Book Reviews.

My philosophy /tastes

Sometimes I’m lucky enough to be able to write about books I read, fiction and nonfiction, for publications. I make it a point, if at all possible, not to write a review just bashing on a book: if I don’t like it, I don’t write about it. (“Better to praise and share than blame and ban,” Updike once said.) More on my philosophy here.

My preferred genres are literary fiction and history. I’m a lawyer, so I’m always interested in legal biographies or law-related topics. For a long time I’ve been a lover of Latin American and Spanish-language literature, as can probably be gleaned from my reviews of Javier Marías, Juan Gabriel Vasquez, Eduardo Lalo, Álvaro Bisama, and others—so I’m especially interested in those types of titles. (I regularly review Spanish language literature in translation for Literal Magazine, but also other books, as well.) As for history, I particularly enjoy anything concerning American Foreign Relations and/or Iran or China.

Review Copies

If you’re a publishing press/PR person, and are interested in sending me a review copy, please get in contact with me at greg[at]gregwalklin.com. I’m always interested in finding out about new books.

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Reviews

The following have been posted on this site or appear in print/online elsewhere:

• The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach
• Skippy Dies, Paul Murray
• Nixonland, Rick Perlstein
• Home, Toni Morrison
• Fireproof, Alex Kava (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• A Hologram for the King, Dave Eggers (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• Boomerang, Michael Lewis
• The Neruda Case, Roberto Ampuero (for Ploughshares)
• The World Without You, Joshua Henkin (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• Immortality, Stephen Cave
• The Oath, Jeffrey Toobin (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• Both Flesh and Not, David Foster Wallace (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• Tenth of December, George Saunders (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• What Happened to Sophie Wilder, Christopher Beha (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• Haven’s Wake, Ladette Rudolph (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• Ru, Kim Thúy (for Ploughshares)
• A Thousand Pardons, Jonathan Dee (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• My Beloved World, Sonia Sotomayor (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• Telex From Cuba, Rachel Kushner
• A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, Anthony Marra (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• The Infatuations, Javier Marías (for The Millions)
• Love by Drowning, C.E. Poverman (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• Battleborn by Claire Vaye Watkins
• The Sound of Things Falling, Juan Gabriel Vasquez (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• The Life and Poetry of Ted Kooser, Mary K. Stillwell (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• Dissident Gardens, Jonathan Lethem (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• A Place in the Country, W.G. Sebald (for The Millions)
• Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
• All That Is, James Salter (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• The Bully Pulpit, Doris Kearns Goodwin (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• Dead Stars, Álvaro Bisama (for Necessary Fiction)
• Lucky Us, Amy Bloom (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• Your Fathers, Where Are They, And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever?, Dave Eggers
• The Bone Clocks, David Mitchell (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• The Children Act, Ian McEwan (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• The Antiquarian, Gustavo Faveron Patriau
• Leaving the Pink House, Ladette Randolph (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• Paris, Marcos Giralt Torrente (for Necessary Fiction)
• The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• The Buried Giant, Kazuo Ishiguro (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• Missoula, Jon Krakauer (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• The Book of Aron, Jim Shepard (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• Purity, Jonathan Franzen (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights, Salman Rushdie (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• Fates and Furies, Lauren Groff (for the Lincoln Journal-Star)
• Simone, Eduardo Lalo for (for Necessary Fiction)
• A Tough Day for the Army, John Warner
• The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead (for The Millions)
• Seeing Red, Lina Meruane (for The Colorado Review)
• Bad Faith, Ted Wheeler (for Necessary Fiction)
• Save Twilight, Julio Cortázar (for Literal Magazine)
• Him, Me, Muhammad Ali, Randa Jarrar, (for The Colorado Review)
• Fever Dream, Samanta Schweblin (for Literal Magazine)
• Thus Bad Begins, Javier Marías, (for Literal Magazine)
• Camanchaca, Diego Zúñiga, (for The Colorado Review)
• The Tower of the Antilles, Achy Obejas (for Literal Magazine)
• The Idiocy of Perfection, Jesús Silva-Herzog Márquez for (The Los Angeles Review)
• Here in Berlin, Cristina García (for Literal Magazine)
• Empty Set, Verónica Gerber Bicecci (for Literal Magazine)
• The Runaway Species, Anthony Brandt and David Eagleman (for Literal Magazine)
• Plaza Requiem, Martha Bátiz (for Literal Magazine)
• Bang, Daniel Peña (for Literal Magazine)
• Mephisto’s Waltz, Sergio Pitol (for Literal Magazine)

Upcoming

• Comemadre, Roque Larraquy (for New Letters)