Book Reviews

The Bearded Dragon Manual, 3rd Edition, published by CompanionHouse Books in 2022, is a comprehensive reptile care reference co-authored by five specialists — including herpetoculture pioneer Philippe de Vosjoli and veterinary nutrition diplomate Susan Donoghue, VMD — covering the full spectrum of bearded dragon husbandry, from enclosure setup and feeding to breeding, disease, and species characteristics. This review is based on published sources and the book's documented content and reception, not hands-on use.

Jun 3, 2026

Partypooper (Diary of a Wimpy Kid Book #20) by Jeff Kinney

Partypooper is the twentieth entry in Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, published by Harry N. Abrams on October 21, 2025, and following directly from Hot Mess. The book sends Greg Heffley spiraling from a forgotten birthday into an over-planned blowout party, a viral social-media shaming of his parents, and a parallel hunt for a rare misprinted trading card — all of which collapse in classically Wimpy Kid fashion before Greg stumbles into an unlikely party-hosting side hustle with best friend Rowley. It is a reliably plot-dense, gag-driven installment aimed at readers aged 9 and up, and it arrives at a genuine milestone for the series.

The Science of Interstellar by Kip Thorne

The Science of Interstellar is a rigorous yet accessible non-fiction companion to Christopher Nolan's film, written by Nobel laureate and theoretical physicist Kip Thorne — the same scientist who served as the film's scientific consultant and executive producer. Published by W. W. Norton & Company on November 7, 2014, the book walks readers through the real astrophysics underlying Interstellar's most spectacular conceits: wormholes, the supermassive black hole Gargantua, time dilation, extra dimensions, and Cooper's climactic plunge into a singularity. It is an unparalleled inside view of where Hollywood spectacle ends and genuine physics begins — and where, by Thorne's own admission, the film occasionally departs from the science.

Greatest Greek Philosophers (Fingerprint Classics) by Various

Fingerprint's deluxe hardbound anthology assembles essential writings from Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epictetus, and others into one substantial volume designed to serve as an accessible gateway to the foundational texts of Western philosophy — covering ethics, politics, metaphysics, reason, and the nature of existence.

Jun 1, 2026

The Inner Life of Cats: The Science by Thomas McNamee

4.6

The Inner Life of Cats: The Science and Secrets of Our Mysterious Feline Companions by Thomas McNamee is a work of popular science that weaves rigorous scientific reportage with personal anecdotes centered on McNamee's own cat, Augusta, to explore what research has uncovered about feline cognition, emotion, and behavior — and what it means for the humans who share their lives with cats.

Jun 4, 2026

Cold Lake (David Wolf Mystery Thriller Series Book 5) by Jeff Carson

4.5

Cold Lake is the fifth entry in Jeff Carson's David Wolf Mystery Thriller Series, published by Cross Atlantic Publishing in November 2014. Sheriff David Wolf is pulled into a cold case his own father failed to solve twenty-two years earlier, racing against unknown adversaries determined to keep the truth buried — literally. Readers who enjoy small-town procedural thrillers with personal stakes woven into the investigation will find this installment a strong continuation of the series.

Jun 5, 2026

Zak George's Dog Training Revolution: The Complete Guide to Raising the Perfect Pet by Zak George, Dina Roth Port

4.5

Zak George's Dog Training Revolution is a thorough, chapter-by-chapter guide to raising and training a dog, co-written by YouTube personality and Animal Planet trainer Zak George and award-winning journalist Dina Roth Port, and published by Ten Speed Press in 2016. The book covers everything from choosing the right dog to troubleshooting common behavioral problems, all within a positive-reinforcement framework. This review is based on published sources and reception from named outlets, not hands-on use.

Jun 5, 2026

Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter

4.5

Lynn Painter's Better Than the Movies is a young adult romance novel that follows Liz Buxbaum, a romcom-obsessed high schooler who enlists her lifelong frenemy and next-door neighbor Wes Bennett to help win her long-term crush Michael — only to find her feelings shifting in an unexpected direction. Originally published by Simon & Schuster in May 2021 and reissued in paperback in July 2022, the novel became a BookTok phenomenon and has spent 40 months on the New York Times Young Adult Paperback Best Seller List as of March 2026. Critics called it a "charming, fluffy concoction" that packs every conceivable romcom trope into one plot, while School critics praised its quippy banter and lovable characters. A sequel, Nothing Like the Movies, was released in 2024, and a Netflix film adaptation was announced in May 2026.

THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (illustrated, complete, and unabridged) by VICTOR HUGO

4.4

Victor Hugo's 1831 French Gothic novel — originally titled Notre-Dame de Paris — is a cornerstone of world literature, centering on the deformed bell-ringer Quasimodo, the Romani street dancer Esmeralda, and the obsessive Archdeacon Claude Frollo against the vivid backdrop of 15th-century Paris. This Kindle edition presents the text as complete and unabridged, making it a substantive entry point to a novel considered a classic of French literature. Its ambitions run far beyond a love triangle: Hugo designed the work as a sustained argument for the preservation of Gothic architecture and France's cultural heritage, and readers who come expecting a streamlined narrative will encounter something richer, stranger, and more architecturally digressive than the story's many film adaptations imply.

Heart the Lover by Lily King

4.4

Lily King's seventh novel follows the unnamed narrator — revealed at the end to be Casey Peabody, the protagonist of King's earlier Writers & Lovers — across roughly three decades, from a college love triangle with Sam and Yash in the 1980s through pregnancy, marriage, parenthood, and finally a reunion around a deathbed. Published by Grove Press in the US and Canongate in the UK in 2025, the novel functions as both a prequel and sequel to Writers & Lovers while standing on its own. The Guardian called it "a delightfully witty tale of college romance" that "matures into midlife poignancy," and critics described it as "intensely moving." Critical coverage was more skeptical, finding the plot at times "clunky melodrama" lacking "the staying power" of King's earlier work — making this a novel whose admirers will be passionate and its skeptics few but vocal.

Jun 1, 2026

Flights by Olga Tokarczuk

4.1

Flights — originally published in Polish as Bieguni in 2007 and translated into English by Jennifer Croft — is a fragmentary novel by Olga Tokarczuk that won the Man Booker International Prize in 2018, the first time a Polish author received the award. Structured as 116 short pieces narrated by a nameless female traveller, the book weaves fiction, memoir, philosophical digression, and cultural anthropology into a sustained meditation on travel, mobility, and the human body. Major outlets including critical coverage and Kirkus Reviews praised it as both a literary achievement and an ideal entry point into Tokarczuk's work, though critics have also noted that its recursive, theme-heavy architecture can tip into abstraction.

Jun 5, 2026

As Sure as the Dawn: v. 3 (Mark of the Lion) by Rivers. by Francine Rivers

As Sure as the Dawn closes Francine Rivers' acclaimed Mark of the Lion trilogy with the story of Atretes, a German warrior and freed gladiator, whose hardened life is upended by faith, while the fates of beloved characters Marcus and Hadassah reach their resolution — earning a starred Booklist notice and cementing Rivers' reputation as a defining voice in Christian historical fiction.

Jun 1, 2026