March Staff Reading List
UNP staff members are always reading new books, both within our list and outside of what we publish. Here are some of the books where our noses have been buried.
Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town
Stephen Leacock
“I recently visited a few of the provinces and thought, When in Canada….” —Heather Stauffer
Lisa Morton
“Essentially it’s a wide-ranging history of ghost stories—everything from Middle Age phantoms to contemporary ghost portrayals in films like Paranormal Activity. It’s fascinating and slightly spooky!” —Rosemary Sekora
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72
Hunter S. Thompson
“It’s timely and timeless!” —Erica Corwin
Another Country: Navigating the Emotional Terrain of Our Elders
Mary Pipher, Ph. D
“I’ve had this book for years and am just now reading it. It’s an excellent resource for understanding my parents’ generation, aging in American culture, shifts in American values, and more. It’s packed with personal stories and ideas.” —Tish Fobben
Khaled Hosseini
“Although I usually borrow books from friends or the library, I bought this one straight from the shelves of Barnes and Noble when I saw it was by Khaled Hosseini, the author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. Like his other novels, And the Mountains Echoed is unforgettable. I’m so invested in the story and care so deeply for the characters that I haven’t been able to bring myself to read the ending yet.” —Margaret Mattern
Standing Alone: An American Woman’s Struggle for the Soul of Islam
Asara Q. Nomani
“It was on the United Methodist Women’s Reading Program list about ten years ago, and, since I’m a little behind on my reading, I’m just getting to it. I’m only a third of the way through, but I can tell this is a case of better late than never. Nomani tells of making a pilgrimage to Mecca in an attempt to reconcile her complicated relationship to her faith as, among other things, an American, a journalist, a feminist, a single mother, and a friend of murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.” —Joyce Gettman
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain
Oliver Sacks
“I don’t usually find books of nonfiction that I personally see myself in. Then I read the chapter on earworms—songs that really, truly, physically, get stuck in your head.” —Anna Weir