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.
January Staff Reading List
An Adam Dalgliesh Mystery
P. D. James
“I’m listening to this mystery on my commute. James sets the murder mystery in East Anglia, and as usual her descriptions of the landscape and the theological college where the novel takes place, are superb. James has given the mystery has many, many moving parts, lots of suspects, and her wonderful, relentless, poetic Inspector Dalgliesh who always nabs the culprit!” —Annie Shahan
Kevin Fedarko
“This is far more a history of the Colorado River than the story of a single speed run through the canyon, which—for me, at least—makes it a much better book. Reading about desert landscapes in the middle of a Nebraska winter makes it even better.” —Bridget Barry
Gautam Raghavan
“I picked it up earlier this month at the American Historical Association annual meeting from Penguin Random House. The singular stories of how and why these individuals came to work in the Obama White House are all really special—I would recommend it to anyone looking for politics you can feel good about heading toward 2020.” —Rosemary Sekora
Drew Magary
“I burned through The Hike in about a weekend, completely engulfed in the strange mashup of surreal fantasy, nightmare logic, and meditations on contemporary fatherhood and marriage. Come for the extremely verbose swearing match between a man and a crab and stay for the devastating final page twist.” —Jackson Adams
Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World
David Maraniss
“It’s the most recent book club selection for my friend’s Olympic Fever podcast. I’ve only just begun the book but it’s clear that I’m going to learn a lot about how the 1960 Olympics intertwined with the Cold War, Civil Rights, and Women’s Rights.” —Erica Corwin
Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming
Edited by Paul Hawken
“With the string of dire reports about the acceleration and lasting impact of global warming, this book seems like required reading for anyone who calls earth home. Solutions are both realistic and bold, and they include quite a range of useful practices for almost anyone.” —Heather Stauffer
George R. R. Martin
“It is a history of Westeros that begins when Aegon the Conqueror earns his name by uniting the Seven Kingdoms under his rule. I picked it up because it’s Martin and connected to A Song of Ice and Fire and I have not been disappointed. It can get a little hard to keep track of everyone, since many of the names are so similar, which is another thing Martin got from Tolkien. I am thoroughly enjoying it.” —Rob Buchanan
Stephen Graham Jones
“I picked it up because I’ve been wanting to read more speculative fiction by indigenous authors, and the premise of this book really intrigued me: a twelve-year-old boy is haunted by the ghost of his father, and tries to make sense of his experience while also dealing with his family’s financial insecurity and generational trauma… I read it cover-to-cover in one sitting. This book was really phenomenal and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves beautiful, dark stories.” —Maggie Moore
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