All About Books
Episodes
“A World on the Wing" by Scott Weidensaul.
23 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Thanks to recent advances in research, our understanding of the navigation and physical feats performed by migratory birds has exploded. These amazing...
“Painting Time” by Maylis de Kerengal
16 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Paula is a young artist enrolled at a famous school in Brussels where students learn the painstaking techniques to paint realistically the grain of wo...
“Oh William!” by Elizabeth Strout
09 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A successful writer agrees to help her ex-husband on a road trip to deal with a family secret. “Oh William!:a Novel” by Elizabeth Strout confronts...
"Relcamation" by Lisa Tschauner
02 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Nebraska author Lisa Tschauner (shawn ur) joins Pat Leach to talk about her novel “Reclamation.” It’s the story of two Nebraska college students...
“The Future We Choose" by Figueres and Rivett-Carnac
23 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
“The Future We Choose: the Stubborn Optimist’s Guide to the Climate Crisis.” The book offers two scenarios for the planet’s destination in 30 ...
"Velvet Was the Night" by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
17 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A secretary in 1970’s Mexico City leads a dull life compared to the beautiful art student who lives next door. The novel “Velvet Was the Night” ...
"On Juneteenth" by Annette Gordon-Reed
09 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Annette Gordon-Reed grew up in Texas. In her book “On Juneteenth” she brings together American history, her family chronicle and a historian’s v...
“Red Comet” by Heather Clark
02 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week on “All About Books” a monumental biography of the writer Sylvia Plath that focuses on her literary and intellectual achievements. “Re...
“Rhinos in Nebraska” by Alison Pearce Stevens
26 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Inspired by her work at the University of Nebraska State Museum, Dr. Alison Pearce Stevens has written a book about the Ashfall Fossil Beds suitable f...
“Libertie” by Kaitlyn Greenidge.
19 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A novel based on the life of one of the first female African American doctors in the country, “Libertie” by Kaitlyn Greenidge. It’s the story of...
“Last Night at the Telegraph Club” by Malinda Lo
12 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
17-year old Lilly is a Chinese American girl growing up in San Francisco’s China Town. In the novel “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” 1950’s ...
“A Town Called Solace” by Mary Lawson
05 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Each of the 3 characters is in a different stage of life and each is struggling with loss. “A Town Called Solace” by Mary Lawson is a novel that p...
"Yellow Bird" by Sierra Crane Murdoch
29 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, it’s the true story of a murder on a South Dakota Indian reservation, and the unforgettable native woman who beco...
“Zorrie” by Laird Hunt,
22 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a poetic novel of rural, small town life. “Zorrie” by Laird Hunt, is the life story of woman born in Depression-era Indiana and a powerful ...
Holiday gift ideas for adult readers
15 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Last week we presented book suggestions for kids, this Thursday it’s gift ideas for adult readers. Special guest Leslie Huerta of "Francie & Finch" ...
Holiday Gift ideas for young readers with Vicky Wood
08 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The gift of books to children can have a lasting positive impact. This week's program welcomes Youth Services Coordinator for Lincoln Public Libraries...
“The Lincoln Highway: a Novel” by Amor Towles
01 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the summer of, 1954, 18-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he served fifteen months. W...
“China Room” by Sunjeev Sahota
17 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The novel tells the story of family connections across time and place- from 1929 rural India to modern Britain. How a place, or objects in a room, can...
“Cokie: A Life Well Lived.” by Steve Roberts
10 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Cokie Roberts was a fixture on NPR and television for 40 years. She was author of 5 bestselling books and inspiration for generations of young female ...
“The Splendid and the Vile” by Erik Larsen.
03 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Winston Churchill leading the British through the German blitz is well-known history, but a new book uses Churchill’s diaries to offer a fresh persp...
“The Secret to Super Human Strength” by Alison Bechdel
27 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Artist and writer Alison Bechdel has had a life-long obsession with every exercise craze of the last 50 years. In her new book, “The Secret to Super...
“Piranesi” by Susanna Clarke
20 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The setting of this novel is as strange as any you’ll find- a labyrinth of countless statues where sea tides fill rooms and then retreat. This is th...
"Nebraska History Moments" by David Bristow
13 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
If you can spare just a few minutes, you can learn something interesting about Nebraska history. That’s the idea behind a new release from the Unive...
"The Perfume Thief" by Timothy Schaffert
05 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a story of crime in an unlikely place- the high fashion world of Nazi occupied Paris. UNL English Professor Timothy Schaffert is the guest on t...
The Vanishing Half” by Brit Bennet
28 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the novel “The Vanishing Half” by Brit Bennett, twin sisters fleeing their small town life, head to New Orleans where one sister discovers she ...
“The Only Wonderful Things" by Melissa Homestead
22 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Most Nebraskans are familiar with Willa Cather’s novels, but a new book by UNL Professor of English Melissa Homestead reveals new information on how...
The “Friend Zone” series by Abby Jimenez.
15 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With Labor Day past, there’s little time left for summer reading. This week’s program features guest reviewer Kiersten Hill who looks at 3 modern ...
“Carville's Cure: by Pam Fessler”
13 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In rural Louisiana was a place locals called simply, Carville. It was the only Leprosy colony in the United States. There, for generations, afflicted ...
“Tomatoes for Neela” by Padma Lakshmi
01 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Preparing food is the time-honored way to help young people learn about their family and culture. Guest reviewer Dylan Teut Executive Director of the ...
“Temporary” by Hillary Leichter
25 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A playful satire on life and work in the gig economy. The novel, “Temporary” by Hillary Leichter is a surreal trip through the anxieties of late-...
"The Seed Keeper” by Diane Wilson
18 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Guest reviewer Shirley Sneve introduces "The Seed Keeper” by Diane Wilson, a novel told through the voices of 4 generations of native women of the N...
"A Knock at Midnight” by Brittany Barnett
11 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In her day job she moved billion-dollar deals. At night, she worked pro bono in near hopeless legal battles. As a successful young black-professional,...
Introduction to Nebraska author, Mari Sandoz
04 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Students growing up in Nebraska, may have read Mari Sandoz, but not everyone knows her books. This week on All About Books, special guest Lynn Roper f...
"Oak Flat" by Lauren Redniss.
28 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A high elevation mesa in Arizona is a battleground between Apache people, the United States government and 2 of the world’s largest mining firms.The...
"Hamnet: the Story of a Plague" by Maggie O'Farrell
21 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On this week's program part 2 of UNL English Professor Stephen Buhler's summer reading list which features, "Hamnet: the Story of a Plague" by Maggie ...
UNL English Professor Stephen Buhler's summer reading list.
14 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What does an English professor read during summer vacation? As you’d expect, a variety of very good books. UNL’s Stephen Buhler is the guest on th...
“Leave the World Behind” by Rumaan Alam
07 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A family renting a home in remote Long Island are startled by the return of the owners fleeing a black out in New York City. The novel “Leave the Wo...
“Code Girls” by Liza Mundy.
29 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
They were recruited, trained and they worked completely in secret. More than 10 thousand young women worked for the US Army and Navy breaking enemy co...
"Wilmington's Lie" by David Zucchino
23 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
By the 1890s, Wilmington North Carolina was that states largest city and a shining example of a mixed-race community. But white supremacist Democrats ...
“Deacon King Kong” by James McBride.
16 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
An irritable, old church deacon shoots a drug dealer in broad daylight. This begins the action of the novel, “Deacon King Kong” by James McBride. ...
"Breasts and Eggs" by Mieko Kawakami.
09 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Three Japanese women living in a tiny Tokyo apartments struggle to find peace in their lives as they deal with issues of partners, children and appear...
"Transcendent Kingdom" by Yaa Gyasi.
02 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The city-wide reading project, "One Book- One Lincoln" has announced the 3 finalists. On this week's "All About Books" David Smith from the selection ...
“Children of the Land”, Marcelo Hernandez Castillo
26 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
He and his family lived by hiding in plain sight, hoping never to be truly seen. In his memoir, “Children of the Land”, Marcelo Hernandez Castillo...
“Rural Rebellion" by Ross Benes
19 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Brainard, Nebraska native Ross Benes found himself trying to explain to his New York City friends what the people of rural American were really like. ...
“Interior Chinatown” by Charles Yu
12 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
An Asian actor stuck generic roles longs to move his career forward. With this character, novelist Charles Yu skewers cultural stereotypes with humor ...
“Pickard County Atlas” by Chris Harding Thorton
05 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A boy from the Nebraska Sandhills was murdered decades ago but his body was never found. In the suspense novel, “Pickard County Atlas.” UNL Lectur...
“Hidden Prairie" by Chris Helzer
28 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
If forests, mountains and oceans are extroverted environments that demand our attention- the prairie has a more quiet voice. Photographer, author and ...
“Hidden Valley Road” by Robert Kolker.
21 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
To their neighbors in Colorado Springs, the Galvins seemed to be a large, happy, baby boom family. Over the years 6 of the 12 children would be diagno...
"The Least Interesting Place." by Matt Steinhousen
14 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It may be the first of its kind: a coffee-table book of Nebraska photographs designed, written, published and even printed entirely in Nebraska. Amate...
“Run Me to Earth” by Paul Yoon
07 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Beginning in 1960’s Laos, “Run Me to Earth” by Paul Yoon is a novel spanning decades. It tells the story of 3 orphans who risk their lives colle...
"More in Time" a tribute to NE poet Ted Kooser
24 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
He’s been awarded a Pulitzer Prize, named U.S. Poet Laureate twice, and now Nebraska poet Ted Kooser has a tribute from his colleagues and students ...
“Becoming Wild” by Carl Safina
17 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Humans have traditions and cultures, but is it possible that animals do too? A new book explores the animal world from a fresh perspective. On this we...
“The Lives of Edie Pritchard” by Larry Watson
10 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This novel presents a Montana woman who seems to have much going for her. But throughout her life she struggles to define herself while others seek to...
The secret life of birds. "The Bird Way" by Jennifer Ackerman.
03 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Scientist are coming to understand that birds have intelligence for activities we previously considered uniquely human. Behaviors like deception, mani...
Author Steven Wingate and his new novel "The Leave-Takers"
24 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The University of Nebraska Press has just published South Dakota writer, Steven Wingate’s new novel, “The Leave-Takers.” On this week’s “All...
“Afterlife” by Julia Alvarez
17 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Anotonia Vega is a professor of English and an immigrant, she confronts the loss of her husband in the novel, “Afterlife” by Julia Alvarez. The st...
"Redhead by the Side of the Road: a Novel" by Anne Tyler.
10 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A technology expert who enjoys a dependably quiet routine is upended by a suddenly homeless girlfriend and a teenage boy claiming to be his son. It's ...
. “The Confessions of Frannie Langton” by Sara Collins
03 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A mixed-race woman born into slavery on a Jamaican plantation ends up in London at the center of a murder case. “The Confessions of Frannie Langton”...
“Minor Feelings” by Cathy Park Hong
27 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“Minor Feelings” is a collection of essays described as honest, funny, and provocative. A look at poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong's cultural obs...
“Here We Are” by Graham Swift
20 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the summer of 1959, three young performers come together for a variety show in sea side town of Brighton England. “All About Books” reviews the...
“Paper Bullets” by Jeffrey Jackson
13 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Two women of the Paris Avant Garde art world were living on the British Channel Island of Jersey when the Nazis invaded. A new book tells how these ar...
“The Less You Know About Us” by Axton Betz-Hamilton
06 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the early 1990’s, an average Indiana family had their identities stolen, crippling the couple and their young daughter’s life. That young girl ...