Book Reviews

5.0

We Are Mighty: 12 Ordinary Americans Who Did the Next Needed Thing is a #1 New York Times bestselling picture book by Sharon McMahon, illustrated by award-winning Susanna Chapman, published by Knopf Books for Young Readers. It profiles twelve ordinary Americans — teachers, kids, and quiet changemakers — whose small, courageous acts created lasting ripples in their communities, designed to inspire readers ages 6 and up to believe that doing the next needed thing is within anyone's reach.

The Fifth Agreement: A Practical Guide to Self-Mastery by Don Miguel Ruiz

4.8

The Fifth Agreement is a self-help audiobook by don Miguel Ruiz and don Jose Ruiz, published by Amber Allen Publishing and narrated by Peter Coyote, that builds on the globally popular Four Agreements framework by introducing a fifth principle — "be skeptical, but learn to listen" — designed to deepen self-awareness and personal authenticity. This review covers the audiobook's content and structure, along with its reception from published sources, and does not reflect hands-on use or application of its teachings.

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan

4.7

Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking is widely regarded as one of the definitive Italian cookbooks in the English language, and this 30th Anniversary Edition — illustrated by Karin Kretschmann, with new forewords by Lidia Bastianich and Victor Hazan, published by Knopf in September 2022 — gives the canonical text a handsome new life. This review assesses the book's content, organisation, and published critical reception, not a kitchen test.

Behind Five Willows by June Hur

Behind Five Willows is June Hur's Jane Austen–inspired young adult historical romance set in Joseon Dynasty Korea, following two young book lovers who defy a royal ban on fiction and find themselves irresistibly drawn together. An instant #1 New York Times bestseller, the novel has drawn starred praise from Booklist, which called it "an instant classic." Critical coverage describes it as a slow-burn, book-themed romance best suited to patient readers of character-driven stories.

Jul 29, 2026

Liar's Kingdom: How to Stop Trump's Deceit and Save America by Andrew Weissmann

Andrew Weissmann, NYU Law professor and veteran federal prosecutor, argues in Liar's Kingdom that America's susceptibility to politicians' deliberate electoral lies is not an inevitable feature of democracy but a correctable flaw in the legal system — and he offers a concrete, comparative framework for fixing it. This review covers the book's content, structure, and published reception; it does not reflect hands-on application of its proposals.

The Alice Network: A Novel by Kate Quinn

Kate Quinn's The Alice Network is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling historical novel that weaves together two women's stories across the World Wars — a WWI spy operating in German-occupied France and a 1947 American socialite on a desperate search — grounded in the true history of a real female intelligence ring. This review is based on the book's content as described by the publisher and published critical sources, not hands-on reading.

The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls

The Glass Castle is Jeannette Walls' memoir of growing up in a nomadic, deeply impoverished, and chaotic household under the care of her father Rex and mother Rose Mary Walls — a #1 New York Times bestseller that earned the Christopher Award and the American Library Association's Alex Award, and has remained a touchstone of American memoir writing since its original 2005 publication.

The Madness of Crowds: A Novel by Louise Penny

4.5

The seventeenth Chief Inspector Gamache novel finds Armand Gamache drawn into a volatile ethical firestorm when a statistics professor's lecture threatens to ignite the quiet village of Three Pines — and a murder forces him to untangle ideology, fear, and justice all at once. An instant #1 New York Times bestseller, the novel is praised by Mystery Scene Magazine as "another brilliant entry" in a series celebrated for its emotional depth and intellectual richness.

Olive, Again: A Novel by Elizabeth Strout

Olive, Again is a New York Times bestseller and Oprah's Book Club pick in which Elizabeth Strout returns to the coastal Maine town of Crosby and its unforgettable protagonist, Olive Kitteridge, through 13 interrelated short stories that chart aging, grief, loneliness, regret, and flickering hope. A sequel to Strout's Pulitzer Prize–winning Olive Kitteridge, it was named a best book of the year by Time, Vogue, critical coverage, and critical coverage, and earned praise from critical coverage as "beautifully written and alive with compassion, at times almost unbearably poignant."

Jul 29, 2026

Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology by Johnjoe McFadden and Jim Al-Khalili

Life on the Edge makes a bold case that quantum mechanics — the notoriously strange physics that unsettled Einstein — is not merely a subatomic curiosity but an active engine of life itself, driving everything from photosynthesis to the navigation of migratory birds. Written by two University of Surrey scientists with complementary expertise in molecular genetics and theoretical physics, the book is a New York Times bestseller that has drawn serious attention from outlets including Nature, The Economist, and The Times (UK). This review covers the book's content, credentials, and published critical reception; it does not reflect hands-on use or application of its ideas.

The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man: A Memoir by Paul Newman

The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man is a New York Times bestseller and one of the most unflinching celebrity memoirs in recent memory — assembled from transcripts of conversations Newman recorded between 1986 and 1991 with his close friend and screenwriter Stewart Stern, supplemented by interviews with family, friends, and collaborators, and shaped posthumously into book form by editor David Rosenthal. This review is based on published sources and the public record; it does not reflect hands-on use or reading.

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Inheritance Games is a young adult mystery/thriller by Jennifer Lynn Barnes in which a teenage girl named Avery Kylie Grambs unexpectedly inherits a vast fortune from a billionaire she barely knows — and must unravel the secrets behind why. Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, the novel has garnered widespread acclaim for its intricate plot and engaging characters, and it serves as the first entry in a series that has grown to span multiple sequels, companions, and a spinoff.