UNP staff members are always reading new books, both within our list and outside of what we publish. Here are some of the titles where our noses have been buried.

“This month I finished reading Saratoga Schaefer’s horror novel, Trad Wife. The novel follows Camille Deming, a tradwife influencer, after she makes a wish for a baby at an old well in the hopes that a child will salvage her relationship with her husband and increase her standing on social media. I came across this book at Barnes & Noble since they had it paired on a display stand with Caro Claire Burke’s Yesteryear, another tradwife thriller novel that I’m hoping to read soon.” -Sarah Kee

“I’m currently reading These Fevered Days: Ten Pivotal Moments in the Making of Emily Dickinson by Martha Ackmann. Last month I was in Amherst and got to visit the Emily Dickinson Museum, which was incredible. I bought this at the gift shop to learn even more about Dickinson—fun fact is that the cover design is inspired by some of the wallpaper found in the Dickinson home. The book is written in a narrative nonfiction style, rather than a straightforward biography, which my attention span appreciates. I’m also reading some poems in The Essential Emily Dickinson as a companion!” -Madison Wigley

“I am currently reading our book World History of Warfare (Nebraska, 2002) by Christon I. Archer, John R. Ferris, Holger H. Herwig and Timothy H. E. Travers, since there are currently so many regional wars beginning in 2022 with the invasion of Ukraine by Russia to the deadlocked war against Iran by the United States. The book is useful in covering both world history and the specific histories of wars since the first weapons were created by humans. I read so much US history as an acquiring editor that my off-work reading centers on histories of other countries around the world, to get a comparative perspective on global history, but also exceptionalism in the writing of US history, my former profession before joining UNP.” -Matt Bokovoy

“This month two books really spoke to me. The first was Lindy West’s Adult Braces. I have always found Lindy’s writing to be relatable. So many of her discoveries and struggles in this memoir of her solo cross country road trip hit home. The other book I loved is Ann Patchett’s Whistler. I can’t recall the last time I felt so immediately immersed in the characters and setting of a novel. Ann Patchett’s writing gives me the feeling of being a part of things.” -Lacey Losh

“I’m reading Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. This is Bourdain’s famous memoir about the chaotic, legendary life he built working in the restaurant industry in New York and around the world. Anyone with experience (or interest) in the industry will revel in this book. It’s a gritty, intense lifestyle, but a world-opening one through the shared humanity of food. At the suggestion of a podcast that I listen to, I read this one on audio and beg you to do the same. Bourdain’s voice is iconic, and the only right way to experience this memoir is to listen to him read it. One of the most simple but insightful things I’ve ever read about human decency is in this book: ‘Show them [your coworkers] some respect by bothering to know them. Learn their language. Eat their food. It will be personally rewarding and professionally invaluable.’” -Taylor Gilreath

“I just finished The Keeper, the third book in the Cal Hooper trilogy by Tana French. Hooper is a retired detective from Chicago who has moved to Ardnakelty, a small town in Ireland. He tries to stay out of the town’s arguments and spats, and the locals regard him with suspicion, but because of his background he’s pulled in to investigate disappearances and deaths. In The Keeper, a young woman goes missing, is found drowned in the river, and is declared a suicide. When Cal and others start looking into the circumstances surrounding her death and her engagement to the son of a wealthy local businessman Tommy Moynahan, they discover his secret plan to execute a land grab from many of the community’s farmers and set about stopping him. The book is entertaining, delving into the dark side of a small rural town and its generational feuds, the cultural and environmental repercussions of the loss of small family farms, and about an outsider who becomes part of the community by picking a side.” -Annie Shahan

“I’ve been reading Guards! Guards! from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, which is, for those unfamiliar, fantasy for the Monty Python fan. It’s completely ridiculous, of course, and a joy to read. Although this isn’t my first Discworld book or the first in the series, it’s as great a place to start as any. If you’re anything like me, you’ll cackle loudly and often. Please don’t let the 90s mass-market paperback design scare you off! (I’ll admit it’s kind of growing on me, actually.)” -Kayla Moslander

“I recently started reading Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar. Martyr! follows Cyrus Shams, a young Iranian American poet obsessed with martyrs and what makes them and recently sober. When he learns of an Iranian artist living out her last days in a Brooklyn art museum, he and his roommate embark on a trip to meet and talk with her. It’s been popping up all over my friends’ Goodreads updates, so of course I have to get in there or risk literary FOMO.” -Taylor Martin

“I recently finished How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin. This was a typical pick for my murder- and thriller-loving book club friends, and I had a hard time getting into it. The novel tells the story of an aspiring mystery writer who is destined to inherit her wealthy great aunt’s estate. To do so, she must solve her great aunt’s murder, which was predicted by a fortune-teller almost sixty years prior. I ended up really enjoying this Agatha Christie-like mystery with a huge plot twist I didn’t see coming. I now have the second and third book from the series on my never-ending TBR list.” -Emily Casillas

“My husband is a Brandon Sanderson fan, so I decided I should probably read at least one of his books. The Mistborn series will be my first entry into the Cosmere!” -Rosemary Sekora

“I just read Clutch: An Education at Work by Linda Pawlenty. I picked it up at Francie and Finch from the local author table. I’ve always marveled at how people drive large cars, much less trucks, much less hulking concrete mixers. Clutch is about the author’s longtime work as a concrete truck driver in Lincoln as well as the process of getting her PhD in literary studies from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln as she continued her full-time job as a truck driver. She describes her concrete-pouring work at many job sites, including the UNL campus—and what the juxtaposition and overlap of these two realms of her life felt like and the tensions it conjured in her. It’s a very thoughtful and compelling book about gender, class, and culture.” -Tish Fobben