Book Reviews

4.8

Published by Nomad Press in April 2021 as part of the Inquire & Investigate series, this illustrated nonfiction title for readers ages 12–15 guides young learners from the moment of the Big Bang through the large-scale structure and eventual fate of the universe, pairing content with hands-on STEM activities and research projects throughout.

Before The Bestseller: Your Proven Path to Book Sales Without Wasting Time by Alex Strathdee, Laura Russom, Steve Sarner

4.7

Published by ShelfLife in March 2025, Before The Bestseller: Your Proven Path to Book Sales Without Wasting Time & Money is a nonfiction guide co-authored by Alex Strathdee, Laura Russom, and Steve Sarner, designed to walk authors through a structured, actionable process for building book sales and a lasting readership — with or without an existing platform. Early readers on Amazon have rated it 4.8 out of 5 stars across 56 ratings.

Science Book, The: Everything You Need to Know About the World by National Geographic

4.7

National Geographic's The Science Book: Everything You Need to Know About the World and How It Works is a broad, richly illustrated single-volume reference designed to encapsulate centuries of scientific thought across six major disciplines, making it a strong starting point for curious readers of varied backgrounds.

Inside Out: A Memoir of Entering by Alexandra Stein

4.6

Alexandra Stein's Inside Out is a memoir documenting her recruitment into, life inside, and eventual escape from a secretive Minneapolis political cult known as the O — a rare firsthand account praised by major voices in both literary and academic circles for its passion, insight, and unflinching honesty.

If You Ask Me: The Collected Columns of America's Most Beloved by Libby Gelman-Waxner

4.6

If You Ask Me: The Collected Columns of America's Most Beloved is a humor collection by the pen name Libby Gelman-Waxner — the creation of playwright and screenwriter Paul Rudnick — gathering five years of film criticism columns originally published in Premiere magazine between 1987 and 1992. The book skewers Hollywood through the voice of a delightfully suburban, pop-culture-obsessed persona, and readers who enjoy satirical cultural commentary delivered with a sharp comedic edge will find it holds up as one of the genre's most purely entertaining entries.

All the Broken Places: A Novel by John Boyne

4.6

All the Broken Places is a historical fiction novel by New York Times bestselling author John Boyne — a sequel to his book The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas — that follows Gretel Fernsby, now 91 years old and living quietly in a London mansion block, as the arrival of a new family forces her to confront decades of buried guilt over her father's role as commandant of a Nazi extermination camp, her own complicity, and her part in her brother Bruno's death.

Apr 27, 2026

Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick

4.5

James Gleick's Chaos: Making a New Science is the book that brought chaos theory out of specialist journals and into the public imagination — a New York Times bestseller, a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and, according to Wikipedia, the first popular book ever written on the subject.

The Whisper Man: A Novel by Alex North

4.3

Alex North's debut novel, The Whisper Man, is a New York Times bestseller published by Celadon Books that intertwines a cold-case serial killer investigation with a story of grief, fatherhood, and a child's unnerving connection to something he cannot explain — earning starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist and an Editor's Pick designation from The New York Times.

Cozy: The Art of Arranging Yourself in the World – A Wise by Isabel Gillies

4.2

Isabel Gillies's Cozy: The Art of Arranging Yourself in the World is a hybrid work — part manifesto, part lifestyle guide, part memoir — that reframes comfort not as a passive mood but as a deliberate, achievable practice, written by the New York Times bestselling author of Happens Every Day and featuring hand-drawn illustrations throughout.

Apr 27, 2026

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

4.0

Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead is a co-recipient of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and winner of the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction — a sweeping, Dickens-inspired novel that transplants the story of David Copperfield to the opioid-ravaged hills of Appalachian Virginia, following red-haired Damon Fields from a squalid foster system through the devastating grip of addiction.

The Compound: A GMA Book Club Pick: A Novel by Aisling Rawle

3.7

Aisling Rawle's debut novel The Compound is a GMA Book Club Pick published by Random House (June 24, 2025) that drops protagonist Lily into a high-stakes reality show on a remote desert compound, using the ruthless logic of competition television to dissect desire, desperation, capitalism, and the collapsing world beyond the cameras. Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR, The New Yorker, Oprah Daily, Good Housekeeping, The Globe and Mail, and Chicago Public Library, it arrives as one of the most decorated debut novels of its season — a propulsive literary thriller with genuine cultural teeth.

Popular Philosophy by Siqi Ai

Ai Siqi's Popular Philosophy is a foundational text of Chinese Marxist thought, originally written in the 1930s and now made available to English-language readers in a translation by Lili Tao, published by Cosmos Publishing Group INC. Structured across five chapters covering materialism, epistemology, and dialectics, the book was designed to bring Marxist philosophy within reach of ordinary readers using plain, vivid language — a mission that earned it an enduring place in twentieth-century Chinese intellectual history.