story between two teenagers living under the shadow of cancer that became one of the best-selling books of all time and cemented Green's place at the top of contemporary YA fiction.

Feb 16, 2026

Ask the Dust by John Fante

4.4

First published in 1939 and rescued from obscurity by Charles Bukowski's championing of it four decades later, Ask the Dust is widely regarded as an American classic — the most celebrated novel of John Fante's career and a foundational text of Depression-era Los Angeles fiction.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

4.4

Matt Haig's speculative novel The Midnight Library follows Nora Seed through a liminal space between life and death where every unchosen path becomes a door — a richly imaginative premise that earned strong sales and generally positive critical reception, though some critics found its emotional resolution more comforting than challenging.

Feb 16, 2026

The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway by Ernest Hemingway

Published by Modern Library, The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway gathers the core of a writer whose spare, revolutionary prose reshaped English-language fiction in the twentieth century — essential reading for anyone serious about the American short story.

Raising Steam: A Discworld Novel by Terry Pratchett

The 40th Discworld novel sends the irrepressible Moist von Lipwig racing across the Disc on its first steam railway, balancing industrial-age comedy with a genuinely urgent political thriller — a penultimate entry that science fiction author Cory Doctorow, writing on Boing Boing, called "a spectacular novel, and a gift from a beloved writer to his millions of fans."

Feb 13, 2026

Making Money by Terry Pratchett

Making Money is a Discworld fantasy novel in which reformed con artist Moist von Lipwig is coerced into running the Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork, using the premise to deliver sharp satire about the nature of money, public trust, and financial institutions. First published in 2007, it won the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 2008 and was nominated for the Nebula Award the same year. Critical opinion is genuinely divided — praised for its wit and humanity, and critiqued for lacking the forward momentum of its predecessor, Going Postal — making it essential for committed Discworld readers while occasionally frustrating those who rank Going Postal among the series' best.

Feb 13, 2026